Durga Puja 2026 full schedule computed from the tithis: Mahalaya 8 October, Maha Shashthi 14 October, Maha Saptami 15 October, Maha Ashtami 16 October, Maha Navami 17 October, Vijayadashami 19 October — with the tithi behind each date shown.
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Durga Puja 2026 — the Bengali festival of the Goddess, from Mahalaya through Vijayadashami in October 2026. The schedule below computes each day from its tithi: Maha Shashthi, Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Navami and Vijayadashami.
Durga Puja is dated by the Ashwin Shukla tithis: the goddess is awakened on Shashthi (Bodhon), worshipped through Saptami, Ashtami and Navami, and immersed on Dashami. Mahalaya — the amavasya that closes Pitru Paksha a fortnight earlier — opens the countdown, with Mahishasura Mardini playing at dawn across Bengal. Every date in the schedule is computed from the tithi at the reference meridian, and each row shows WHICH tithi it is, so when two panjikas disagree by a day you can see exactly why.
Each day is resolved from its tithi at the reference meridian. The tithi column shows WHY each date is what it is — and where two panjikas could differ.
| Day | Date | Tithi | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mahalaya | 8 October 2026 · Thu | Ashwin Krishna Amavasya | Pitru Paksha closes; Mahishasura Mardini at dawn opens the Puja countdown in Bengal. |
| Maha Shashthi | 14 October 2026 · Wed | Ashwin Shukla Shashthi | Bodhon — the goddess is awakened; the face of the murti is unveiled at Kalparambha. |
| Maha Saptami | 15 October 2026 · Thu | Ashwin Shukla Saptami | Nabapatrika snan at dawn; the first day of full puja. |
| Maha Ashtami | 16 October 2026 · Fri | Ashwin Shukla Ashtami | Kumari Puja and the Sandhi Puja window straddling the Ashtami–Navami boundary. |
| Maha Navami | 17 October 2026 · Sat | Ashwin Shukla Navami | The concluding maha-arati; bhog is offered and distributed. |
| Vijayadashami | 19 October 2026 · Mon | Ashwin Shukla Dashami | Sindoor khela and bisorjon — the immersion processions; Dussehra across the rest of India. |
Computed 2026-08-17 · dates resolved for New Delhi, IST — the reference meridian printed panchangs use. The same tithi can resolve to a different civil date elsewhere on Earth.
The computed 2026 schedule runs in mid-October: Mahalaya on 8 October, Maha Shashthi on 14 October, Maha Saptami on 15 October, Maha Ashtami on 16 October, Maha Navami on 17 October and Vijayadashami on 19 October (each date resolved from its tithi at the New Delhi reference meridian — see the schedule table for the tithi behind each day).
A tithi rarely aligns with the civil day: it can begin mid-morning and end before the next sunrise. Different panjika schools (Drik-siddha observed-sky vs the older Bishuddha Siddhanta tables) and different reference cities resolve such edge days differently. This page computes from the observed sky and shows the tithi for each day, so a one-day difference elsewhere is explainable, not mysterious.
They share the same fortnight and the same final tithi. Shardiya Navratri is the nine-night observance from Ashwin Shukla Pratipada, kept with fasting across North and West India. Durga Puja is the Bengali form, concentrated on Shashthi through Dashami, kept with pandals, bhog and immersion rather than fasting.
Positions from the shared Lahiri-sidereal ephemeris; sunrise by the NOAA solar calculator. Every date above is computed, not stored. How AskSoma computes things.
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AskSoma publishes this page. The explanatory writing is AI-drafted — by Soma, the same AI astrologer that answers inside the app — and published by the AskSoma team. No individual human author is credited, because none wrote it.
The astrology is not written from memory: every chart position, dasha period and panchang timing AskSoma shows is computed with the Swiss Ephemeris on the Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) ayanamsa. How we calculate.