Search for the Navaratri 2026 date and time and you will meet two different answers online. Sharad Navaratri begins with Ghatasthapana on Sunday, 11 October 2026. Vijayadashami then falls on Tuesday, 20 October 2026. That runs to ten calendar days rather than nine, because one tithi stretches across two sunrises this year.
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Here are the headline dates before the detail. Every Navaratri 2026 date and time below follows Drik Panchang’s New Delhi calculation unless the line says otherwise. Shift the clock times by a few minutes for your own city.
- Ghatasthapana: Sunday, 11 October 2026.
- Ghatasthapana muhurat in New Delhi: 6:19 AM to 10:12 AM.
- Abhijit muhurat fallback: 11:44 AM to 12:31 PM.
- Pratipada tithi: 9:19 PM on 10 October until 9:30 PM on 11 October.
- Durga Ashtami and Maha Navami: Monday, 19 October 2026.
- Vijayadashami or Dussehra: Tuesday, 20 October 2026.
- Mysuru Dasara finale and Jamboo Savari: Wednesday, 21 October 2026.
- Mahalaya Amavasya, closing Pitru Paksha: Saturday, 10 October 2026.
Chaitra Navaratri already passed in March 2026. So any autumn search points to this Sharad or Ashwin cycle. Anyone typing “Navratri 2026 September” is looking in the wrong month, since the whole festival sits inside October.
Ghatasthapana falls on Sunday, 11 October 2026. The preferred window in New Delhi runs from 6:19 AM to 10:12 AM. Scripture favours the first third of the day while Pratipada tithi prevails.
If the household misses that window, Abhijit muhurat works as an accepted alternative. It runs from 11:44 AM to 12:31 PM. Drik Panchang notes that Ghatasthapana should never happen after Hindu midday. Sunrise also shifts the window, so the Navaratri 2026 date and time for the kalash moves city to city.
| City | Main muhurat | Abhijit muhurat |
|---|---|---|
| New Delhi | 6:19 AM to 10:12 AM | 11:44 AM to 12:31 PM |
| Bengaluru | 6:09 AM to 10:07 AM | 11:42 AM to 12:30 PM |
| Srinagar | 6:32 AM to 10:22 AM | 11:54 AM to 12:40 PM |
One detail deserves a mention, because devotees ask about it every year. The 2026 morning window overlaps Chitra Nakshatra and Vaidhriti Yoga. Older texts treat both as less than ideal for Ghatasthapana. Drik Panchang flags them, yet it does not class them as prohibited.
Most priests therefore proceed inside the stated hours rather than delay the kalash. Check the exact Ghatasthapana muhurat for your city before you fix the hour.
Navaratri means nine nights, yet the 2026 calendar covers ten dates. The reason is a vriddhi tithi. That simply means a lunar day long enough to touch two sunrises. Saptami does exactly that this year, covering both 17 and 18 October.
When a tithi doubles like this, two civil days carry the same label. Families still worship all nine forms of Navadurga in sequence. However, the assignment of forms to calendar dates shifts between traditions. That single quirk explains almost every disagreement between Navaratri 2026 date and time listings.
The table below follows the widely used North Indian reckoning. Treat the colour column as convention rather than scripture. Publishers list colours differently, and the sequence follows the weekday each date falls on.
| Date | Tithi | Devi | Colour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun 11 Oct | Pratipada | Shailaputri | Yellow |
| Mon 12 Oct | Dvitiya | Brahmacharini | Green |
| Tue 13 Oct | Tritiya | Chandraghanta | Grey |
| Wed 14 Oct | Chaturthi | Kushmanda | Orange |
| Thu 15 Oct | Panchami | Skandamata | White |
| Fri 16 Oct | Shashthi | Katyayani | Red |
| Sat 17 Oct | Saptami | Kalaratri | Royal blue |
| Sun 18 Oct | Saptami repeats | Mahagauri | Pink |
| Mon 19 Oct | Ashtami and Navami | Siddhidatri | Purple |
| Tue 20 Oct | Dashami | Vijayadashami | Festival close |
Lalita Panchami falls on 15 October. Saraswati Avahan then begins on 16 October in the southern reckoning.
Telugu households following the daily alankaram order can check our Navaratri Durga Ammavari alankaram list alongside this calendar. Households following a strict nine-form sequence usually place Siddhidatri on the merged Ashtami-Navami day. Others keep her on 19 October separately, so follow your family purohit rather than any published table.
This is the one real controversy in the Navaratri 2026 date and time question. Most date lists hide it. Ashtami tithi begins at 8:27 AM on 18 October and ends at 10:51 AM on 19 October.
Because the tithi misses the sunrise of 18 October, Drik Panchang merges the two days. It lists Durga Ashtami and Maha Navami together on Monday, 19 October. Sandhi Puja falls between 10:27 AM and 11:15 AM.
Other panchangams, Prokerala among them, split the two days instead. They observe Durga Ashtami with Maa Mahagauri on Sunday, 18 October. Maha Navami with Maa Siddhidatri then follows on Monday, 19 October. Neither reading is careless, since each applies a different rule for a tithi ending mid-morning.
So which do you follow? If your family already uses a particular panchangam, keep to it. Where the observance is Kanya Puja or a temple homam, follow the temple’s own announcement. The priest schedules that ritual against the panchangam his temple has always used.
Regional calendars diverge more than most national listings admit. Karnataka runs a day behind Tamil Nadu on Vijayadashami this year. That gap affects travel plans, office holidays and temple crowds.
| State or tradition | Key observance | Date |
|---|---|---|
| North India | Dussehra, Ravana dahan | Tue 20 Oct |
| Tamil Nadu | Ayudha Pooja | Mon 19 Oct |
| Tamil Nadu | Vijaya Dasami | Tue 20 Oct |
| Karnataka | Vijayadashami, Jamboo Savari | Wed 21 Oct |
| Kerala | Vidyarambham | Wed 21 Oct |
| Andhra Pradesh | Saraswati alankaram, Vijayawada | Sat 17 Oct |
Tamil Nadu’s 2026 public holiday notification lists Ayudha Pooja on Monday, 19 October. Vijaya Dasami follows on Tuesday, 20 October. Kerala keeps Vidyarambham on 21 October, since children there start letters the morning after the books leave puja. Plan school and office leave against your own state notification.
Mysuru Dasara 2026 Ends a Day Later
Karnataka’s state festival runs from Sunday, 11 October to Wednesday, 21 October 2026. The Mysuru finale therefore lands one day after the panchang Vijayadashami. The Karnataka Chief Minister announced the schedule in July 2026. Gajapooje came on 26 August, while the festival inauguration falls on 11 October.
Jamboo Savari takes place on Wednesday, 21 October. That is the golden howdah procession carrying Goddess Chamundeshwari. Several travel pages still show Mysuru Dasara 2026 as 22 September to 2 October. Those are last year’s dates copied forward.
Booking a trip against them would miss the festival by three weeks. A few other pages list Vijayadashami on 22 October, which is equally wrong. So verify any Navaratri 2026 date and time claim about Mysuru against the official schedule.
The exact procession muhurat has also appeared differently in different releases. July’s press conference gave a Pushparchane window of 4:10 PM to 4:35 PM in Meena Lagna. The official Mysuru Dasara site has since listed the floral tribute between 4:42 PM and 5:06 PM. Confirm the final timing there closer to the day.
Vijayawada Kanaka Durga Dasara 2026
Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam sits on Indrakeeladri hill. It runs an eleven-day Dasara Sharannavaratri from 11 to 21 October 2026. Moola Nakshatram falls on 17 October, when the goddess appears in Saraswati alankaram. That single day draws the heaviest crowd of the festival, and Hamsa Vahanam follows on 20 October.
The Devasthanam publishes its alankaram list and seva quotas only weeks before the festival. Ticket prices and Kumkumarchana batch timings from last year are never current. Check the temple’s official portal before travelling.
Footfall through Dasara commonly runs near a lakh of devotees a day. The hill steps also get slow after mid-morning. For daily hours outside the festival, our guide to Vijayawada Kanaka Durga Temple timings covers the regular schedule and dress code.
Durga Puja 2026 Dates in Bengal
Bengal counts the festival differently. It starts from Bodhon on Shashthi rather than from Ghatasthapana. Mahalaya falls on Saturday, 10 October 2026, marking the end of Pitru Paksha and the start of Devi Paksha.
The five main puja days are commonly listed from 16 or 17 October. They close with Vijaya Dashami on 20 or 21 October, and immersion processions run across both dates. Panjikas genuinely disagree this year because of the stretched Saptami.
So a Kolkata pandal and a Delhi calendar can print different Ashtami dates without either being careless. Confirm the Navaratri 2026 date and time with your local panjika before booking travel around Ashtami.
Three errors circulate widely. Each one has cost devotees a wasted trip in past years.
- Recycled dates. Pages carrying last year’s schedule forward are the biggest source of wrong festival dates, since lunar dates shift by roughly eleven days annually.
- One regional date shown as national. Vijayadashami is 20 October in Tamil Nadu but 21 October in Karnataka, so a single national date serves nobody.
- Booking sites posing as temple portals. If a site demands a processing fee for darshan, treat it as fraudulent.
The last point matters most during Dasara week. Ticket demand peaks then, and fake portals surface in exactly that window. Genuine temple booking always sits on the devasthanam or state endowments domain, never on a private travel site.
Crowds concentrate hard on Ashtami, Navami and Vijayadashami. If your goal is darshan rather than spectacle, the first four days work better. You get the same sanctum with a fraction of the queue.
What if tickets sell out? Special-entry quotas at major Shakti temples usually exhaust before Ashtami. Free-queue darshan continues throughout, though, and arriving before sunrise remains the most reliable route on a peak day.
Hill shrines such as Indrakeeladri and Chamundi Hill involve long stair climbs. October heat makes that harder, so carry water and pace the ascent. Fasting, long queues and steps combine into real physical demand.
A brief safety note therefore belongs in any Navaratri 2026 date and time guide. Devotees who are elderly, pregnant, diabetic or managing a heart condition should speak to a doctor first. That applies before a strict vrat or a steep climb. Ritual observance is a matter of faith and tradition, never a substitute for medical care.
If you are preparing the puja itself, our Navaratri Durga Pooja Vidhanam in Telugu covers the household ritual order step by step.
Before You Fix Your Dates
Ghatasthapana on 11 October and Vijayadashami on 20 October are the two anchors. Almost every panchangam agrees on them, so build your plans around those first. The Ashtami question and the Karnataka date need your own state calendar or family panjika.
Travel bookings should follow the regional date rather than the national one, because Mysuru and Vijayawada both run past 20 October. And if any figure here carries money, confirm it on the temple’s official portal. Sevas and ticket quotas change every season.
Sharad Navaratri 2026 starts with Ghatasthapana on Sunday, 11 October 2026. It closes with Vijayadashami on Tuesday, 20 October 2026. The observance covers ten calendar dates, because Saptami tithi spans both 17 and 18 October. Karnataka extends its Dasara celebrations to 21 October.
What is the Ghatasthapana muhurat for 2026?
In New Delhi the main window runs from 6:19 AM to 10:12 AM on 11 October 2026. Abhijit muhurat from 11:44 AM to 12:31 PM serves as the fallback. Bengaluru starts slightly earlier at 6:09 AM. Ghatasthapana should not be performed after Hindu midday.
Is Durga Ashtami on 18 or 19 October 2026?
Both dates appear in print, because Ashtami tithi ends at 10:51 AM on 19 October. Drik Panchang observes Durga Ashtami together with Maha Navami on Monday, 19 October. Prokerala and some regional panjikas keep Ashtami on Sunday, 18 October. Follow the panchangam your family or temple uses.
When is Dussehra 2026?
Dussehra or Vijayadashami falls on Tuesday, 20 October 2026 across most of India. That includes Tamil Nadu and the North. Karnataka observes Vijayadashami on Wednesday, 21 October, and Kerala marks Vidyarambham the same day.
When is Ayudha Pooja 2026 in Tamil Nadu?
The Tamil Nadu government holiday list places Ayudha Pooja on Monday, 19 October 2026. Vijaya Dasami follows on Tuesday, 20 October. Books, tools and instruments stay untouched in puja overnight, then come out on Vijaya Dasami morning. Kerala’s Vidyarambham follows on 21 October.
Saptami is a vriddhi tithi this year, so it touches two consecutive sunrises on 17 and 18 October. Two civil days therefore share one tithi label. All nine forms of Navadurga still receive worship, although tradition decides how those forms map onto the ten dates.
No. Sharad Navaratri 2026 sits entirely within October, beginning on 11 October. Chaitra Navaratri, the spring cycle, ran from 19 to 27 March 2026. Searches for a September Navaratri 2026 date and time usually come from pages that never updated last year’s schedule.
When is Jamboo Savari at Mysuru Dasara 2026?
Jamboo Savari takes place on Wednesday, 21 October 2026. The Torchlight Parade at Bannimantap runs the same evening. Mysuru Dasara itself covers 11 to 21 October. Confirm procession timings on the official Mysuru Dasara site, since the announced muhurat has already been revised once.
Major temples such as Vijayawada’s Kanaka Durga Devasthanam do release quotas through their own official portals. Availability during Dasara week stays limited and is never guaranteed. Free-queue darshan continues regardless. Book only on the temple’s official domain, because private sites charging processing fees for darshan are not authorised.
Navaratri counts from Pratipada, so it opens on 11 October 2026. Bengal’s Durga Puja counts its main days from Shashthi, around 16 or 17 October. Both traditions converge on Vijaya Dashami. Immersion in Bengal runs across 20 and 21 October 2026.