Akshaya Navami 2026: Amla Navami puja falls on Wednesday, November 18

Akshaya Navami, also called Amla Navami, falls on Wednesday, November 18, 2026, according to the major published panchangs (Hindu almanacs). Their calculations place the Navami tithi, the ninth lunar day of the bright half of Kartik, from about 6:04 am on November 18 to about 7:05 am on November 19 for New Delhi, with the forenoon puja window, the Purvahna, from 6:46 am to 12:06 pm on November 18. Gopashtami, the festival of cows, falls the day before, on Tuesday, November 17.

Hindu festivals are fixed by the lunar calendar, in which a tithi is the time the moon takes to gain 12 degrees on the sun. Because a tithi can start at any hour and lasts roughly a day, the panchangs need a rule to decide which civil day a festival belongs to. For Akshaya Navami, the deciding part of the day is the Purvahna, the forenoon, when the main worship is done.

In 2026 the answer is clear. Navami begins at about 6:04 am on November 18, around sunrise, and so covers the whole forenoon of that day. On November 19 it ends at about 7:05 am, early in the morning, so the forenoon of the 19th falls in the next tithi, Dashami. That makes November 18 the festival day in all the major almanacs. The small differences between them, a minute here or there, come from the place for which each one calculates sunrise and the moon's position.

According to tradition, Akshaya Navami is the day on which the Satya Yuga began; it is sometimes called Satya Yugadi for that reason. The name akshaya is understood as "that which does not diminish", and the belief is that charity and worship on this day bring merit that does not diminish. The day is closely tied to the amla, or Indian gooseberry, tree, which devotees regard as sacred and as an abode of Vishnu. Families bathe early, offer water or milk at the root of an amla tree, worship sitting under it and, in many homes, cook and share a meal beneath it. These are matters of belief and custom, described as the tradition holds them.

Gopashtami, the day before, is linked in tradition to Krishna's role as a cowherd. Temples and gaushalas (cow shelters) mark it by bathing and decorating cows and offering them jaggery and other food.

Short-term: Families who keep the Akshaya Navami puja, and temples and gaushalas planning Gopashtami, can plan for November 17 and 18. The forenoon of November 18 is the window most panchangs give for the main worship.

Long-term: Knowing the rule behind the date, a tithi present in the part of the day the ritual needs, helps readers judge for themselves why festival dates move every year and why almanacs differ slightly.

Who is affected: Households that mark Amla Navami, devotees in West Bengal preparing for Jagaddhatri Puja, temples, gaushalas, and anyone who follows the Kartik festival calendar.

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