Deepawali 2026Dates, muhurat, puja vidhi and wishes for the whole festival season

1. 11 OctSun

   Navratri begins · Ghatasthapana

   Kalash sthapana 6:19–10:12 AM, Abhijit 11:44 AM–12:31 PM (New Delhi). Golu dolls go up.

   Coming
2. 17 OctSat

   Durga Puja · Maha Shashthi

   Bodhon and the start of Durga Puja in Bengal; pandal-hopping season.

   Coming
3. 19 OctMon

   Durga Ashtami · Maha Navami

   Sandhi Puja 10:27–11:15 AM IST; Kanya Pujan. USA, UK, Canada: Ashtami on Sun 18 Oct.

   Coming
4. 🪔
   20 OctTue

   Dussehra · Vijayadashami

   Vijay muhurat about 2:00–2:45 PM (New Delhi); Ravan Dahan after sunset.

   Coming
5. 🪔
   29 OctThu

   Karwa Chauth

   Puja 5:38–6:56 PM, moonrise about 8:12 PM (New Delhi). USA and Canada: Wed 28 Oct.

   Coming
6. 🪔
   6 NovFri

   Dhanteras

   Puja 6:02–7:57 PM (New Delhi); Yama Deepam; buying gold, silver and utensils.

   Coming
7. 7 NovSat

   Choti Diwali · Naraka Chaturdashi

   Chaturdashi from 10:47 AM IST; Kali Chaudas; Ayodhya Deepotsav is usually this evening.

   Coming
8. 🪔
   8 NovSun

   Diwali · Lakshmi Puja

   Lakshmi Puja 5:54–7:50 PM IST (New Delhi). Kali Puja in Bengal the same night.

   Coming
9. 🪔
   10 NovTue

   Govardhan Puja · Annakut

   Pratahkala 6:40–8:50 AM (New Delhi). Gujarati New Year. USA, UK: Mon 9 Nov.

   Coming
10. 🪔
    11 NovWed

    Bhai Dooj

    Tilak in the afternoon (Aparahna), about 1:10–3:20 PM in New Delhi.

    Coming
11. 15 NovSun

    Chhath Puja

    Sandhya arghya to the setting sun; usha arghya at dawn the next day.

    Coming
12. 🪔
    24 NovTue

    Dev Deepawali · Kartik Purnima

    The ghats of Varanasi are lined with lamps. Also Guru Nanak Jayanti.

    Coming

Dates are for India (Drik Panchang, New Delhi). Puja times are New Delhi local time; open each festival for your own city. The marker moves by itself: finished festivals fade and the next one is highlighted.

Lakshmi Puja 2026 in your city

The window is local to each city, not a conversion from India time. It opens on your city automatically when we can tell your time zone.

Panchang timings vary by tradition and calculation method. Where your temple or family priest gives a different time, follow them. For 2027 dates, see the 2027 muhurat card.

Lakshmi Puja is the heart of Diwali: the evening when the goddess of prosperity is welcomed into a clean, lit home, after first worshipping Ganesh. This is a complete home puja in the north Indian tradition, written so a first-timer can follow it and an experienced family can use it as a checklist. Allow about an hour, and start inside the muhurat for your city.

DateSunday 8 November 2026

Muhurat, New Delhi5:54–7:50 PM IST

Pradosh Kaal5:31–8:09 PM

Amavasya11:27 AM 8 Nov – 12:31 PM 9 Nov

FaceEast or north

Short on time? The minimum is: clean altar, Ganesh first, lamp lit, roli-rice-flower-sweet offered to Lakshmi with ॐ श्रीं महालक्ष्म्यै नमः, aarti, and diyas at the door. Devotion matters more than length.

Samagri checklist

Lakshmi Puja vidhi, step by step

1. Clean, decorate and bathe

   Lakshmi is said to enter clean, bright homes. Finish the cleaning by afternoon, hang a toran of mango leaves and marigolds, draw rangoli at the entrance with small Lakshmi footprints walking in, and bathe and wear clean, preferably new, clothes before dusk.

2. Set up the altar

   Choose the north-east of the home or the north side of the room, so that you face east or north while sitting. Cover the chowki with a red cloth. Place Ganesh on the left and Lakshmi on the right as you face them, with Saraswati and Kuber beside them if your family worships them. Make a small heap of rice in front for the kalash.

   Family custom varies on placement; follow yours where it differs.

3. Install the kalash

   Fill the kalash three-quarters with water and add a little Gangajal, a coin, a supari, a few grains of rice and a flower. Place five mango leaves at the mouth and set the coconut on top. Tie moli around its neck, mark a swastik in roli and place it on the rice heap to the right of the deity.

4. Purify and light the lamp

   Sprinkle water on yourself, the samagri and the altar for pavitrikaran. Sip water three times (achaman). Light the large ghee diya, the akhand deep that will burn through the night, and place it to the right of the deity.

   ॐ अपवित्रः पवित्रो वा सर्वावस्थां गतोऽपि वा। यः स्मरेत् पुण्डरीकाक्षं स बाह्याभ्यन्तरः शुचिः॥Whether pure or impure, whoever remembers the lotus-eyed Lord is purified within and without.

5. Take the sankalp

   Hold water, rice, a flower and a coin in your right palm. Say your name, your gotra if you know it, the place and the day (Kartik Amavasya, Sunday 8 November 2026) and your intention: Lakshmi-Ganesh puja for the well-being and prosperity of the family. Release it onto the ground or a plate.

6. Worship Ganesh first

   Every puja begins with Ganesh, the remover of obstacles. Offer roli, rice, durva, a flower, and a laddoo or modak.

   वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्यकोटि समप्रभ। निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा॥O curved-trunked, mighty Lord, bright as a crore suns: keep all my work free of obstacles, always.

   ॐ गं गणपतये नमः

7. Worship the kalash and the Navagraha

   Offer roli, rice and a flower to the kalash, inviting Varuna and the sacred rivers into it. Many families also offer rice to the nine planets at this point; it is optional.

8. Invite Lakshmi and offer the sixteen upacharas

   Bring Lakshmi into the image with folded hands, then offer the sixteen services (shodashopachara). If time is short, the five essentials (panchopachara) are gandha, pushpa, dhoop, deep and naivedya.

   1. Avahaninvite the goddess
   2. Aasanoffer a seat
   3. Padyawater to wash the feet
   4. Arghyawater to the hands
   5. Achamanwater to sip
   6. Snanbath: panchamrit, then pure water
   7. Vastracloth or moli
   8. Abhushanornaments, sindoor
   9. Gandhachandan and roli
   10. Pushpaflowers, lotus, garland
   11. Dhoopincense
   12. Deepthe lamp
   13. Naivedyakheel, batashe, sweets, fruit
   14. Tamboolpaan, supari, cloves
   15. Dakshinacoins and money
   16. Aarti and pradakshinalamp, bell, circling

   ॐ श्रीं ह्रीं श्रीं कमले कमलालये प्रसीद प्रसीद श्रीं ह्रीं श्रीं ॐ महालक्ष्म्यै नमः॥Mahalakshmi mantra: O Kamala, dweller in the lotus, be pleased with us.

9. Chant and pray

   Chant ॐ श्रीं महालक्ष्म्यै नमः 108 times on a lotus-seed or crystal mala, or recite the Shri Suktam or the Lakshmi Ashtottara (108 names). Offer kamal gatta and coriander seeds into a bowl as you chant.

   Families that cannot recite at length can simply sit quietly, offer flowers with each name, or play a recording.

10. Kuber, Saraswati and bahi-khata puja

    Worship Kuber, keeper of wealth, with ॐ कुबेराय नमः, and the coins and cash placed before Lakshmi. Traders and families with account books draw a swastik and write शुभ लाभ on the first page of the new book, and worship the books, pens and ink as Saraswati. In Gujarat this is Chopda Pujan.

11. Deep daan around the home

    Light the small diyas from the main lamp and place them at the threshold, in each room, in the kitchen, near the water source, by the tulsi, on the roof and at the gate. Keep one lamp facing each direction outside.

12. Aarti

    Ring the bell, blow the conch and wave the aarti thali clockwise before Ganesh and then Lakshmi while singing the family aarti, usually ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माता and जय गणेश देवा. Offer the aarti flame to everyone present, then pushpanjali (flowers with folded hands) and a short prayer asking forgiveness for any mistakes.

13. Prasad and the night

    Share kheel, batashe and sweets as prasad, starting with the youngest and eldest. Keep the akhand diya safely topped up through the night. Many families avoid sweeping the house out after the puja and keep the doors and a window open for Lakshmi.

14. The next morning

    Sprinkle the kalash water through the home and pour the rest into a plant. Keep the worshipped coins with your savings and the kamal gatta in the cash box. Clay idols are kept until the next Diwali or immersed with respect.

How the puja differs across India

Do's and don'ts

Vidhi for the other festivals of the season

Printable puja vidhi Mantras and aartis

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