Diwali 2026

Diwali 2026 falls on Sunday, 8 November 2026. The day is Kartika Krishna Amavasya (amanta Ashwina Krishna), and the tithi is tested at pradosha — the three muhurtas after sunset.

The date, and how it was decided

Diwali 2026 falls on Sunday, 8 November 2026.

The day is Kartika Krishna Amavasya (amanta Ashwina Krishna). The tithi alone does not fix the date: a tithi rarely fills a civil day, so a festival names the period its tithi has to be running in. For Diwali that period is pradosha, the three muhurtas after sunset. This is the window the puja is kept in.

Diwali is not simply the day of the new moon, and in most years it is not the day the amavasya touches sunrise. The amavasya has to be running during pradosha, the twilight after sunset, because that is when the lamps are lit and Lakshmi Puja is kept. In 2026 the tithi at sunrise on 8 November is still chaturdashi; the amavasya begins during that day, covers pradosha, and runs on past the next morning's sunrise. A rule that simply took the tithi at sunrise would have printed the 9th.

Pradosha in your city

This is the window the puja is kept in. It is set by the Sun at your own horizon, so it is not the same time across the country — the spread below is about forty minutes end to end.

This is the whole of pradosha, computed as the three muhurtas after sunset at that city's own sunrise and sunset. Almanacs often also print a narrower muhurat inside it, chosen for a fixed sign rising rather than for the tithi; if you have seen a shorter window elsewhere, that is what it was, and it sits inside this one.

Other dates in 2026

Sharad Navratri · Vijayadashami · Dhanteras

How a tithi is computed · Why the day starts at sunrise