When is Ayudha Puja 2026?

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Timings on this page are computed for Srinagar.

The whole table below is recomputed for the city you pick. That is not cosmetic: an observance decided at moonrise, such as Karwa Chauth, can genuinely fall on a different day in two cities, and the moment the fast ends differs by more than an hour across India.

Computed for Srinagar

The date in Srinagar

Monday, 19 October 2026

Ayudha Puja is not a Gregorian date. It is Shukla paksha tithi 9 of Ashwin in the amanta reckoning, and the Gregorian day it lands on moves by up to a month between years because twelve lunations fall about eleven days short of a solar year.

Tithi

Navami, Shukla paksha

Lunar month

Ashwin (amanta)

Tithi begins

19 Oct, 10:52

Tithi ends

20 Oct, 12:51

Decided at

Aparahna (afternoon)

Aparahna in Srinagar

19 Oct, 14:30

Aparahna in Srinagar falls at 14:30 on that day, and that is the instant the tithi has to be running at for the day to carry the observance. It is computed for this city rather than assumed, because it is what decides the date.

The two instants above are the astronomy and are not in dispute. The day is an interpretation of them: this observance is decided at aparahna, so it belongs to the day whose aparahna the tithi carries — not simply to the day the tithi begins.

Meaning and observance

What is Ayudha Puja?

Ayudha Puja (Ayudha Pooja, the worship of implements) is kept on Maha Navami, the ninth day of Sharad Navratri and the eve of Vijayadashami. Tools, weapons, vehicles, machines and instruments are cleaned, marked with turmeric and kumkum, garlanded and worshipped, and they rest for the day: it honours the means by which a living is earned.

• It is kept most widely in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In Karnataka it is part of the Mysuru Dasara, when the royal weapons are worshipped at the palace; in Tamil Nadu it falls on the same day as Saraswati Puja, when books and musical instruments are worshipped too.
• In Kerala, books and tools are set down for worship (Pooja Vaippu) before Navami and taken back on Vijayadashami, the day children are initiated into their first letters (Vidyarambham).
• Vehicles get the most visible share: cars, buses, auto-rickshaws and lorries are washed and garlanded, and in many places an ash gourd is broken in front of them to ward off the evil eye.
• The date follows the rule Maha Navami does: the first day on which Navami reaches the afternoon (aparahna). Most households simply keep the day; the Navami tithi's own start and end are given above for those who wait for it.

Ayudha Puja across five years

Two years back, this year, and two ahead. Past years are kept rather than dropped so you can check the engine against a calendar you already have.

Every row is computed for Srinagar from the same ephemeris, not looked up. Sunrise decides which day a tithi names, and sunrise differs across India by more than an hour, so a date computed for Delhi can be a day out elsewhere.

Why calendars disagree about this date

There is no single authority that settles a Hindu festival date, and the divergence is genuine rather than sloppy. Three causes account for almost all of it.

1. A tithi rarely starts at sunrise. One that is running at the deciding moment on two days — or on none — is claimed by both days under different rules.
2. Month reckoning. North India runs purnimanta, the south and west amanta. The same dark fortnight carries different month names in the two, so an observance defined as "krishna X of month Y" can land a full lunation apart.
3. Which moment decides. Most vratas belong to the day whose sunrise carries the tithi, but not all: this one is decided at aparahna. Almanacs that apply the sunrise rule to everything move several festivals by a day.

So this page shows its working. If your pandit or your family almanac gives a different day, the instants above will usually show you exactly why — and that is more useful than a date asserted without one.

Related timing

• The full vrat and tyohar calendar
• Panchang for your city — tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana
• Choghadiya windows for the day
• Free kundli — see what this period touches in your own chart