Diwali 2026 Date, Five Observances and Lakshmi Puja Muhurta

The main date and the location

For New Delhi, the published Drik Panchang calendar places Lakshmi Puja on Sunday, 8 November 2026. Its evening Lakshmi Puja window is 17:54–19:50 IST, with Pradosh 17:31–20:09. These are location-specific published timings, not a single window for all of India. Before planning a ritual, check the city and the calendar tradition used by your family. A national holiday date and a ritual-observance calculation can differ without describing the same question.

Why a five-day festival can span more civil dates

The five principal observances are Dhanteras, Naraka Chaturdashi, Lakshmi Puja, Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj. They are linked to lunar-calendar rules, not simply five consecutive Gregorian midnights. In the cited New Delhi 2026 calendar, Dhanteras is 6 November; Naraka Chaturdashi and Lakshmi Puja both fall on 8 November; Govardhan Puja is 10 November; and Bhai Dooj is 11 November. Do not force a familiar five-day description into an inaccurate five-row sequence of consecutive dates.

What Amavasya contributes

The cited calendar gives the Amavasya Tithi interval as 11:27 IST on 8 November to 12:31 IST on 9 November 2026. A Tithi is an angular interval of the Moon relative to the Sun, so it can cover parts of two civil dates. The full Amavasya Tithi is not identical to the exact astronomical new-moon instant. Lakshmi Puja selection considers the relevant evening rule, which is why the festival date cannot be inferred simply by finding which midnight lies inside the Tithi.

Pradosh and the selected Lagna

For the evening household observance described by the source, Pradosh is the period after sunset and a fixed Lagna, commonly Vrishabha, is considered in choosing the window. The displayed Puja interval is the relevant overlap under that convention. This website’s general Panchang tool explains the astronomical factors, but it does not certify a personalised ritual time from a single Tithi label. A published window should retain its source, city and time zone whenever it is shared.

Other cities need their own times

Sunset and the rising-sign sequence depend on latitude and longitude. Mumbai or Kolkata should not automatically use a New Delhi evening window. A difference of minutes or longer can be entirely expected. The festival calendar on getVEDANGA lets readers inspect the local sunrise Panchang for an Indian city; that calculation is labelled separately from the sourced observance list. Changing the city does not silently rewrite a published calendar’s dates or pretend to calculate a ritual rule that has not been implemented.

Regional practice deserves room

Deepavali is not observed in one identical way across every region and community. Tamil Deepavali, Kali Puja, Gujarati New Year, Govatsa Dwadashi and other observances belong to related but distinct local calendars and customs. Families can follow their own tradition while checking that a shared online timing is actually for their place. This guide explains the five principal observances rather than claiming that every Indian household has the same sequence, ritual instructions or language.

Use a source record, not an isolated screenshot

When keeping a Puja time, record the source link, selected city, year and whether the time is IST. Recheck close to the date if you rely on a published calendar that may be corrected. The facts in this article were checked for the current revision on 26 October 2026. They replace the older page’s vague October–November range. The aim is a usable, attributable explanation, while leaving regional ritual decisions to the people and traditions involved.

Try a small learning exercise

Keep a short source record with the year, city, calendar tradition and time zone. Copy the published observance date separately from the astronomical interval. If a time passes midnight, write the next civil date explicitly. Before sharing a window, make sure the location has not been cropped out. For another city, check a location-specific source rather than shifting a clock time by guesswork. This method is useful for Diwali and for other observances where a daily label and a ritual selection rule are easily confused.

The method used on this site

Festival dates are curated from published calendars; the Panchang detail is calculated locally. We do not infer a whole festival calendar from Tithi alone because traditions also use sunrise, sunset and lunar-month rules.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and further context

• getVEDANGA methodology — the implementation and its limits
• Drik Panchang — New Delhi Lakshmi Puja, 2026
• Drik Panchang — the 2026 Diwali observance sequence

Sources have different roles: astronomical documentation supports the calculation, while traditional texts describe a historical framework. A citation does not by itself validate a personal prediction.