Baruni 2012 date is March-April. This is a bathing festival, and takes place on the 13th day of the decrease of the moon in the month Chaitra. When it falls on a Saturday, and the star Sota Bhissa is then on the meridian, it is called Maha Baruni; and again, if the star Shuba Jug is in conjunction with Sota Bhissa, it is called Maha Maha Baruni.
The benefits of bathing in the Ganges at the Baruni are equal to those resulting from bathing in that river at the time of 100 sun eclipses; the fruits of bathing at the Maha Baruni equal to those of bathing at a million of sun eclipses; and those of bathing at the Maha Maha Baruni are so great, that three millions of generations of the ancestors of the bather are saved from hell by this single act of piety of their progeny.
At these bathing festivals, the natives from the remotest parts of Bengal, and even Orissa, proceed to the Ganges to perform their ablutions. Tribeni, six miles above Chinsurah, is especially resorted to by immense crowds; that place being held very sacred on account of the supposed junction of three rivers, and called for that reason by the natives the Prayag.