Diwali 2026 is on Sunday, 8 November 2026, and the Lakshmi Puja muhurat in New Delhi is 5:54 PM to 7:50 PM. That is the stretch of pradosh kaal (5:31 to 8:08 PM) during which the fixed Vrishabha (Taurus) lagna is rising, the window most north Indian households use for the main puja.
Your own city will differ by anything from a few minutes to over half an hour. Below are the rule, a table for 28 cities, the reasons you will see different times in different places, and the dates of the other five days.
Diwali 2026 at a glance (New Delhi)
| Item | Time |
|---|---|
| Date | Sunday, 8 November 2026 |
| Amavasya | 8 Nov 11:28 AM → 9 Nov 12:32 PM |
| Sunrise / sunset | 6:38 AM / 5:31 PM |
| Pradosh kaal | 5:31 PM – 8:08 PM |
| Vrishabha lagna | 5:54 PM – 7:50 PM |
| Lakshmi Puja muhurat | 5:54 PM – 7:50 PM |
| Nishita kaal | 11:38 PM – 12:31 AM |
The rule: which day, and which hours
Which day. Lakshmi Puja is done on the Kartika Amavasya (Ashvin Amavasya in amanta calendars) that prevails at pradosh, the first part of the night after sunset. If Amavasya covers pradosh on both evenings for at least one ghati (24 minutes), the texts prefer the second day. In 2026 there is no such tie. Amavasya begins at 11:28 AM on 8 November and ends at 12:32 PM on 9 November, well before the second sunset. Only the evening of 8 November has Amavasya, so Diwali is 8 November everywhere in India.
Which hours. Within that evening, two things are combined:
- Pradosh kaal. We take pradosh as the first fifth of the night, from sunset to one-fifth of the way to the next sunrise. In Delhi that is 5:31 to 8:08 PM.
- Sthir (fixed) lagna. Lakshmi is asked to stay, so tradition prefers a fixed sign rising on the eastern horizon. On Diwali evening that fixed sign is Vrishabha (Taurus). In Delhi it rises at 5:54 PM and gives way to the next sign at 7:50 PM.
Where the two overlap is the muhurat. In Delhi the Vrishabha lagna sits wholly inside pradosh, so the muhurat is the lagna: 5:54 to 7:50 PM. We explain the lagna and pradosh calculations on our how we calculate muhurat page.
Lakshmi Puja muhurat 2026, city by city
All times IST for Sunday 8 November 2026. The muhurat is Vrishabha lagna within pradosh.
| City | Pradosh kaal | Lakshmi Puja muhurat |
|---|---|---|
| Guwahati | 4:36 – 7:12 PM | 5:01 – 6:57 PM |
| Kolkata | 4:55 – 7:29 PM | 5:20 – 7:19 PM |
| Bhagalpur | 4:57 – 7:32 PM | 5:21 – 7:19 PM |
| Muzaffarpur | 5:02 – 7:38 PM | 5:26 – 7:23 PM |
| Patna | 5:04 – 7:39 PM | 5:28 – 7:25 PM |
| Gaya | 5:05 – 7:41 PM | 5:30 – 7:27 PM |
| Ranchi | 5:06 – 7:41 PM | 5:31 – 7:29 PM |
| Gorakhpur | 5:09 – 7:45 PM | 5:33 – 7:30 PM |
| Varanasi | 5:13 – 7:48 PM | 5:37 – 7:34 PM |
| Prayagraj | 5:17 – 7:53 PM | 5:41 – 7:39 PM |
| Lucknow | 5:19 – 7:55 PM | 5:43 – 7:39 PM |
| Kanpur | 5:22 – 7:58 PM | 5:46 – 7:42 PM |
| Dehradun | 5:25 – 8:03 PM | 5:48 – 7:43 PM |
| Chandigarh | 5:29 – 8:08 PM | 5:52 – 7:47 PM |
| New Delhi | 5:31 – 8:08 PM | 5:54 – 7:50 PM |
| Agra | 5:30 – 8:06 PM | 5:54 – 7:50 PM |
| Srinagar | 5:32 – 8:13 PM | 5:54 – 7:46 PM |
| Amritsar | 5:35 – 8:15 PM | 5:58 – 7:52 PM |
| Jaipur | 5:39 – 8:16 PM | 6:03 – 7:59 PM |
| Bhopal | 5:38 – 8:12 PM | 6:03 – 8:01 PM |
| Chennai | 5:40 – 8:09 PM | 6:07 – 8:09 PM |
| Hyderabad | 5:42 – 8:13 PM | 6:08 – 8:08 PM |
| Indore | 5:45 – 8:19 PM | 6:10 – 8:08 PM |
| Bengaluru | 5:51 – 8:20 PM | 6:18 – 8:20 PM |
| Ahmedabad | 5:57 – 8:32 PM | 6:22 – 8:21 PM |
| Pune | 5:59 – 8:30 PM | 6:24 – 8:25 PM |
| Mumbai | 6:02 – 8:34 PM | 6:27 – 8:27 PM |
| Thiruvananthapuram | 5:59 – 8:25 PM | 6:27 – 8:25 PM |
In the far south the end of pradosh, not the lagna, closes the window. In Thiruvananthapuram Vrishabha lagna runs until 8:31 PM but pradosh ends at 8:25 PM; in Chennai and Bengaluru the two end in the same minute. Further north the lagna ends well before pradosh does. Our Diwali festival page has the same table and lets you choose any town.
Why websites and panchangs show different puja times
If you compare a few calendars you may see Delhi's Lakshmi Puja given as a two-and-a-half-hour pradosh window, a two-hour lagna window, or something else again. All of them can be honest. The differences come from five places.
1. The city. Sunset moves pradosh, and the Vrishabha lagna rises at a different clock time depending on longitude. Guwahati's muhurat starts at 5:01 PM, Mumbai's at 6:27 PM. A Delhi time copied for Mumbai is almost half an hour early. Use your own city's panchang, for example Mumbai, Kolkata, Patna or Lucknow.
2. Whole pradosh, lagna only, or the overlap. Some lists give the entire pradosh as the puja time. Some give only the Vrishabha lagna. We give the overlap of the two, which in the north is simply the lagna and in the south is cut short by the end of pradosh.
3. How long pradosh is. We use the first fifth of the night, so pradosh grows and shrinks with the length of the night and with latitude. Other calendars use a fixed span after sunset. Both are found in practice, and they give a slightly different closing time.
4. Other windows. Some families and communities also do or prefer a puja at nishita kaal, the midnight window (11:38 PM to 12:31 AM in Delhi), which tradition pairs with the fixed Simha (Leo) lagna; others use choghadiya slots, and many business families keep their own customs for the books puja. These are separate traditions, not errors.
5. The Amavasya-day rule. In years when Amavasya covers pradosh on two evenings, calendars that apply the one-ghati condition and calendars that do not can end up a day apart. That does not arise in 2026, which is why all mainstream calendars agree on 8 November this year even when their hours differ.
If you want to see exactly how we build the window, the muhurat method page sets out each step.
The five days of Diwali 2026
| Day | Date | Key time (New Delhi) |
|---|---|---|
| Dhanteras | Friday 6 November | Puja 6:02 – 7:58 PM (Vrishabha lagna within pradosh 5:32 – 8:09 PM) |
| Kali Chaudas | Saturday 7 November | — |
| Chhoti Diwali (Narak Chaturdashi) | Sunday 8 November, morning | Abhyanga snan 5:02 – 6:38 AM |
| Diwali, Lakshmi Puja | Sunday 8 November, evening | 5:54 – 7:50 PM |
| Govardhan Puja | Tuesday 10 November | Pratah muhurat 6:39 – 8:49 AM |
| Bhai Dooj | Wednesday 11 November | Aparahna 1:09 – 3:19 PM |
Two things surprise people this year. First, Chhoti Diwali and Diwali fall on the same date. Chaturdashi runs from 10:48 AM on 7 November (when Trayodashi ends) to 11:28 AM on 8 November, so it is the tithi at dawn on 8 November; the Narak Chaturdashi bath is that morning, and Lakshmi Puja that evening once Amavasya has begun. Kali Chaudas, which looks for Chaturdashi at night, is the evening of 7 November.
Second, there is a gap day on 9 November. Amavasya lasts until 12:32 PM on 9 November, so the Pratipada morning that Govardhan Puja needs comes on 10 November, and Bhai Dooj follows on 11 November.
Dhanteras uses the same pradosh-plus-Vrishabha method as Lakshmi Puja; Trayodashi runs from 10:31 AM on 6 November to 10:48 AM on 7 November, so 6 November is the only evening with Trayodashi at pradosh. Details for each city are on the Dhanteras page, with Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj on their own pages.
A note on what the muhurat is for
The muhurat is the time tradition prefers. It is not a deadline after which a puja "does not count", and families who light the lamps a little earlier or later because of work, travel or small children are following a long practice of adapting. If you want the preferred window, use your own city's time rather than Delhi's.
The festive month began with Karwa Chauth on 29 October (see Karwa Chauth 2026 moonrise times) and continues to Chhath, whose evening arghya is on 15 November (Chhath Puja 2026 arghya times).
Try it yourself
Open the free Diwali page and pick your city for pradosh, Vrishabha lagna and nishita times, or open your city's daily panchang for the tithi, lagna table and choghadiya on 8 November.