Durga Puja 2026: Dates, Sandhi Puja Timing and the Full Bengali Ritual Calendar

Last updated: 23 September 2026 · By the Divine Hindu Team · ~14 min read

Durga Puja 2026 — the complete calendar

Dates and tithi boundaries below are calculated for Kolkata. Tithi timings shift with local sunrise, so a household in Delhi, Mumbai or Guwahati should expect the clock figures to move a little.

The underlying tithis, Kolkata

Mahalaya — the morning the Devi is invited

Mahalaya is Amavasya, the last day of Pitru Paksha. Men gather at the Ganga ghats before dawn to offer tarpan — water, black sesame, rice and flowers — to three generations of ancestors. The fortnight of the dead ends, and Devi Paksha begins the same morning. For the shraddh side of that fortnight, see our Pitru Paksha 2026 guide.

And at four in the morning, across Bengal, radios are switched on for Mahishasuramardini. The ninety-minute Chandipath montage was written by Bani Kumar, scored by Pankaj Mullick and narrated by Birendra Krishna Bhadra, and it has aired on All India Radio since 1931. It was performed live every year until 1966; only since then has the recording been played. In 1976 the station replaced it with a remake starring Uttam Kumar; listeners rejected it so completely that All India Radio restored Bhadra's version the following year and has never tried again.

One correction worth making: Birendra Krishna Bhadra narrated the programme. He did not write it and did not compose the music.

Maha Shashthi — Bodhon, Amantran, Adhibas

Four rites fall on Shashthi, and popular coverage tends to collapse them into one. They are distinct.

• Kalparambha — the sankalpa, the formal vow to conduct the puja, taken in the morning with a water-filled ghata installed in a corner of the mandap. It is Bengal's counterpart to Ghatasthapana.
• Bodhon, or Akal Bodhon — the awakening. The gods sleep through Dakshinayana, so autumn worship is akal, untimely; tradition traces it to Rama, who woke the Devi out of season before marching on Ravana. A copper vessel of water is placed at the foot of the bel tree at Sanyakal, roughly two and a half hours before sunset.
• Adhibas — sanctification. Durga and the bel tree are worshipped together and touched with twenty-six auspicious articles, and a red thread is tied around the altar.
• Amantran — the invitation proper, asking the goddess to accept the following day's worship.

Note that Bilva Nimantran falls a day earlier in 2026, on 16 October between 02:51 and 05:11 PM. It is not the same rite as Bodhon, though the two are constantly confused.

Maha Saptami and the Nabapatrika

Saptami opens before dawn with the Nabapatrika snan. Nine plants are bound together with white aparajita creeper and nine bunches of yellow thread, carried in procession to a river or tank, and bathed with water drawn from eight sacred sources — each poured to its own raga. The bundle is then draped in a red-bordered sari, marked with sindoor, and seated to the right of Ganesha for the rest of the festival.

Panchangs outside Bengal sometimes substitute daruhaldi and amaltas for kochu and maankochu, and give no goddess mapping at all. The list above follows Bengali practice.

Is Kola Bou really Ganesha's wife? No.

This is the single most repeated error about Durga Puja, and it is worth correcting plainly. Kola Bou is the Nabapatrika — the nine plants as a single deity, nine forms of Durga herself in vegetative form. The rite is older than image worship and began as a harvest observance, a prayer for the standing crop.

The nickname arose for a purely visual reason. After her bath the bundle is dressed in a sari and set down to the right of Ganesha, where she looks exactly like a new bride standing beside him. The folk story that follows — the banana tree, the daughter-in-law — is a later invention, not scripture. Kola Bou is not married to anyone. She is the Devi.

The rest of Saptami follows a fixed order: Mahasnan, the great bath, performed on the goddess's reflection in a mirror rather than on the clay itself; then Prana Pratishtha, the installation of life in the image; then the sixteen-step Shodashopachar puja, bhog and arati. Prana pratishtha is done once only, on Saptami — a useful fact to hold on to, because the popular claim that the goddess comes alive when her eyes are painted at Mahalaya does not match the ritual texts. Chokkhu daan is the artisan's rite in the studio, and in practice it now happens whenever the delivery schedule demands.

Maha Ashtami — Anjali, Kumari Puja and Sandhi Puja

Ashtami is the heart of the festival. Pushpanjali is offered in batches through the morning; at Belur Math the puja begins at 5:30 AM. Nine flagged pots are installed and the Nine Shaktis invoked, then the sixty-four yoginis, then Navadurga.

Kumari Puja

A young girl is seated and worshipped as the Devi herself, receiving the same offerings as the image. The practice was introduced at Belur Math by Swami Vivekananda in 1901, at the monastery's first Durga Puja. He worshipped several Kumaris that year; today one is worshipped. In 2026 the Belur Math Kumari Puja begins at 9:00 AM on 19 October.

The classical scheme names the Kumari by age:

A one-year-old is excluded, and ten is the upper limit. A separate Tantric tradition names sixteen Kumaris from ages one to sixteen; the two lists come from different texts and should not be merged.

Sandhi Puja — 10:27 to 11:15 AM, Monday 19 October 2026

Sandhi Puja sits on the seam between Ashtami and Navami. It lasts two ghatis — forty-eight minutes: the last twenty-four of Ashtami and the first twenty-four of Navami. Ashtami ends at 10:51 AM this year, which places the window squarely in the late morning.

It is not a dusk ritual. The name refers to the junction of two tithis, not to the junction of day and night, and it can fall at any hour. In 2026 it falls mid-morning on a Monday, and a great many families will need to plan around a working day.

The rite commemorates a specific episode. Chanda and Munda attacked from behind, breaking the rules of combat; the goddess's face darkened with rage, she opened her third eye, and Chamunda sprang from it and beheaded them both — the name is built from the two demons' names. It belongs to the Shumbha–Nishumbha cycle in the third part of the Chandi, not to the Mahishasura story.

108 earthen lamps are lit together for the duration and 108 lotuses offered. In the old zamindari pujas the opening instant was marked with cannon fire or a roll of the dhak.

Belur Math prints the 2026 window as 10:28 to 11:16 AM, calculated under the Vishuddha Siddhanta almanac. Households following the Gupta Press or Benimadhab Sil panjika will find a materially different time. These are distinct calendrical schools, not errors — follow your family's panjika and do not blend the two.

Maha Navami — Homa and bali

Navami brings the Chandi Homa: all seven hundred verses of the Durga Saptashati recited with an aahuti offered at each. It is a daytime rite and takes two to three hours at minimum. At Belur Math it follows the bhog arati on 20 October.

On bali, a plain answer, since it is asked constantly. Most pujas today offer a symbolic bali — banana, cucumber, white pumpkin, ash gourd or sugarcane. Belur Math has never performed animal sacrifice. Swami Vivekananda proposed it in 1901 and Holy Mother Sarada Devi forbade it; the monastery has offered a banana at Sandhi Puja and white pumpkin and sugarcane on Navami ever since. Practice elsewhere varies by family and by temple.

Bijoya Dashami — the mirror, the sindoor and the river

Darpan Bisorjon comes first, in the morning. A vessel of water is placed before the goddess and a mirror angled so that her reflection falls into it; the reflection is then immersed. In ritual terms this is the immersion — the river that follows is the farewell to the clay.

Sindoor Khela follows in the evening. Married women apply sindoor to the goddess's forehead and feet and then to one another's faces, shankha, pala and noa, and sweets are exchanged. The custom was historically closed to unmarried women and widows; that has been changing, and many pandals now open it to all women.

Dhunuchi naach runs through the arati from Ashtami onward — the dance performed holding burning incense in earthen dhunuchis, one in each hand, sometimes a third in the mouth, to the beat of the dhak.

Then Bisorjon: the image and the Nabapatrika are carried to the river, and shanti jal from the spot is sprinkled over the devotees on return. Finally Kolakuli — the embrace — and Shubho Bijoya, with sweets pressed on everyone who passes.

What is different about Durga Puja 2026

Several state-level arrangements have changed this year and are already public:

• The Red Road Durga Puja Carnival has been scrapped.
• The flagship Mahalaya programme moves to Eden Gardens on 10 October, with a drone display and fireworks.
• Pandals may not open or hold public inaugurations before Mahalaya.
• Liquor sale is banned statewide on Maha Ashtami, 19 October.
• DJs are banned during the festival and during immersion processions.
• Immersion must be completed by 24 October, ahead of Kojagari Lakshmi Puja on the 25th. Individual immersion dates still follow the traditional panjikas rather than administrative order.
• Organisers have been barred from blocking national highways and major thoroughfares.

As of 23 September 2026 the Kolkata Traffic Police had not published its puja route map, ghat-wise immersion schedule or metro timings for this year. Check the official notification when it appears rather than relying on last year's map.

Preparing at home

Households that keep the puja at home rather than at a pandal will want most of the following. Treat it as a preparation list and skip whatever you already own.

Bringing the Devi home

Maa Durga Brass Idol₹2,151 Maa Durga Pocket Temple₹1,299 Maa Durga Pendant with Chain₹899 Durga Mata 3D Crystal Ball₹699

For the puja itself

Brass Pooja Thaal · Set of 5₹2,101 Brass Akhand Jyot Oil Diya₹1,499 Divya Jyoti Glass Diya₹399 Natural Chandan Agarbatti₹179

Prices shown were current when this page was last updated; check the product page before ordering. Flowers, bhog ingredients and the earthen lamps for Sandhi Puja are bought locally.

What comes next

Bijoya Dashami on 21 October is followed by Kojagari Lakshmi Puja and Sharad Purnima on 25 October, Kartik month from 27 October, Karwa Chauth on 29 October, Dhanteras on 6 November, Diwali and Kali Puja on 8 November, and Chhath Puja from 13 to 16 November. For the all-India tenth day, see our Dussehra 2026 guide; for the year as a whole, the Hindu Festival Calendar 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is Durga Puja 2026 in Kolkata?

In West Bengal the five main days are Maha Shashthi on 17 October, Maha Saptami on 18 October, Maha Ashtami on 19 October, Maha Navami on 20 October and Bijoya Dashami on 21 October 2026, with Mahalaya on 10 October.

Why are Bengal's Durga Puja dates a day later than the rest of India in 2026?

West Bengal fixes the days by the para-viddha rule, under which a tithi must still be running for at least one muhurta after sunrise to claim that day, while most of India uses purva-viddha. That is why the all-India reckoning puts Durga Ashtami and Maha Navami together on 19 October, but Bengal keeps Maha Navami on 20 October and Bijoya Dashami on 21 October.

What time is Sandhi Puja in 2026?

Sandhi Puja runs from 10:27 to 11:15 AM on Monday 19 October 2026, spanning the end of Ashtami tithi at 10:51 AM. Belur Math prints the window as 10:28 to 11:16 AM under the Vishuddha Siddhanta almanac.

Why does Sandhi Puja last exactly 48 minutes?

It occupies two ghatis — the final twenty-four minutes of Ashtami and the first twenty-four minutes of Navami. It commemorates the moment Chamunda emerged from the goddess's third eye to kill Chanda and Munda, and despite the name it can fall at any hour of the day rather than at dusk.

Is Kola Bou Ganesha's wife?

No. Kola Bou is the Nabapatrika, a bundle of nine plants representing nine forms of Durga herself. The nickname arose only because after her ritual bath she is dressed in a sari and placed to Ganesha's right, where she resembles a bride standing beside him.

What is the Mahalaya radio programme and when does it air?

Mahishasuramardini was written by Bani Kumar, scored by Pankaj Mullick and narrated by Birendra Krishna Bhadra, and has aired on All India Radio at 4 AM on Mahalaya since 1931. It was performed live each year until 1966 and has been broadcast from a recording since.

Is animal sacrifice still performed at Durga Puja?

Most pujas now offer a symbolic bali of banana, cucumber, white pumpkin, ash gourd or sugarcane. Belur Math has never performed animal sacrifice — Holy Mother Sarada Devi forbade it in 1901 — and offers a banana at Sandhi Puja with white pumpkin and sugarcane on Navami.

When are the idols immersed in 2026?

Bengal's Durga Visarjan falls on Wednesday 21 October 2026, and the West Bengal government has asked all organisers to complete immersion by 24 October, ahead of Kojagari Lakshmi Puja on 25 October.

Tithi timings on this page are calculated for Kolkata and shift with local sunrise. Where calendrical schools genuinely differ — as they do between the Vishuddha Siddhanta and the Gupta Press panjikas — we have said so rather than choosing one. Confirm with your family purohit before fixing a ritual time.