Festival · 2026
Durga Puja 2026 — Saturday, 17 October 2026
Durga Puja is the great autumn festival of Bengal and eastern India, five days from Shashthi to Vijaya Dashami when Durga is welcomed home with her children and then lovingly sent back.
In 2026
Saturday, 17 October 2026until 21 October 2026
- Tithi
- Shukla Shashthi: 16 Oct, 3:25 AM – 17 Oct, 5:54 AM
- Lunar month
- Ashvin
- Sunrise / sunset
- 5:33 AM / 5:09 PM
| Sandhi Puja | 19 Oct, 10:28 AM – 19 Oct, 11:16 AM |
|---|
- Maha Saptami: 18 October 2026
- Maha Ashtami: 19 October 2026
- Maha Navami: 19 October 2026
- Vijaya Dashami: 21 October 2026
Rule: Ashvin Shukla Shashthi to Dashami. Shashthi (Bodhon) and Maha Saptami are each the day their tithi holds at sunrise — the later day when it holds two sunrises. Maha Ashtami is the Durga Ashtami day (Ashtami at sunrise), Maha Navami the day Navami holds at aparahna, and Vijaya Dashami (visarjan, sindoor khela) the day Dashami holds at sunrise. Sandhi Puja spans the last 24 minutes of Ashtami and the first 24 of Navami.
In 2027
Tuesday, 5 October 2027until 10 October 2027
- Tithi
- Shukla Shashthi: 5 Oct, 1:36 AM – 6 Oct, 2:33 AM
- Lunar month
- Ashvin
- Sunrise / sunset
- 5:29 AM / 5:20 PM
| Sandhi Puja | 8 Oct, 6:03 AM – 8 Oct, 6:51 AM |
|---|
- Maha Saptami: 6 October 2027
- Maha Ashtami: 7 October 2027
- Maha Navami: 8 October 2027
- Vijaya Dashami: 10 October 2027
Rule: Ashvin Shukla Shashthi to Dashami. Shashthi (Bodhon) and Maha Saptami are each the day their tithi holds at sunrise — the later day when it holds two sunrises. Maha Ashtami is the Durga Ashtami day (Ashtami at sunrise), Maha Navami the day Navami holds at aparahna, and Vijaya Dashami (visarjan, sindoor khela) the day Dashami holds at sunrise. Sandhi Puja spans the last 24 minutes of Ashtami and the first 24 of Navami.
Times follow Kolkata’s sunrise and sunset. In other cities the muhurat shifts by some minutes, and occasionally the day by one. Full festival calendar
What is Durga Puja?
Durga Puja falls in the bright half of Ashvin, in the same days as Sharad Navratri, but in Bengal it has its own form and its own heart. The festival is felt as a homecoming: Durga, the daughter of the Himalaya, returns to her parents’ home for a few days each autumn with her four children, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikeya. The image shows her slaying Mahishasura, but the mood around her is that of a family welcoming back a married daughter.
The season opens on Mahalaya, the new moon that closes Pitru Paksha, when many wake before dawn to hear the recitation of the Mahishasura Mardini and remember the ancestors with tarpan. The worship itself begins six days later. Bengali tradition calls it akal bodhon, the untimely awakening: the Goddess is usually worshipped in spring, and the Krittivasi Ramayana tells that Rama awakened her in autumn to seek her blessing before his battle with Ravana.
Each of the five days has its own rites. On Shashthi evening comes the bodhon, the awakening of the Goddess at a bel tree, and the unveiling of her face. On Saptami morning the nabapatrika, a bundle of nine plants, is bathed at dawn and installed beside the image as a form of the Goddess. Maha Ashtami brings the pushpanjali offered by crowds of devotees, and at its close the Sandhi Puja, the most intense moment of the festival. Navami has the homa and the great bhog, and on Vijaya Dashami the Goddess is bid farewell and the images are immersed.
Durga Puja is also the great public festival of Bengal. Neighbourhood committees build pandals, some of them extraordinary works of art, and whole cities stay awake visiting them. The rhythm of the dhak drums, the dhunuchi dance with smoking clay censers, new clothes, food stalls and adda among friends are as much a part of the Puja as the worship. The Durga Puja of Kolkata is inscribed on UNESCO’s list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
How it is observed
- Shashthi: the bodhon and adhivas in the evening, when the Goddess is invoked at a bel tree and her face is unveiled in the pandal.
- Saptami: at dawn the nabapatrika, often called kola bou, is bathed in a river or pond and installed beside Ganesha, and the image is given life with the pran pratishtha.
- Maha Ashtami: people fast until the morning pushpanjali; in many places young girls are worshipped in the Kumari Puja.
- Sandhi Puja: in the junction of Ashtami and Navami, 108 lamps are lit and 108 lotuses offered as the Goddess is worshipped as Chamunda.
- Navami: the homa and the great bhog of khichuri, vegetables and sweets, shared with everyone who comes.
- Vijaya Dashami: the darpan visarjan, sindoor khela among married women, the immersion of the images, and Bijoya greetings and sweets with family and friends.
How the date is fixed
Durga Puja runs from Ashvin Shukla Shashthi to Dashami, as kept in Bengal: Shashthi with the bodhon in the evening, Saptami, Maha Ashtami with the Sandhi Puja, Navami, and Vijaya Dashami. Shashthi and Saptami are each the day their tithi holds at sunrise, the later day when a tithi holds two sunrises; Maha Ashtami is the day Ashtami holds at sunrise; Maha Navami is the day Navami is current in the afternoon (aparahna), which can be the same day as Ashtami; and Vijaya Dashami, with the immersion and sindoor khela, is the day Dashami holds at sunrise. The Sandhi Puja is held across the last 24 minutes of Ashtami and the first 24 minutes of Navami, so its time comes from the moment Ashtami ends. Bengali almanacs compute all of this for Kolkata, and so does this page; in other cities the times shift a little and, rarely, a day.
Where practice differs
Durga Puja in this five-day form is kept in West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar, in Bangladesh, and wherever Bengali communities live, from Delhi’s Chittaranjan Park to cities abroad. Bengali almanacs follow two traditions of calculation, and the older and newer schools sometimes give a different time for the Sandhi Puja. In Odisha the worship has its own temple traditions, and in Assam and Tripura local practices sit alongside the Bengali form. In the rest of India the same days are kept as Sharad Navratri, with Durga Ashtami and Maha Navami. The whole festival sits in the bright half, so its month is Ashvin whichever reckoning a calendar follows.
Dates and times are computed by our own engine (sunrise, tithi and kalas for New Delhi, Lahiri ayanamsa). In another city, or in an almanac of another tradition, the day can differ by one — follow your family’s tradition.
Questions people ask
What is Sandhi Puja and when is it done?
It is the worship done at the junction of Ashtami and Navami, over the last 24 minutes of Ashtami and the first 24 of Navami. It is believed to be the moment the Goddess, as Chamunda, slew the demons Chanda and Munda. The time is shown above.
What is the difference between Durga Puja and Navratri?
They fall on the same days. Navratri is kept over nine nights with fasting and daily worship of the nine forms; Durga Puja, as kept in Bengal, centres on the five days from Shashthi to Dashami, with the Goddess worshipped with her children in a clay image.
What is sindoor khela?
On Vijaya Dashami, before the image leaves for immersion, married women offer sindoor to the Goddess and then smear it on one another, wishing each other a long and happy married life.
Why does Durga Puja begin after Mahalaya?
Mahalaya is the new moon that ends Pitru Paksha. With it the fortnight of the ancestors gives way to the fortnight of the Goddess, and the worship begins on the sixth day that follows.