Laxmi Pujan muhurat 2026: why the puja is on November 8, not 9

Laxmi Pujan, the main worship of Diwali, falls on Sunday, 8 November 2026, even though the new-moon day (Amavasya) on which it is performed carries on until the middle of Monday, 9 November. According to the Drik Panchang almanac, the Amavasya tithi (lunar day) begins at 11:27 am on 8 November and ends at 12:31 pm on 9 November. Panchang makers place the puja on the 8th because only that evening has Amavasya running through Pradosh Kaal, the window after sunset in which, according to tradition, Lakshmi Puja should be done. The Laxmi Pujan muhurat for 2026 in New Delhi is 5:54 pm to 7:50 pm on 8 November, according to almanac listings.

A Hindu festival date is not fixed by the solar calendar but by the tithi, a lunar day defined by the angle between the sun and the moon. A tithi can begin at any hour and does not line up with midnight-to-midnight days. That is why festivals sometimes appear to fall on two dates in different calendars, and why each festival has its own rule for which day counts.

For most festivals, panchang makers use the tithi that is present at sunrise. Diwali's Lakshmi Puja follows a different rule: what matters is whether Amavasya is present in Pradosh Kaal, the period of roughly two and a half hours that begins at sunset. In 2026, Amavasya begins in the late morning of 8 November, so it covers the whole evening of the 8th. By the evening of 9 November it has already ended, at 12:31 pm. Only the 8th satisfies the evening rule, which is why the puja falls on Sunday even though the Amavasya runs into Monday morning.

Within Pradosh Kaal, almanacs mark a shorter muhurat as the preferred time for the puja. The choice of these windows is a matter of tradition and calendar convention, not a measured effect, and the exact clock times depend on each city's sunset, which is why they are listed city by city.

Peepals calculation: The 2026 Amavasya lasts about 25 hours 4 minutes (11:27 am on 8 November to 12:31 pm on 9 November). The listed muhurat runs 1 hour 56 minutes in New Delhi (5:54 pm to 7:50 pm), 1 hour 58 minutes in Kolkata (5:20 pm to 7:18 pm) and 2 hours in Mumbai (6:27 pm to 8:27 pm). Kolkata's window opens 1 hour 7 minutes before Mumbai's, because the sun sets earlier in the east. Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: Families, temples and businesses planning Diwali worship on Sunday evening can time their puja to their own city's window rather than a single national time.

Long-term: Explaining the Pradosh rule helps readers see why festival dates can differ between calendars, a question that comes up every year for Diwali and other tithi-based festivals.

Who is affected: Households celebrating Diwali, temple priests and committees, and businesses that hold Lakshmi Puja at their premises.

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