Kartik Purnima is the day two rites the whole month has been building toward finally meet. Before first light on Tuesday, 24 November 2026, comes the Kartik snan — the holy dawn bath that the month of Kartik is kept for, at its most fruitful on this, its full-moon culmination, taken at a river ghat, at Pushkar's lake, or with a little Ganga-jal at home. Then, as the day closes, the lamps go out onto the water: deepdaan, the lighting and floating of diyas at pradosh, the dusk window that in New Delhi runs 5:24 to 7:48 PM. A bath at dawn, lamps at dusk — the purnima is held between the two.
This year the full moon over those lamps is a supermoon — the second of only three in 2026 — and it rises early, at 4:56 PM in New Delhi, minutes before the sun sets, so the deepdaan opens under a moon already up, unusually large and low over the water. The purnima itself runs from 11:42 PM on 23 November to 8:23 PM on the 24th. The day is also Tripurari Purnima, marking the moment Shiva burned the demon Tripurasura's three cities with a single arrow — and two of the year's great observances, Dev Diwali on the Kashi ghats and Guru Nanak Jayanti, share the same date, each kept in its own right.
Kartik Purnima 2026 at a glance
Festival day
Tue, 24 November 2026
Tithi
Kartik Shukla Purnima
Kartik snan
Pre-dawn · Delhi sunrise 6:50 AM
Deepdaan (pradosh)
Delhi 5:24 – 7:48 PM
Supermoon moonrise
Delhi 4:56 PM
Purnima
23 Nov 11:42 PM → 24 Nov 8:23 PM
The two rites of Kartik Purnima 2026
24 November — the dawn snan and the dusk deepdaan
Kartik snan (pre-dawn)
Tuesday, 24 November 2026
Before New Delhi sunrise 6:50 AM
Deepdaan (pradosh)
New Delhi 5:24 – 7:48 PM
Supermoon moonrise 4:56 PM
The two cards mark the two ends of the day. The Kartik snan is taken before sunrise — in New Delhi the sun rises at 6:50 AM on the 24th — while the deepdaan waits for pradosh, the dusk window of 5:24 to 7:48 PM, when the lamps are set on the water. Between the dawn bath and the evening lamps fall the daan and the darshan of the full moon, this year a supermoon that has risen by 4:56 PM.
What is done on this day
Kartik snan, daan, deepdaan and the supermoon
The Kartik snan is the heart of the day. Through the whole month of Kartik the devout bathe at first light, and that daily discipline reaches its height on the purnima: a pre-dawn dip in the Ganga, in Pushkar's lake, or in any river or tank — and where none is near, a few drops of Ganga-jal in the bathing water carry the same intent. Pushkar and the Ganga ghats at Varanasi, Haridwar and Garhmukteshwar draw their largest crowds of the year for this bath. The bath is followed by daan — the giving of food, sesame, ghee, warm clothing, or a lamp to a Brahmin or to someone in need, an act held to carry special weight on this full moon. As the day turns, comes the deepdaan that gives the evening its character: earthen lamps, set in leaf-boats or lined along the ghat, are lit and floated on the river through the pradosh, in New Delhi from 5:24 to 7:48 PM. This year the lamps rise against a supermoon, the second of the three in 2026, which climbs the horizon at 4:56 PM, just before sunset, so the full moon is already up and close as the deepdaan begins.
The other great Kartik bath
Why it is Tripurari Purnima
Shiva and Tripurasura, and the day Dev Diwali and Gurpurab share
The full moon of Kartik is also called Tripuri or Tripurari Purnima, and the name carries its oldest story. The asura Tripurasura had won three great flying cities — the Tripura — from which he tormented the worlds, and they could be undone only in the single instant the three fell into a line. On this purnima Shiva loosed one arrow and burned all three at once, and for that victory he is Tripurari, the foe of Tripura; the floating lamps of the evening recall the light of that burning. The day sits at the close of Kartik, held the most sacred of the twelve months for bathing, charity and lamp-offering — which is why its final full moon gathers all three rites at their fullest. Two of the year's great observances fall on this same day and are kept in their own right: Dev Diwali, the 'Diwali of the gods,' when the stone steps of the Kashi ghats at Varanasi are lined with lakhs of lamps, and Guru Nanak Jayanti, the Prakash Parv marking the birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Each has its own page.
Dev Diwali & Guru Nanak Jayanti share this day
See the panchang and pradosh timing for your city
The deepdaan pradosh here is 5:24 to 7:48 PM for New Delhi. For your own city's sunrise, moonrise and choghadiya on 24 November — or any day — open the live panchang.
Kartik Purnima 2026 — your questions
Date, the snan and deepdaan timing, the supermoon and the shared day