Sharad Purnima 2026: Date, Moonrise and Kojagara Puja Time

Sharad Purnima falls on Sunday 25 October 2026. In Delhi the moon rises at 5:00 PM, and the Purnima tithi runs from 11:55 AM that day until 9:41 AM on Monday the 26th, so the full moon has the whole night to itself.

Two things depend on those numbers. The bowl of kheer that families leave out under the moon goes outside after moonrise and is eaten the next morning. The Kojagara Lakshmi puja is done at Nishita, the stretch around midnight, which in Delhi runs from 11:40 PM to 12:31 AM and so finishes on the 26th.

The timings

In Delhi, moonrise is at 5:00 PM and the Kojagara puja window is 11:40 PM to 12:31 AM. In Lucknow the moon is up at 4:47 PM and the window is 11:25 PM to 12:16 AM. In Jaipur it is 11:46 PM to 12:36 AM.

Lucknow and Jaipur keep the same clock, and their midnight windows still open 21 minutes apart. Nishita is counted from local midnight, which falls earlier the further east you are, so a time printed for one city is only right for that city.

The tithi itself is the same instant everywhere: 11:55 AM on 25 October to 9:41 AM on 26 October, Indian time.

Why the kheer goes outside

Kheer, rice cooked slowly in milk with sugar, is made in the evening and left out overnight where the moonlight can reach it. It is eaten as prasad the next day. The belief behind it is that on this one night the moon's rays carry amrit, the nectar of immortality, and the kheer collects it.

In Maharashtra the same idea is applied to spiced milk, which is set out under the moon in place of kheer.

On a city balcony, a thin cloth over the bowl keeps out dust and insects without blocking the light.

Kojagari: who is awake?

The festival goes by several names. Kojagari, used in Bengal, Assam, Tripura and Mithila, translates roughly as "who is awake?" The story attached to it is that Lakshmi goes from house to house on this night and blesses the homes where people are still up. That is why the puja is set at midnight, and why many families stay awake through it.

Maharashtra calls it Kojagiri Purnima. In Odisha it is Kumar Purnima, when unmarried women fast and worship the moon in the hope of a good husband, breaking the fast with a dish first offered to the moon in front of a tulsi plant. In Gujarat people dance garba under the full moon. In Nepal, Kojagrat Purnima closes the fifteen days of Dashain and is the last day to receive tika from older relatives.

In Mithila there is a wedding custom tied to the night. The groom's family hands out betel and makhana that the bride's family has sent.

Krishna's dance, and Valmiki

In Braj the night belongs to the raas leela, the circular dance of Krishna and the gopis described in the Puranas. Temple deities are often dressed in white on Sharad Purnima to match the moon, and Radha and Krishna, Shiva and Parvati, and Lakshmi and Narayana are all worshipped with flowers and kheer.

The same full moon is also Valmiki Jayanti, kept as the birth anniversary of the poet of the Ramayana.

What follows in the next two weeks

The full moon of Ashwin opens the run of festivals that ends with Diwali. Karwa Chauth comes four days later, on Thursday 29 October, with its own moonrise to wait for. Ahoi Ashtami follows on Sunday 1 November, and Diwali itself is on Sunday 8 November, the new moon two weeks after this full one.