Dussehra 2026 — Tuesday 20 October

Dussehra 2026 — Date & Muhurat

All timings computed using Lahiri Ayanamsa Swiss Ephemeris for Hyderabad (17.385°N, 78.486°E). For exact local timings in other cities use our Today's Panchangam tool.

Significance of Dussehra 2026

Vijayadashami celebrates Goddess Durga's victory over Mahishasura and Rama's victory over Ravana. Marks the end of 9-day Sharannavaratri (Devi worship).

Key Rituals on Dussehra 2026

Shami Puja, Aparajita Devi worship, Ayudha Puja (worship of tools/vehicles), Rama Vijaya celebration, Vijayadashami procession.

Dussehra 2026 Puja Samagri Checklist (Shopping List)

Items to procure 1-2 days before Dussehra 2026:

Regional Variations of Dussehra 2026

North India: Ram Lila + Ravan Dahan effigy burning. Tamil Nadu: Ayudha Puja (Saraswati Puja); Saraswati Avahanam. Karnataka: Mysore Dasara royal procession. West Bengal: Vijaya Dashami after Durga Puja. Andhra/Telangana: Saraswati Devi visarjan + Shami puja in evening.

Vijaya Muhurat and Aparahna Kaal — which window to use

Vijayadashami rituals are timed to the afternoon, not the morning. The governing period is Aparahna Kaal, the fourth of the five parts the daylight span is divided into, and the shastras place Shami Puja, Aparajita Puja and the start of any new venture inside it. Within that period sits Vijaya Muhurat, the eleventh muhurta counted from sunrise — a short window of roughly 45 minutes whose name is the reason the day is called Vijayadashami at all.

The distinction matters in practice. Aparahna Kaal is a wide window and is the correct one for the full puja sequence, so a household that cannot assemble everyone inside the narrow Vijaya Muhurat has not missed the observance. Vijaya Muhurat is the preferred slot for the single most auspicious act — buying a vehicle, signing a contract, a child's first lesson, the symbolic first stroke of a new undertaking. Both windows shift with sunrise and sunset, which is why the timings on this page are given for Hyderabad; a reader in Chennai, Delhi or Dubai should take the local figures rather than assume the same clock time.

Ayudha Puja and Vidyarambham

Ayudha Puja is the worship of the instruments of one's livelihood, and it is the dominant Vijayadashami observance across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Tools are cleaned the previous evening and set down rather than used: a carpenter's chisels, a tailor's machine, a farmer's plough, a musician's instrument, a student's books, and — near-universally now — vehicles and computers. They are arranged before an image of the deity, marked with sandalwood, kumkum and turmeric, garlanded, and left idle for the day. Work resumes only afterwards. The idea beneath it is that skill is borrowed rather than owned, and the day acknowledges the source.

In many families Ayudha Puja runs together with Saraswati Puja, since the goddess of learning presides over every one of those instruments. Books and instruments placed for worship on Maha Navami are taken back up on Vijayadashami, which is where Vidyarambham comes from — the formal beginning of learning. A child of about three to five is seated in a parent's or elder's lap, and their finger is guided to trace the first letters in a tray of raw rice or on the temple floor, often the syllable "Om" or "Hari Sri Ganapataye Namah". The practice is strongest in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where temples run organised Vidyarambham sittings from dawn, but the same logic — that Vijayadashami is the correct day to start anything you intend to be good at — is why admissions, apprenticeships and new ventures cluster on this date across the country.

Shami Puja and the Jammi leaf

The Shami tree (Prosopis cineraria, జమ్మి చెట్టు in Telugu, vanni maram in Tamil) carries two stories that converge on this day. In the Mahabharata the Pandavas, entering their final year of concealment, hid their weapons in the hollow of a Shami tree and retrieved them on Vijayadashami before Arjuna fought the Kaurava force at Virata — so the tree is where strength waits out its exile. In the Ramayana tradition Rama is said to have worshipped the same tree before marching on Lanka.

The ritual follows from the story. In the evening families visit a Shami tree, offer water, kumkum and akshat, circumambulate it, and pluck a few leaves. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana those leaves are then exchanged as bangaram — gold — with elders touched at the feet and the leaf pressed into their hands, and the greeting carries a wish for prosperity rather than a simple festival greeting. In Maharashtra the same exchange uses apta leaves and is called sona lutne. Where no Shami tree is within reach, a branch or a few leaves brought home serve, and the puja is performed at the household altar.

How Dussehra changes across India

Karnataka — Mysuru Dasara. The state festival, and the most elaborate public Dussehra in the country. The Mysore Palace is lit each evening of the ten days, and Vijayadashami closes with the Jamboo Savari: the idol of Chamundeshwari carried in a golden howdah on a caparisoned elephant, in procession from the palace to Bannimantap, where Banni (Shami) puja is performed. The Wadiyar dynasty's patronage is what turned a temple observance into a civic one.

Himachal Pradesh — Kullu Dussehra. Kullu inverts the calendar: its festival begins on Vijayadashami, the day the rest of the country finishes, and runs about a week. There is no Ravana effigy. Village deities from across the valley are carried in palanquins to Dhalpur maidan to attend Lord Raghunath, whose rath is drawn by the assembled crowd.

Chhattisgarh — Bastar Dussehra. The longest of them all, stretching roughly seventy-five days. It is not a Rama festival at all; it honours Danteshwari Devi, the tribal clan deity, and its rituals — the Rath Yatra with a wooden chariot built fresh each year by local artisan families — belong to Bastar's own tradition rather than to the pan-Indian narrative.

West Bengal, Odisha and Assam — Vijaya Dashami. The tenth day closes Durga Puja. The idols are taken in procession to a river or tank for bisarjan, and before they leave the pandal married women perform Sindoor Khela, smearing vermilion on the goddess and then on each other. The mood is a farewell — Durga returning to Kailasa after her annual visit home — rather than a victory celebration.

North India — Ram Lila and Ravan Dahan. Through Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab and Haryana the nine preceding nights are given to Ram Lila, a staged retelling of the Ramayana. On the tenth evening towering effigies of Ravana, Meghnad and Kumbhakarna, packed with fireworks, are set alight in open grounds. Ramnagar near Varanasi runs the oldest and longest cycle.

Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The emphasis falls on Golu — tiered displays of dolls and figurines arranged over the nine nights — and on Saraswati Puja, Ayudha Puja and Vidyarambham on the tenth. Kerala's Vidyarambham at Thunchan Parambu and Panachikkadu draws thousands of first lessons in a single morning.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Dasara here is the culmination of Devi Sharannavaratri, with the goddess adorned in a different alankaram each of the nine days. Vijayadashami brings Saraswati visarjan, Ayudha Puja, and the evening Shami puja with the Jammi leaf exchange. In Telangana the nine days run in parallel with Bathukamma, the flower-stacking festival, whose final Saddula Bathukamma falls on the eve of Dasara.

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