Durga Puja 2026 Maha Shashthi: Date, Kalparambha, Bodhon and the Akal Bodhon Story
Durga Puja 2026 begins with Maha Shashthi on Saturday, 17 October, and ends with Bijoya Dashami on Wednesday, 21 October. On Shashthi the Goddess is awakened — the Bodhon — and welcomed, with her four children, for the days of her worship.
- Maha Shashthi: Saturday, 17 October 2026
- Bijoya Dashami: Wednesday, 21 October 2026
- Mahalaya: Saturday, 10 October 2026
- Dates: as fixed by Bengal's panjikas
The five days of Durga Puja 2026
- Maha Shashthi — Saturday, 17 October: Kalparambha and Bodhon
- Maha Saptami — Sunday, 18 October: Nabapatrika snan and Pran Pratishtha
- Maha Ashtami — Monday, 19 October: Pushpanjali, Kumari Puja, Sandhi Puja 10:29–11:17 AM
- Maha Navami — Tuesday, 20 October: Maha Homa and Dhunuchi naach
- Bijoya Dashami — Wednesday, 21 October: Sindoor Khela and visarjan
The days of Durga Puja are fixed by Bengal's panjikas, by their own rules, and every published Bengal calendar for 2026 gives the dates above. The North Indian Navratri calendar, reckoned at Delhi, runs a day earlier at the start: in Kolkata the sun rises at 5:34 AM on Saturday, 17 October while Shashthi lasts until 5:55 AM, so there Saturday still opens on Shashthi, whereas in Delhi, with a 6:23 AM sunrise, it already belongs to Saptami. For exact puja timings follow your local pandal and panjika.
Kalparambha and Bodhon
The puja begins in the morning with Kalparambha, the formal resolve — the sankalpa — to perform the worship of the coming days according to the rites. In the evening comes the Bodhon, the awakening. By tradition it is performed at the foot of a bel tree, with a small pot of water placed beneath it, calling the Goddess out of her sleep. In many pandals this is when the face of the idol is unveiled to the waiting crowd.
Amantran and Adhivas
After the Bodhon the Goddess is formally invited — Amantran — to receive worship, and the Adhivas follows, the ritual consecration in which the materials of the next day's puja are sanctified. With these, everything is ready for the Nabapatrika snan at dawn on Saptami — see Maha Saptami.
Akal Bodhon: why the Goddess is woken in autumn
The traditional season for Durga's worship is spring, the Basanti Puja. The autumn puja is called akal bodhon, "the untimely awakening", and Krittivasa's Bengali Ramayana tells why. Before his battle with Ravana, Rama invoked the Goddess out of season and set out to offer her 108 blue lotuses. When he found one missing, he resolved to offer one of his own eyes, which were often likened to lotuses — and as he raised the arrow, the Goddess appeared and blessed him. It is the reason the autumn puja exists, and the reason 108 lotuses are offered at the Sandhi Puja on Ashtami.
Durga Puja follows directly on Mahalaya and the close of the fortnight of the ancestors — see Mahalaya and Sarva Pitru Amavasya — and on the same days North India keeps Navratri; the Navratri 2026 guide covers that side.
Frequently asked questions
When does Durga Puja 2026 start?
With Maha Shashthi on Saturday, 17 October 2026. The puja continues through Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami and Maha Navami, and ends with Bijoya Dashami on Wednesday, 21 October.
What is Bodhon?
The awakening of the Goddess on Shashthi evening, traditionally performed at the foot of a bel tree. It formally opens the days of her worship.
Why is the autumn Durga Puja called Akal Bodhon?
Because Durga's traditional season of worship is spring. Rama invoked her out of season, in autumn, before his battle with Ravana — an untimely awakening.
Why are Bengal's Durga Puja dates different from the Navratri calendar?
Bengal's panjikas fix the puja days by their own rules, and Kolkata's earlier sunrise also shifts which tithi holds the start of the day. In 2026 Bengal begins Maha Shashthi on Saturday, 17 October.
