Radhashtami

(“Radha’s eighth”) Festival falling on the
eight day of the bright (waxing) half of
the lunar month of Bhadrapada
(August–September); this day is celebrated as the birthday of Krishna’s consort Radha. Radha is seen differently by
various Vaishnava religious communities: For some she is a human woman,
the symbol of the perfect devotee
(bhakta) who forsakes all else to be with
her lover, for others she is considered
the queen of heaven and an equal to
Krishna himself. In either case, her
closeness to him is shown by her birth
on the same month and lunar day as
Krishna, but in the opposite half of the
month. Radhashtami festival is celebrated
with particular fervor in Barsana, the
village in the Braj region in which Radha
is said to have been born.