Diwali frequently asked questions

Diwali 2026 falls on Sunday, November 8. This is the night of Kartik Amavasya, the new moon of the Hindu lunar month of Kartik, and specifically the day on which that Amavasya tithi overlaps with Pradosh Kaal — the twilight window used to fix the main Lakshmi Puja date each year. The wider five-day festival runs from Dhanteras on November 6 through Bhai Dooj on November 11.

For New Delhi, the primary Lakshmi Puja muhurat on November 8, 2026 is 5:54 PM to 7:50 PM — the window where Pradosh Kaal (evening twilight) overlaps with Vrishabha Lagna, a fixed astrological sign considered ideal for inviting lasting prosperity. Alternative fixed-lagna windows exist earlier in the day (Kumbha Lagna, 1:26–2:54 PM) and late at night (Simha Lagna, past midnight into November 9) for households that can't use the primary window.

Diwali follows the Hindu lunisolar calendar, where months are measured by the moon rather than a fixed 30/31-day cycle. Twelve lunar months add up to about 354 days, roughly 11 days shorter than the solar year the Gregorian calendar uses. To keep festivals aligned with the right season, the calendar periodically inserts an extra leap month (Adhik Maas) every 2–3 years, which is why Diwali usually drifts about 11 days earlier annually, then jumps back by several weeks whenever a leap month resets the cycle.

Diwali (Lakshmi Puja) 2026 is on November 8 according to the Pradosh Kaal method used by DrikPanchang and followed by most Indian households and priests. A small number of Western holiday calendars list November 9 because they anchor the date to a fixed clock reference like midnight instead of sunset — since the Amavasya tithi is technically still active early on November 9, that method lands a day later. November 8 is the date to plan around for Lakshmi Puja.

The five days are Dhanteras (wealth and new purchases), Naraka Chaturdashi or Choti Diwali (an early ritual oil bath), Lakshmi Puja (the main night of worship, diyas, and fireworks), Govardhan Puja or Annakut (a large food offering, marking the new year in some regions), and Bhai Dooj (celebrating the bond between siblings). In 2026, Naraka Chaturdashi and Lakshmi Puja both fall on November 8 because that year's Chaturdashi tithi is too short to touch sunrise on its own separate day.

Dhanteras marks the start of the Diwali festival and falls two days before the main night — November 6, 2026. It's traditionally associated with Dhanvantari, the god of health and medicine, and is considered an auspicious day to purchase gold, silver, utensils, or other valuables, on the belief that new purchases made on this day bring lasting prosperity into the home.

Muhurat refers to an astrologically calculated auspicious time window for beginning an activity, based on the positions of the sun, moon, and rising sign (lagna) at that moment. For Diwali specifically, the muhurat that matters most is when Pradosh Kaal (evening twilight) overlaps with a fixed lagna, since a fixed sign is believed to help wealth and good fortune settle rather than pass through the home.

Yes. Muhurat windows are calculated from local sunset and the local rising sign, both of which shift with longitude and latitude. A city east of New Delhi (like Kolkata) will see its window several minutes earlier; a city west (like Mumbai or Ahmedabad) will see it slightly later. Treat any single city's published muhurat as a close reference and check a local panchang if you need to the exact minute.

Choghadiya is a separate, older timing system that divides each day and night into eight segments, cycling through seven repeating quality labels (Amrit, Shubh, Labh, Char being favorable; Kaal, Rog, Udveg being unfavorable). It's simpler to compute than fixed-lagna muhurat and is popular for everyday auspicious-timing decisions. On Diwali, the Amrit Kaal period in the late evening often lines up with a favorable Choghadiya segment, giving households a reasonable secondary window if the primary Lakshmi Puja muhurat doesn't work for them.

Each year's tithi (lunar day) lengths vary slightly because the moon's orbital speed isn't perfectly constant. In 2026, the Chaturdashi tithi that normally hosts Naraka Chaturdashi is short enough that it doesn't span a full sunrise-to-sunrise day of its own — so its rituals and the main Lakshmi Puja both get observed on November 8. This kind of overlap happens periodically and is a normal feature of lunar calendar calculations, not an error.

The core themes — lighting diyas, Lakshmi Puja, fireworks, and family gatherings — are broadly shared, but regional traditions vary. In parts of Bengal, the night is dedicated to Goddess Kali rather than Lakshmi. In Gujarat, the day after Diwali marks the start of the new business year (Bestu Varas), with Chopda Pujan rituals for account books. In South India, Naraka Chaturdashi is often the primary celebration day, marked with an early oil bath rather than the evening puja.

Every date and muhurat window on this site is calculated using the Drik Ganit Panchang method — modern positional astronomy applied to traditional Hindu calendar rules — and cross-checked against DrikPanchang.com for New Delhi, India, rather than carried over from a previous year's page. Because these are astronomical calculations with a well-defined methodology, they should match other panchang sources using the same Drik Ganit method; sources using older approximation-based (Vakya) methods may differ by a day.