Kartika Purnima 2026 — Tuesday 24 November
కార్తీక పూర్ణిమ 2026
Kartika Shudda Pournami · Karthika Pournami / Deva Diwali / Tripuri Purnima · Pradosh Kaal 17:39 – 20:13 IST · Karthika Deepam lighting (Hyderabad)
Kartika Purnima 2026 (also called Karthika Pournami / Deva Diwali / Tripuri Purnima) falls on Tuesday, 24 November 2026. Full moon of the most sacred Kartika month. Marks Tripurasura Samhara — Shiva's slaying of the three demon-cities (Tripura). Devas illuminated Varanasi's ghats — hence Deva Diwali. Also marks the day of Lord Kartikeya's birth (Skanda Sashti adjacent). Primary observance: Karthika Deepam (108 lamps at Tulsi tree + temple), Sacred bath at sunrise (Varanasi / Pushkar / Godavari), Vana Bhojanam (forest picnic with family), Shiva worship + Vishnu worship, Karthika Snanam (river bath). Recommended muhurat: Pradosh Kaal 17:39 – 20:13 IST · Karthika Deepam lighting (Hyderabad).
Kartika Purnima 2026 — Date & Muhurat
| Festival Date | Tuesday, 24 November 2026 |
| Telugu Masa & Tithi | Kartika Shudda Pournami |
| Primary Muhurat | Pradosh Kaal 17:39 – 20:13 IST · Karthika Deepam lighting (Hyderabad) |
| Alternative Names | Karthika Pournami / Deva Diwali / Tripuri Purnima |
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 Kartika Purnima 2026
Full moon of the most sacred Kartika month. Marks Tripurasura Samhara — Shiva's slaying of the three demon-cities (Tripura). Devas illuminated Varanasi's ghats — hence Deva Diwali. Also marks the day of Lord Kartikeya's birth (Skanda Sashti adjacent).
Key Rituals on Kartika Purnima 2026
Karthika Deepam (108 lamps at Tulsi tree + temple), Sacred bath at sunrise (Varanasi / Pushkar / Godavari), Vana Bhojanam (forest picnic with family), Shiva worship + Vishnu worship, Karthika Snanam (river bath).
Kartika Purnima 2026 Puja Samagri Checklist (Shopping List)
Items to procure 1-2 days before Kartika Purnima 2026:
| # | Item |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sesame oil + 108 cotton wicks (for Karthika Deepam) |
| 2 | Tulasi plant (Brindavanam) |
| 3 | Banana leaf |
| 4 | Coconut + bananas |
| 5 | Akshat + kumkum + turmeric |
| 6 | White + yellow flowers |
| 7 | Bilva leaves |
| 8 | Camphor + ghee |
| 9 | Naivedyam: pulihora, garelu, payasam |
| 10 | Shiva Linga + Vishnu Saligramam |
Regional Variations of Kartika Purnima 2026
Andhra: Karthika Deepam (most important festival of Kartika month). Tamil Nadu: Karthigai Deepam — Tiruvannamalai Arunachaleshwar hill-top deepam (massive). Varanasi: Dev Deepawali on ghats. Punjab: Guru Nanak Jayanti same day. Pushkar: famous camel fair. Nepal: Bala Chaturthi.
The Many Observances of One Full Moon
Kartika Purnima carries more separate observances than any other full moon in the year, and they belong to different traditions keeping the same night.
For Shaivas it is Tripuri Purnima. Tripurasura had built three fortresses — of gold, silver and iron, in the heavens, the air and the earth — and could not be killed while all three stood. Shiva destroyed the three with a single arrow, and the devas lit lamps in every direction. The rows of lamps set out on this night are that lighting repeated, which is why the day is also called Dev Deepawali, the Diwali of the gods.
For Vaishnavas the Kartika month is Vishnu's month, and this full moon closes it. The month-long Kartika vrata — the daily lamp, the tulasi worship, the Kartika snanam at dawn — ends here, and the tradition places the Matsya avatara, Vishnu's first descent, on this day.
For Sikhs it is Guru Nanak Gurpurab, the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, kept with the Akhand Path, the Prabhat Pheri at dawn and the langar. It is the largest observance of the day in Punjab and in Sikh communities everywhere.
For Jains it is the day of the Shatrunjaya yatra, and for the Kartikeya tradition the day is associated with his birth. The Pushkar Mela closes on it; the Ganga Mela at Varanasi lights the ghats with lakhs of lamps; the Sonepur fair opens. Nothing about the night is exclusive, and that is its character — it is the one full moon on which several traditions are all outdoors at once.
Kartika Purnima Puja Vidhi — Step by Step
The observance runs from the pre-dawn bath to the lamps at dusk. The day's panchangam details, including moonrise, are in the panel above.
| Step | What is done |
|---|---|
| 1 | Kartika snanam before sunrise — Bathe before sunrise, in a river, tank or the sea where one is reachable, and at home with a little tirtha water added where it is not. This is the day's first and most emphasised act. |
| 2 | Surya arghya — Offer water to the rising sun from a copper vessel, facing east. |
| 3 | Tulasi puja — Water and circumambulate the tulasi, light a lamp at its base, and offer to it. The tulasi has been worshipped daily through Kartika and is honoured a last time today. |
| 4 | Satyanarayana or Vishnu puja — Households keeping the Kartika vrata close it today, customarily with the Satyanarayana Vratam or a Vishnu puja and the reading that goes with it. |
| 5 | Shiva abhishekam — Where the day is kept as Tripuri Purnima, offer the abhishekam with bilva, and the Jwala Toranam — a lit arch — is raised at Shiva temples in the Telugu country. |
| 6 | Akasha deepam — Hoist a lamp on a pole for the ancestors and the devas. Where the household has kept the akasha deepam through Kartika, today is the last day of it. |
| 7 | Three hundred and sixty-five wicks — Light the full count of wicks in the evening — three hundred and sixty-five, one for each day — at the temple or at home. This is the Karthika Deepam custom of the Telugu states. |
| 8 | Lamps on water — Float lamps on a river, tank or in a vessel of water at home at dusk. The Dev Deepawali lighting of the ghats is this at scale. |
| 9 | Daana — Give away ghee, lamps, blankets, rice and dal. Ghee for lamps and a lamp itself are the giving named for this day. |
| 10 | Parana and the meal — Break the fast after the lamps are lit, with the prasada first. Households closing the month-long vrat customarily feed others before eating. |
The bath at dawn and the lamps at dusk are the two ends of the day, and every tradition keeping this full moon keeps both in some form.
Fasting on Kartika Purnima
The fast is a day fast released in the evening, and it is the closing day of a month-long discipline for those who kept it.
| Form | What it involves |
|---|---|
| Upavasa till the lamps | Fruit, milk and water through the day, released after the evening lamps and the aarti. The usual grade. |
| Ekabhukta | One sattvic meal without grain after the morning worship, then only water until the lamps. |
| Closing the Kartika vrata | For those who kept the month — the daily pre-dawn bath, the lamp, the tulasi worship, one meal a day, no meat or onion — today is the concluding day, closed with daana and annadanam. |
| Substituted observance | Children, the elderly and anyone unwell keep the bath and the lamps and eat normally. The lamp, not the fast, is the observance here. |
The month of Kartika is the year's main season for vratas, and this full moon is where they are released. If you kept nothing through the month, the day is still kept — with the bath, the lamps and the giving.
Mantras Chanted on Kartika Purnima
The day is shared, and so are its mantras — one for Shiva, one for Vishnu, one for the lamp.
| Mantra | What it means |
|---|---|
| ఓం నమః శివాయ Om Namah Shivaya | Chanted at the abhishekam where the day is kept as Tripuri Purnima, and while the Jwala Toranam is lit. |
| ఓం నమో నారాయణాయ Om Namo Narayanaya | Chanted at the close of the Kartika vrata and during the tulasi worship. |
| దీపం జ్యోతిః పరబ్రహ్మ దీపం సర్వతమోపహమ్ | దీపేన సాధ్యతే సర్వం సంధ్యాదీప నమోస్తు తే || Deepam jyotih parabrahma, deepam sarva-tamopaham, deepena sadhyate sarvam, sandhya-deepa namostu te | The verse said while lighting the evening lamp — the lamp is light, the lamp is the supreme, the lamp removes all darkness; by the lamp everything is accomplished. Said with the first of the wicks. |
Chant at whatever pace lets the words stay clear. Tradition counts attention, not speed, and a short count said with care is held better than a long one rushed. If a syllable is uncertain, follow your family priest or your temple's recitation rather than a transliteration.
How Kartika Purnima Is Kept Region by Region
This full moon is kept outdoors almost everywhere, and what happens outdoors differs completely from region to region.
| Region | How the day is kept |
|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh and Telangana | The close of Karthika Masam, the year's busiest vrata month. Three hundred and sixty-five wicks are lit, the Jwala Toranam is raised at Shiva temples, lamps are floated on tanks, and the Karthika vanabhojanam picnics under the amla tree fall in the same fortnight. |
| Tamil Nadu | Where Krittika nakshatra joins this full moon the day is kept as Karthigai Deepam, and the Mahadeepam is lit on the summit of Annamalai at Thiruvannamalai, visible for miles. Rows of agal vilakku are set out at every doorway. |
| Varanasi | Dev Deepawali. Every ghat on the river is lined with earthen lamps at dusk, and the Ganga Mahotsav is held around it. The largest single observance of the night anywhere. |
| Punjab | Guru Nanak Gurpurab — the Akhand Path completed, the Prabhat Pheri at dawn, the Nagar Kirtan and the langar. Amritsar and Nankana Sahib hold the principal observances. |
| Odisha | Boita Bandana or Danga Bhasa at dawn — small boats of paper, banana bark or cork floated on rivers and tanks in memory of the region's old maritime trade. The Bali Jatra at Cuttack opens on this day. |
| Bihar and Uttar Pradesh | The Kartik snan at Garhmukteshwar, Prayagraj and Varanasi, and the Sonepur cattle fair — one of the oldest in the country — opens with it. |
| Rajasthan | The Pushkar Mela closes on Kartika Purnima with the bath in Pushkar lake, which the tradition holds to be especially meritorious on this day. |
| Jain tradition | The Shatrunjaya yatra to Palitana is undertaken on this day, and the Kartik Purnima fair is held at the foot of the hill. |
Why Kartika is the lamp month
Kartika falls at the end of the monsoon and the start of the cold, when the nights have lengthened and the air has cleared. The month's whole discipline is built around light — a lamp at the tulasi every evening, a lamp hoisted on a pole for the sky, a lamp floated on water, and on the full moon the full count of wicks.
The akasha deepam, the lamp raised on a bamboo pole outside the house through the month, is offered for the ancestors and for the devas, and it is put up at the start of Kartika and taken down after this full moon. The three hundred and sixty-five wicks lit today stand for a lamp on every day of the year, offered at once by a household that could not light one every evening.
The giving named for the month follows the same theme. Ghee for lamps, a lamp itself, oil, and a wick are what is given, along with the blankets and warm clothing the season needs. It is the one month in which the offering and the charity are the same object.
Kartika snanam — the bath the month is named for
The pre-dawn bath through Kartika is the month's central discipline, and on the full moon it is kept by many who kept nothing else. The bath is taken before sunrise, in a river, a tank or the sea, in the cold, and it is followed by the arghya to the sun as it rises.
This is why the great gatherings of the day are all at water — the ghats at Varanasi, Prayagraj and Garhmukteshwar, the lake at Pushkar, the sea at the coastal kshetras, the rivers of Odisha where the boats are floated. The bath is the reason the crowd is there and the lamps are what it stays for.
Where no river is reachable the household bath is the accepted form, taken before sunrise with a little water from a tirtha added, and followed by the same arghya. The tradition is clear that the hour and the intention carry it, not the location.
More Questions About Kartika Purnima
Why is Kartika Purnima also called Tripuri Purnima and Dev Deepawali?
Is Kartika Purnima the same as Karthigai Deepam?
Why are three hundred and sixty-five wicks lit?
What is the akasha deepam?
Is Guru Nanak Jayanti on the same day?
Can Kartika Purnima be kept without a river nearby?
Points Households Most Often Get Wrong
| # | Point |
|---|---|
| 1 | Lighting the lamps and skipping the dawn bath — The bath before sunrise is the first half of the day and the more emphasised of the two in the shastra. |
| 2 | Assuming it is only a Shiva day or only a Vishnu day — It is Tripuri Purnima, the close of Vishnu's month, Guru Nanak Gurpurab and the Jain Shatrunjaya yatra, all on the same night. Households keep whichever is theirs and none of them displaces the others. |
| 3 | Floating lamps in plastic or thermocol — Earthen lamps, leaf boats and banana bark are what the customs use, and they are what the water can take. Plastic floats stay in the tank long after the festival. |
| 4 | Treating it as Diwali — Dev Deepawali is a separate observance a fortnight or so after Diwali, kept on this full moon for the destruction of Tripurasura. The lamps are the same; the reason is not. |
| 5 | Taking down the akasha deepam early — It stays up through Kartika and comes down after this full moon, not before. |