When Is Deepavali 2026 — Dates and Times of All Five Days

Deepavali is not one day but five — Dhanteras, Narak Chaturdashi (Choti Diwali), Lakshmi Puja, Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj. Each day's date comes from its own tithi and its own timing rule, so in some years two festivals fall on the same day and in others a blank day falls between them. The table below works out every festival's date and key time for the city you choose.

Type your city above, or press "Nearest city to me" on a phone. "Next year" shows the whole festival for the years ahead. People asking 'deepawali kab hai' usually want to know which days Dhanteras, Choti Diwali and Bhai Dooj fall on — the 'deepavali date' for each day is in this one table.

Five days, yet six or seven dates — why

Hindu festivals follow the tithi, and a tithi can last anywhere from about 19 to 26 hours. One tithi may stretch across two sunrises; another may slip by without touching a sunrise at all. On top of that, each festival has its own timing rule — one looks at Pradosh, another at the hours before sunrise, another at the afternoon. The result:

• Sometimes Narak Chaturdashi and Lakshmi Puja fall on the same day. If Chaturdashi holds before sunrise and Amavasya begins by the afternoon, the morning bath and the evening puja share one date.
• Sometimes a day falls between Lakshmi Puja and Govardhan Puja. When the Amavasya is long and runs into the next morning, that middle day is simply "Diwali Snan".
• Sometimes Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj share a day, or Dhanteras and Kali Chaudas.

So the rule of thumb "Govardhan the day after Diwali, Bhai Dooj the day after that" is not right every year. The table works each festival out separately.

Dhanteras — Trayodashi at Pradosh

Dhanteras (Dhantrayodashi) falls on Kartik Krishna Trayodashi. The rule: the day whose Pradosh Kaal has the Trayodashi. If both days do, the same one-ghati rule as Diwali applies; if neither does, the day with Trayodashi at sunrise.

• Dhanvantari Jayanti. In tradition, on this tithi Dhanvantari, the god of Ayurveda, rose from the churning of the ocean holding the pot of nectar. So the day is also about health — *dhan* here is not only money but well-being.
• Yama Deepdan. In Pradosh, one lamp is lit outside the home facing south — for the long life and fearlessness of the family.
• Buying something new. Buying utensils, silver or some new metal is a very popular folk custom. The Kundli Milan Jyotish team describes it as custom — no purchase by itself increases wealth, and nothing beyond your means is needed.

In the table, Dhanteras's "Puja muhurat" is the overlap of Pradosh and the fixed Vrishabha lagna, just as on Diwali. The 'dhanteras date' — and the answer to 'dhanteras kab hai' — is in that row.

Narak Chaturdashi — Choti Diwali, Roop Chaudas

Kartik Krishna Chaturdashi has two faces, with different rules.

Narak Chaturdashi (Abhyang Snan) — before sunrise, while Chaturdashi is running, a bath after rubbing in oil and *ubtan*. In the Bhagavata, Krishna and Satyabhama ended Narakasura and freed more than sixteen thousand captive women, and tradition ties this victory to this tithi. In the table, the "Abhyang Snan" time runs from moonrise to sunrise, within Chaturdashi. In Rajasthan and parts of North India the day is also called Roop Chaudas — the morning bath is linked with looks and health.

Choti Diwali — the custom of lighting a few lamps that evening, as a lead-in to the big day. The 'choti diwali date' is this day. In years when Narak Chaturdashi and Lakshmi Puja share a date, no separate Choti Diwali remains.

Kali Chaudas — Chaturdashi at midnight

In Gujarat and western India the night of Chaturdashi is Kali Chaudas. The rule: the night whose Nishita (the midnight muhurta) has Chaturdashi. Mahakali and Hanuman are worshipped that night — many homes recite the Hanuman Chalisa. So Kali Chaudas often falls a day before Narak Chaturdashi: if Chaturdashi begins by night, that night is Kali Chaudas, and the bath is next morning.

We do not recommend the totke that circulate in the name of this night. Worship, recitation and lamps — that is all it needs.

Lakshmi Puja — Amavasya at Pradosh

The greatest day of the festival. The rule: the day whose Pradosh has Amavasya; if both days do, the second only when the Amavasya lasts at least one ghati that evening. The full Lakshmi Puja muhurat — Pradosh, Vrishabha lagna, Mahanishita, Simha lagna — and a simple puja at home are on our "When Is Diwali — Lakshmi Puja Muhurat" page. In Gujarat, traders worship the new account book — *Chopda Pujan* — on this evening, and in Bengal Kali Puja is done at Mahanishita that night.

Govardhan Puja, Annakut and Bali Pratipada

Govardhan Puja falls on Kartik Shukla Pratipada. The Bhagavata tells how Krishna turned the people of Vraja from worshipping Indra to honouring Mount Govardhan, the cows and nature, and lifted the mountain on one finger to shelter them from Indra's storm. In memory of this, a Govardhan is shaped from cow dung and worshipped, and the *Annakut* — a "mountain of food" — is offered.

Its date rule is the finest of all, and we confirmed it against Drik Panchang's calendars for ten cities:

• If the Pratipada begins before the end of the eighth muhurta of the day on which it begins (before about the middle of the day), Govardhan Puja is that same evening (Sayankala).
• Otherwise it is the next morning (Pratahkala).

That is why in some years western cities — Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Jaipur — keep Govardhan Puja on the evening after Lakshmi Puja, while Delhi or Kolkata keep it the following morning. The table shows "Sayankala muhurat" or "Pratahkala muhurat" accordingly. The 'govardhan puja date' is best read for your own city.

Bali Pratipada (Diwali Padwa) — in Maharashtra this day remembers King Bali and celebrates husband and wife; the wife performs the husband's aarti. Gujarati New Year (Bestu Varas) — in Gujarat the Vikram Samvat new year is counted from the day with Pratipada at sunrise, so it sometimes falls a day after Govardhan Puja. The table gives it its own row.

Bhai Dooj — Dwitiya in the afternoon

Kartik Shukla Dwitiya is Yama Dwitiya. In tradition Yama visited his sister Yamuna on this day; she put a tilak on his forehead and fed him, and Yama granted that any brother who visits his sister on this day and receives her tilak shall not know fear. Hence Bhai Dooj — Bhau Beej in Maharashtra, Bhai Bij in Gujarat, Bhai Phonta in Bengal.

The rule: the day whose Aparahna — the fourth of the day's five parts, the afternoon — has Dwitiya; if two days do, the one with more. The table's "Aparahna (tilak time)" is that window. Anyone asking 'bhai dooj kab hai' should look at this time too, because the custom is to do the tilak in the afternoon. The same day, Kayastha families perform Chitragupta Puja, worshipping pen and inkpot.

Vasu Baras and Vagh Baras — the first day

In Maharashtra the festival begins a day before Dhanteras, with Vasu Baras — Govatsa Dwadashi, the worship of the cow and calf. Gujarat calls it Vagh Baras. The rule: Dwadashi at Pradosh. Sometimes it falls on Dhanteras itself, when both Dwadashi and Trayodashi touch the same day.

The same festival, different names

A simple plan for the five days

One small, harmless thing for each day — do as much as feels natural.

Giving is the simplest practice of these days — food, lamps, clothes, or a little help with a needy family's festival. There is no race to spend and nothing to fear.

The astrological thread through the five days

Through these five days the Sun stays in Tula (Libra), and the waning Moon shrinks until it vanishes at Amavasya, then begins to grow again from Pratipada. The festival is a bridge between an ending and a beginning — the last edge of the dark fortnight (Dhanteras, Chaturdashi, Amavasya) and the first edge of the bright one (Pratipada, Dwitiya). That is why the first days are about cleaning, health, lamps and victory over darkness, and the last two about the new year, food and relationships.

Bhai Dooj and Padwa are both festivals of relationships — one of brother and sister, the other of husband and wife. The festival ends with the family.

Harmony in the family — through the charts

Every day of the festival is spent with family — mother-in-law and daughter-in-law run the kitchen together, brothers and sisters exchange tilak, the whole home sits together for the puja. Where the family is in tune, the festival feels light; where there is friction, the same days feel heavy.

The Kundli Milan Jyotish team has built two matchings for relationships at home. The Griha Shanti Kundli Milan reads the charts of any two family members together — the match of temperaments, the 4th house, speech, the running dasha and Saturn's transit. The Saas–Bahu Kundli Milan uses four kootas (gana, graha maitri, bhakoot, tara — 21 points) to show how the two temperaments meet and how the home feels. Neither report blames anyone — where something needs care, both give simple remedies for each person.

Frequently asked questions