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Sharad Navratri 2026

Durga Ashtami 2026

The forty-eight minutes at the Ashtami–Navami junction — the peak of Durga Puja — with the Sandhi Puja window, kanya pujan, havan, and the Maha Navami that shares the date this year.

Durga in her Mahagauri form worshipped on Maha Ashtami with red flowers, sindoor and lit lamps during the Sandhi Puja
PanchangBodh Editorial
8 min read
durga ashtami 2026durga ashtami 2026 datemaha ashtami 2026sandhi puja 2026sandhi puja timing

The high point of Durga Puja is not a whole day but forty-eight minutes. On Maha Ashtami — Monday, 19 October 2026 — the Ashtami tithi ends at 10:53 AM in New Delhi, and the calendar of the day is built around that exact moment. The Sandhi Puja is offered across the join of two tithis: the last twenty-four minutes of Ashtami and the first twenty-four of Navami, a 10:29 to 11:17 AM window that no other puja of the year occupies. It is held to be the instant the Goddess took her fiercest form to end the demons, so this is worshipped as the most charged span of the nine nights.

This year the tithis are compressed, and that changes the shape of the day. Because Ashtami closes at 10:53 AM and Navami then runs from that same moment on the 19th to 12:52 PM on the 20th, Maha Ashtami and Maha Navami are observed together on 19 October. The Ashtami puja, the kanya pujan and the havan are kept in the morning, the Sandhi Puja at the junction, and the Navami rites follow the same day rather than the next.

Durga Ashtami 2026 at a glance

🗓️

Festival day

Mon, 19 October 2026

🔱

Tithi

Ashwin Shukla Ashtami

⏳

Ashtami ends

19 Oct 10:53 AM (Delhi)

🪔

Sandhi Puja

10:29 – 11:17 AM

👧

Kanya pujan

Ashtami morning

🌅

Maha Navami

Same day, 19 October

Maha Ashtami and Sandhi Puja — the key times

The festival's two decisive moments, read from the tithi

Maha Ashtami

Mon, 19 October 2026

Ashtami ends 10:53 AM (New Delhi)

Sandhi Puja

10:29 – 11:17 AM

The 48-minute Ashtami–Navami junction

A tithi is not a clock-hour but a segment of the moon's motion, and it can begin and end at any time of day. The Sandhi — the Sanskrit for a junction or seam — is the seam between Ashtami and Navami: tradition fixes it as one danda, twenty-four minutes, on each side of the moment the tithi turns. Since Ashtami ends at 10:53 AM in New Delhi this year, that seam falls from 10:29 to 11:17 AM. The window is not chosen for convenience; it is read off the tithi itself, which is why it shifts by city and by year. Where you are, confirm your own Ashtami end time on the panchang and count the danda on each side.

Ashtami puja, kanya pujan and havan vidhi

The Ashtami worship and the girl-child puja at home

Maha Ashtami opens with the puja of Durga in her Mahagauri form, the eighth of the nine Navadurga. The murti or ghat is bathed and dressed, red flowers, sindoor and a bhog are offered, and in many homes a fast is kept until the worship is done. The day's most loved rite is the kanya pujan, also called kumari puja: young girls, taken as living forms of the Goddess, have their feet washed, receive a tilak and a red chunri, and are fed a meal of puri, halwa and black chana before being given a small gift and their blessing sought. Where a havan is done, it closes the sequence — ghee, samagri and often bilva are offered into the fire with the Durga mantras, and the Ashtami vrat is broken after it. Kumari puja is kept on Ashtami across most of North India and on Navami in the Bengali tradition; either is correct.

Why Sandhi Puja is the peak — and same-day Navami

The Ashtami–Navami junction and this year's tithi

The Sandhi Puja is the ritual heart of Durga Puja. In the katha it marks the moment the Goddess, pressed by the demons Chanda and Munda, took the form of Chamunda and destroyed them — the join of Ashtami and Navami standing for the turn from struggle to victory. Traditionally 108 earthen lamps are lit and 108 lotuses offered across the forty-eight minutes, and in the community pujas the window is announced to the minute so the offering lands exactly on the seam. Because the tithis are compressed this year, the Sandhi and the whole of Maha Navami both fall on 19 October: Navami begins at 10:53 AM, the moment Ashtami ends, and continues to 12:52 PM the next day, so the Navami puja, the concluding havan and — where it is the local custom — the Navami kanya pujan are all kept on the 19th rather than a separate date.

Live Panchang

See the Ashtami and Sandhi timing for your city

The 10:29–11:17 AM Sandhi window and the 10:53 AM Ashtami end are for New Delhi. For your own city's tithi, sunrise and muhurat on 19 October — or any day — open the live panchang.

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Durga Ashtami 2026 — your questions

Dates, Sandhi Puja, kanya pujan and Maha Navami

When is Durga Ashtami in 2026?+
Durga Ashtami — Maha Ashtami — is on Monday, 19 October 2026. It is the Ashwin Shukla Ashtami, which ends at 10:53 AM in New Delhi. Because the tithi ends that morning and Navami then fills the rest of the day, this year both Maha Ashtami and Maha Navami are observed on the 19th.
What is Sandhi Puja and when is it in 2026?+
Sandhi Puja is offered across the join of Ashtami and Navami — the last twenty-four minutes of Ashtami and the first twenty-four of Navami. With Ashtami ending at 10:53 AM in New Delhi, that window is 10:29 to 11:17 AM on 19 October. It is regarded as the holiest moment of Durga Puja, marking the Goddess taking her fiercest form to end the demons.
Why do Maha Ashtami and Maha Navami fall on the same day in 2026?+
The Ashtami tithi is short this year and ends at 10:53 AM on 19 October; Navami begins at once and runs until 12:52 PM on 20 October. Because Navami fills the rest of the 19th and the Sandhi falls that morning, the Maha Ashtami and Maha Navami worship are kept together on 19 October, with the tithi only spilling into the next midday.
How is kanya pujan done on Ashtami?+
Young girls are honoured as living forms of the Goddess. Their feet are washed, a tilak and a red chunri are given, and they are fed a meal of puri, halwa and black chana. A small gift is offered and their blessing is sought. In most of North India kanya pujan is kept on Ashtami; in the Bengali tradition kumari puja is done on Navami.
What is the Ashtami puja and havan vidhi?+
Durga is worshipped in her Mahagauri form, the eighth of the nine Navadurga. The murti or ghat is bathed and dressed, red flowers, sindoor and a bhog are offered, and a fast is kept until the puja is complete. Where a havan follows, ghee, samagri and bilva are offered into the fire with the Durga mantras, and the Ashtami vrat is broken after it.
How does Durga Ashtami connect to the rest of Navratri?+
Maha Ashtami is the eighth of the nine nights of Sharad Navratri and the peak of Durga Puja. It is followed by Maha Navami and then Vijayadashami — Dussehra — on which the Durga idols are immersed and Ravana’s effigy is burned. See the Sharad Navratri, Durga Puja and Dussehra guides for the full sequence.
Sharad Navratri 2026 →Durga Puja 2026 →Dussehra 2026 →
Source & Disclaimer: Dates and timings are computed for New Delhi, in IST, using the Lahiri ayanamsha. Tithi timings — and so the Sandhi window — shift with your city's longitude, so confirm your local Ashtami end time on the panchang before you begin. Anyone keeping the Ashtami vrat who is pregnant, unwell or elderly should follow a doctor's advice rather than a strict fast.