Navratri 2026 Kab Hai: Sharad Navratri Dates, Ghatasthapana and the Nine Days

Sharad Navratri begins on Ashwin Shukla Pratipada, the day after Sarva Pitru Amavasya closes Pitru Paksha. In 2026 that is Sunday, 11 October. Durga Ashtami is on Monday, 19 October; Navami runs from 10:51 am on the 19th to 12:50 pm on Tuesday, 20 October; and Vijayadashami (Dussehra) is on Tuesday, 20 October. Navratri is later than usual this year because 2026 carries an extra lunar month (Adhik Maas) earlier in the year, which moves every festival after it forward.

In many traditions the nine nights are kept in three parts — the first three for Durga, the middle three for Lakshmi, the last three for Saraswati. For families who want a puja performed in their name this Navratri, Maa Lakshmi Puja is a private puja: performed for your family alone, with the sankalp in your name and gotra, on the date you choose.

The tithi shown is the one running at sunrise; the festival days follow the published panchang (Drik Panchang, New Delhi). Timings shift by a few minutes from city to city.

A tithi is not a fixed 24 hours — it runs from about 19 to 26 hours. When one tithi is long enough to be present at two consecutive sunrises it is counted twice (tithi vriddhi); when it begins and ends between two sunrises it drops out (tithi kshaya). This year Saptami is present at sunrise on both 17 and 18 October, so Navratri runs from 11 October to the morning of 20 October — ten days. Ashtami then ends on the morning of the 19th and Navami begins the same day, which is why calendars mark Maha Navami on 19 October as well, while the Navami of sunrise is the 20th (explained below). A lengthened Navratri is traditionally regarded as auspicious.

Navratri opens with Ghatasthapana (kalash sthapana): a kalash of water is set over a bed of soil sown with barley, and the Devi is invoked into it for the nine days. It is done in the morning, while Pratipada is running, and not at night or on Amavasya. For New Delhi the 2026 muhurat is 6:19 am to 10:12 am, with the Abhijit muhurat from 11:44 am to 12:31 pm. Chitra nakshatra and Vaidhriti yoga, which the texts advise avoiding for Ghatasthapana, both run through that morning this year, so many families choose the Abhijit muhurat. Timings differ by a few minutes in other cities — take yours from a local panchang. How the kalash is set and how the vrat is kept is described in Navratri vrat vidhi and rules.

In 2026 the Navami tithi begins at 10:51 am on Monday, 19 October and ends at 12:50 pm on Tuesday, 20 October (IST). It therefore touches two days, and that is why some calendars print Navami on the 19th and others on the 20th. Both are correct — they are answering different questions.The rule, as the Nirnaya Sindhu is cited for it: when Ashtami and Navami meet before evening on Ashtami day, the Ashtami puja, the Sandhi puja and the Maha Navami puja and fast are all kept on that day — 19 October. Rites that go by the Navami present at sunrise — the Navami havan, and in many North Indian homes the Navami kanya pujan and the breaking of the fast — are done on the morning of 20 October, before Navami ends at 12:50 pm. Dashami then begins and holds the afternoon, so Vijayadashami is also Tuesday, 20 October. Follow the custom of your own family: a household that has always kept Navami by the sunrise tithi keeps the 20th. Timings are for New Delhi and differ by a few minutes elsewhere in India.

Navratri is the classical season for reciting the Durga Saptashati, and for its fuller form — nine complete recitations followed by a havan. Families who want that anushthan performed in their name, with the sankalp, havan and kanya pujan done by pandits in Ujjain, can arrange it here: Navchandi Durga Puja. It is a one-day puja — five pandits, for about 6–7 hours — and Navratri dates fill early — it is best fixed before Navratri begins.