Kartik Amavasya in 2026 falls on Monday, 9 November — and the day it belongs to is easy to mistake. The Diwali night of Lakshmi puja was the evening before, on 8 November, kept at pradosh when this same amavasya had only just begun. The amavasya day is the 9th, and it carries its own, quieter set of rites: the Kartik holy bath, daan, and tarpan to the ancestors. Amavasya is the tithi of the pitru, the departed, so it is on the dark-moon morning that water and offerings are given in their name — not on the lamp-lit evening before it.
Two things make the 9th stand apart this year. It is a Somvati Amavasya — the new moon landing on a Monday, which does not happen every Kartik — and a Monday amavasya is held especially fruitful for snan, daan and tarpan; married women keep a vrat and circle the peepal for the long life of their husband. The same day is Kamala Jayanti, the appearance of Kamala, the Lakshmi-form among the ten Mahavidyas. One caution on the clock: the amavasya is present only until 12:33 PM on the 9th, so the bath, the charity and the tarpan are all morning work, finished before the tithi turns.
Kartik Amavasya 2026 at a glance
Amavasya day
Mon, 9 November 2026
Tithi
Kartik Krishna Amavasya
Amavasya until
9 Nov · 12:33 PM
Somvati (Monday)
Snan-daan & pitru tarpan
Also
Kamala Jayanti
Diwali eve was
8 Nov — Lakshmi puja
Kartik & Somvati Amavasya 2026
9 November — amavasya present until 12:33 PM
Kartik / Somvati Amavasya
Monday, 9 November 2026
Amavasya present until 12:33 PM
Snan-daan & tarpan
Morning, before noon
The holy bath, charity and pitru tarpan
Both cards point to the same morning. The amavasya is present on the 9th only until 12:33 PM, so the snan, the daan and the tarpan are all kept before noon, while the tithi still runs. This is the amavasya day proper — distinct from the Diwali Lakshmi puja, which was done at dusk the evening before.
What is done on this day
Kartik snan, daan, pitru tarpan and the Somvati vrat
The morning opens with the Kartik snan, the holy bath the whole month of Kartik is known for — taken at first light in a river or a sacred tank, or at home with a little Ganga-jal added to the water where a river is out of reach. The bath is followed by daan: giving food, sesame, warm clothing, a lamp or a coin to a Brahmin or to someone in need, an act held to carry special weight on an amavasya. For the departed there is tarpan — water mixed with black sesame, offered with the sacred thread worn over the right shoulder, in the name of the ancestors, so that the pitru are nourished on the tithi that is theirs. Married women who keep the Somvati vrat fast through the day and circle the peepal tree, winding a thread around it, praying for the wellbeing and long life of their husband.
The full tarpan vidhi
Why a Somvati Amavasya is special
And how it differs from the Diwali evening
A Somvati Amavasya — an amavasya that falls on Somvar, Monday, the Moon's own day — is uncommon, and tradition treats the coincidence as especially fruitful for the dark-moon rites. The Moon governs the mind and the waters, and on the one amavasya it rules, a bath, a gift and an offering to the ancestors are said to reach further. That is what sets 9 November 2026 apart from an ordinary Kartik Amavasya. The place people slip is the join with Diwali. The Lakshmi puja of Diwali falls on this very amavasya — but at pradosh, the dusk, and in 2026 that dusk was the evening of 8 November, when the amavasya had newly begun. Lamps, Lakshmi and Ganesha belong to that evening. The morning of the 9th, with the tithi still running to 12:33 PM, is the amavasya's other face — not lamps and wealth, but water, charity and the ancestors. One tithi, two observances a night apart: kept separate, each is done at its right time.
8 Nov evening ≠ 9 Nov morning
See the panchang and tithi timing for your city
The tables here have the amavasya present until 12:33 PM on 9 November. For your own city's sunrise, tithi and choghadiya on the 9th — or any day — open the live panchang.
Kartik Amavasya 2026 — your questions
Date, timing, Somvati and the Diwali difference