Sharad Purnima 2026: Date, Kheer Timing & Kojagari Puja

Sharad Purnima 2026 falls on the night of Sunday, 25 October. The full moon of Ashwin month is worshipped that night, and Kojagari Lakshmi Puja is performed after moonrise.

Timings for New Delhi:

• Ashwin Purnima tithi: 11:55 am on 25 October to 9:41 am on 26 October
• Moonrise on 25 October: 5:00 pm
• Night worship and the kheer offering: after moonrise on 25 October, usually later at night when the moon is high

The Purnima night is 25 October; by the evening of 26 October the tithi has already ended. Many families still take a morning bath and give daan on 26 October, while Purnima lasts until 9:41 am. Timings vary a little by city, so check a local panchang or our daily panchang.

Four days later comes Karwa Chauth, on 29 October; see our Karwa Chauth 2026 guide.

The full moon of Ashwin, as autumn begins, is a much-loved night in the Hindu calendar, and it goes by several names:

• Sharad Purnima: the full moon of Sharad, the autumn season, when skies clear after the rains.
• Kojagari Purnima: in Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Mithila, Lakshmi is worshipped at night. The name is explained as ko jagarti, "who is awake?", and the story goes that Lakshmi moves through the land on this night asking that question and blesses homes where people are awake in devotion.
• Raas Purnima: in the Vrindavan tradition, this is the night of Krishna's Maha Raas with the gopis, and temples in Vrindavan celebrate it with special darshan.
• Kumar Purnima: in Odisha, young unmarried women keep a fast and worship the moon, in a festival named after Kumar (Kartikeya).
• Valmiki Jayanti: the birth anniversary of Maharishi Valmiki, author of the Ramayana, is marked on Ashwin Purnima.

Many devotees also keep a day-long vrat and stay up part of the night in jagran, singing bhajans and kirtan.

The best-known custom of Sharad Purnima is kheer kept under the moonlight. Families cook rice kheer in milk in the evening, offer it to Lakshmi or Krishna, and then place it on the terrace, balcony or courtyard where the moonlight falls on it. It is traditionally believed that the moon on this night is complete in all its sixteen kalas, and that its light blesses the offering. The kheer is eaten as prasad late at night or the next morning.

How families usually do it:

1. Cook the kheer in the evening and offer it at the puja.
2. After moonrise, put it in a clean steel, silver or earthen bowl where moonlight falls.
3. Cover the bowl with a fine muslin cloth or a mesh cover, so dust and insects stay out but the moonlight still reaches it.
4. Leave it for an hour or two, and then take it in.
5. Share it as prasad with the family.

A food-safety note: milk spoils quickly on a warm late-October night in many parts of India. Do not leave kheer out for many hours or overnight in warm weather. If you want to eat it the next morning, move it to the fridge after the moonlight offering. The tradition is honoured just as fully.

1. Keep a light vrat through the day if your family does, with fruit and milk.
2. In the evening, bathe and clean the puja place. In Bengal, women draw alpana (patterns in rice paste) on the floor, often with small footprints leading to the puja place.
3. Set up a chowki with a red cloth and place Lakshmi's idol or picture. Bengali homes often worship a painted clay plate (Lakshmi sara) or a kalash as Lakshmi.
4. After moonrise, light a ghee diya and incense, and take a sankalp with your name, gotra and prayer.
5. Offer water, sindoor or kumkum, flowers and naivedya: kheer, fruits, and in Bengal, khoi (popped paddy), coconut naru and other homemade sweets.
6. Pray to Lakshmi. Om Jai Lakshmi Mata is sung in many North Indian homes, and some families read the Kanakadhara Stotram. In Bengal the Lakshmi panchali, a story told in verse, is read.
7. Keep the lamp lit and stay awake for part of the night in jagran, as the name Kojagari suggests.
8. Offer arghya to the moon with water, and place the kheer in the moonlight.
9. Break the vrat with the prasad.

• Lakshmi idol or picture, a chowki and red cloth
• Ghee diya, cotton wicks, incense and camphor
• Kumkum or sindoor, haldi, akshat and chandan
• White and red flowers, and a lotus if you can find one
• Milk, rice, sugar, cardamom and dry fruit for the kheer
• Fruits, coconut, sweets, and khoi in Bengali homes
• A lota of water for the moon's arghya
• A clean bowl and a muslin cloth or mesh cover for the kheer
• Rice paste for alpana, if your family draws it

The vrat is simple. Many devotees eat no grain through the day and take fruit, milk and water, and some keep a stricter fast until the puja. Satvik food, no onion or garlic, and a calm, prayerful day are common customs. People also give daan on Purnima: food, clothes or money to those in need.

A health note: if you are pregnant, diabetic, on regular medication, elderly or unwell, speak to your doctor before fasting, and keep a light vrat with fruit and milk. Tradition itself allows this. Staying awake all night is not required either; a few hours of jagran, or a quiet prayer before sleeping, is how many families observe it.

Vrindavan's temples celebrate Raas Purnima with special darshan. If you cannot travel, you can book a temple archana at Banke Bihari through us: a pandit at the temple speaks your sankalp before Banke Bihari ji and offers flowers and prasad in your name, and we send you photo proof. The prasad is offered at the temple and distributed there. ₹1,999 all inclusive at the time of writing.

For the Kojagari Lakshmi worship, you can book a Lakshmi Archana at our verified temple in Delhi. The temple pandit chants Lakshmi's 108 names with your sankalp and offers lotus, kumkum and haldi. It takes about 30 minutes, and you receive photo proof and a completion certificate by email, typically within 24 hours. At the time of writing it costs ₹499. It is an offering alongside your own puja at home.

Diwali follows two weeks later; our Diwali 2026 Lakshmi Puja guide has the full dates and vidhi.