Diwali 2026: Lakshmi Puja Muhurat and the Five-Day Calendar

Diwali 2026 falls on Sunday, 8 November, and the Lakshmi Puja belongs to the evening: Pradosh Kaal, 5:30 PM – 7:54 PM IST in Delhi — the two and a quarter hours from sunset, during which the Amavasya tithi prevails. Those two facts, the date and the pradosh window, are the whole of the classical rule; everything else is geography and convention.

The five days of Diwali 2026

The festival is a five-day sequence, and 2026 lays it out cleanly from Friday to Tuesday. Every window below is computed by Bela’s engine for Delhi:

Day	Festival	Shubh window (IST)
Friday, 6 November	Dhanteras (Dhantrayodashi)	Abhijit Muhurat 11:43 AM – 12:26 PM
Saturday, 7 November	Naraka Chaturdashi (Choti Diwali)	Abhijit Muhurat 11:43 AM – 12:26 PM
Sunday, 8 November	Diwali — Lakshmi Puja	Pradosh Kaal 5:30 PM – 7:54 PM; Abhijit Muhurat 11:43 AM – 12:26 PM
Monday, 9 November	Govardhan Puja	Abhijit Muhurat 11:43 AM – 12:26 PM
Tuesday, 10 November	Bhai Dooj	Abhijit Muhurat 11:43 AM – 12:27 PM

Dhanteras opens the cycle with the Trayodashi prevailing at sunset — the classical evening for buying metal and lighting the first lamp. Naraka Chaturdashi is Choti Diwali, the day of the early-morning oil bath. The Amavasya night itself is the Lakshmi Puja. Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj close the sequence on the bright fortnight’s first days. All five, with their windows, are on the festivals calendar.

The Lakshmi Puja muhurat, precisely

The North-Indian rule is exact about two things. First, the day: Diwali is the day on whose evening the Amavasya (new-moon tithi) prevails at sunset — not the day the Amavasya begins, and not simply “the new moon day.” Second, the hour: the puja is performed in Pradosh Kaal, the period just after sunset, classically measured as the 2 hours 24 minutes from the setting of the Sun.

For Delhi on 8 November 2026, sunset is at 5:30 PM IST, which sets the pradosh window at 5:30 PM – 7:54 PM. Families who also want a midday option on Diwali day — for a first diya at the shop, or a quick puja with children before the evening — have the day’s Abhijit Muhurat, 11:43 AM – 12:26 PM, the universal window we covered in its own guide. The pradosh window remains the classical choice for the Lakshmi Puja proper.

Why some calendars show 7 or 8 November

If you have already seen a different date elsewhere, you have run into the most common festival divergence in panchang publishing, and it is worth understanding rather than litigating:

• The prevailing-tithi question. When the Amavasya spans two evenings, the sunset rule picks one; a calendar using a different moment (or a different city) may print the other. In 2026 the Amavasya sits cleanly on the 8th for North India, so most almanacs agree — the disagreements concentrate in boundary years.
• What the festival keys on. Some computed tables attach “Diwali (Deepavali)” to the Krishna Chaturdashi row — the tithi of Naraka Chaturdashi — which lands a day early. That is a labelling convention, not a different Amavasya; our engine’s raw table does exactly this, and the festivals page resolves it to the sunset rule while printing the basis so you can see the working.
• Geography. A tithi that prevails at sunset in Delhi may not at sunset in London. Shifts of a day across longitudes, and between Smarta and Vaishnava observance, are normal and not an error in either source.

The general lesson — ayanamsa, sunrise definitions and prevailing-tithi rules move real dates — is the subject of why panchang sites show different dates.

Using the timings well

Three practical notes for the festival week:

1. Recompute for your city. Pradosh Kaal is anchored to local sunset. Mumbai’s window runs later than Delhi’s; abroad it moves by hours. The date travels well; the clock time does not. Check your city’s panchang nearer the day — or let the Bela app place the window on your exact location.
2. The pradosh window is for the puja’s start. The tradition times the beginning of the worship; the aarti and the family’s evening unfold from there.
3. Do the big purchases on Dhanteras, not Diwali night. Trayodashi at sunset is the classical moment for the year’s metal and gold; the Amavasya evening is for Lakshmi, not shopping.

All five dates with their engine-computed windows are on the festivals calendar, and the daily panchang for your city will carry the exact pradosh timings as the window data rolls forward.