Bihar Public Holidays 2026

Understanding Bihar's Holiday Calendar in 2026

Chhath Puja is the organising event of the Bihar year, and it is not comparable to any other Indian festival in the demands it places on employers. It is a four-day observance of fasting and riverbank arghya, and it triggers the largest annual internal migration in India, with millions of Bihari workers returning home from Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab and Gujarat. The declared holidays cover two days; the practical absence window runs closer to two weeks.

The rest of the calendar carries an unusually political character. Bihar declares birth anniversaries for Karpoori Thakur, Veer Kunwar Singh, Jayaprakash Narayan, Anugrah Narayan Sinha, and Dr. Rajendra Prasad, a set of figures central to the state's political history and to the socialist and 1857 traditions specifically. None appear on a neighbouring state's calendar.

For payroll, commercial establishments fall under the Bihar Shops and Establishments Act, 1953. The state issues its holiday notification through the General Administration Department with separate general and restricted lists. Note that published Bihar calendars vary more than most states', including on Maha Shivratri and the Durga Puja days, so the gazette notification should be the reference rather than any secondary source.

National Holidays in Bihar

The three national days are Republic Day on Monday, January 26, Independence Day on Saturday, August 15, and Gandhi Jayanti on Friday, October 2. Independence Day is one of eight gazetted dates that land on a Saturday or Sunday in Bihar this year, so a five-day-week office loses nothing on it.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Jayanti on Tuesday, April 14 is a declared holiday and observance in Bihar is universal and politically prominent. It falls in a month that also carries Good Friday on April 3 and Veer Kunwar Singh Jayanti on April 23, so April is more interrupted in Bihar than in most northern states.

Bihar-Specific Holidays

Chhath Puja gets two declared days in 2026: the Sandhya Arghya on Sunday November 15 and the Usha Arghya on Monday November 16. The full observance runs four days from Nahay Khay through Usha Arghya. Riverbank gatherings along the Ganga at Patna are enormous, with ghats prepared weeks ahead and the city functionally closed around the festival. This is the one period where no business in Bihar operates normally.

Bihar Diwas on Sunday, March 22 marks the state's separation from the Bengal Presidency in 1912. It is a full closure with substantial official programming, though in 2026 it falls on a Sunday and costs no working day.

Veer Kunwar Singh Jayanti on Thursday, April 23 honours the Jagdishpur zamindar who led the 1857 rebellion in Bihar at the age of eighty. Observance is strongest in Bhojpur and the surrounding districts, and it is a full statewide closure that no neighbouring state declares.

Karpoori Thakur Jayanti on Saturday, January 24 commemorates the former Chief Minister and socialist leader associated with backward-class reservation policy in Bihar. It falls on a Saturday in 2026. Jayaprakash Narayan Jayanti on Sunday, October 11 similarly honours the leader of the 1974 movement, though it sits on the optional list.

Buddha Purnima on Friday, May 1 carries particular weight in Bihar because Bodh Gaya is the site of the Buddha's enlightenment. The observance draws international pilgrims and the Gaya district sees heavy visitor traffic. It coincides with May Day in 2026, so the two collapse into one declared day.

Durga Puja runs four declared days from Maha Saptami on Sunday October 18 through Vijaya Dashami on Wednesday October 21. Bihar's reckoning aligns with West Bengal's rather than Odisha's, which runs a day earlier.

Restricted Holidays in Bihar

Bihar's optional list for 2026 covers New Year's Day, Sant Ravidas Jayanti on February 1, Anugrah Narayan Sinha Jayanti on June 18, Sant Kabir Jayanti on June 29, Vishwakarma Puja on September 17, and Jayaprakash Narayan Jayanti on October 11.

Vishwakarma Puja behaves differently from the rest. In Bihar's manufacturing and workshop sector it is observed on the shop floor with machinery worship, and uptake is high enough that treating it as an ordinary working day at an industrial site is not realistic despite its optional status.

Two of the six fall on Sundays in 2026, Sant Ravidas Jayanti and Jayaprakash Narayan Jayanti, which removes their value. That concentrates demand onto the two June dates and Vishwakarma Puja, all of which fall on working days.

HR & Payroll Guidance for Bihar, 2026

Chhath is a workforce planning problem, not a holiday entry, and it affects employers far outside Bihar. If you employ Bihari migrant workers anywhere in India, whether Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra or Jharkhand, expect concentrated absence around mid-November regardless of whether Chhath is a declared holiday in your state. Train bookings out of the major metros are exhausted months ahead, and refusing leave is not a practical option.

For employers inside Bihar the same event means a near-total shutdown. The two declared days on November 15 and 16 sit inside a four-day observance, and the fasting involved is physically demanding, so employees who observe it are not available for work on either side. Plan November delivery commitments around the first two weeks of the month.

Bihar's published calendars disagree more than most states'. Secondary sources place Maha Shivratri variously on February 15 and February 16, Ram Navami on dates weeks apart, and Chhath on both October and November dates. The dates here follow the pan-India festival calendar and the state's own commemorative days, but the Bihar gazette notification should be your final reference before publishing an internal calendar.

Engage HRMS lets you flag a planned absence window separately from declared holidays, which fits the Chhath pattern for employers both inside and outside Bihar. Leave, attendance, and payroll calculate correctly across the window without each employee's extended absence being handled as an exception.