Ganesh Chaturthi 2026: Date, Muhurat and the 10-Day Calendar

The dates

• Ganesh Chaturthi / Sthapana — Monday, 14 September 2026
• Anant Chaturdashi / Visarjan — Friday, 25 September 2026
• Ganeshotsav — 14 to 25 September 2026

The festival falls on Chaturthi of the Shukla Paksha in the month of Bhadrapada.

Sthapana muhurat

Ganpati sthapana is traditionally performed during the madhyahna muhurat — roughly the middle third of the daylight period — because Ganesha is believed to have been born in that part of the day.

We are not publishing a clock time, deliberately. Madhyahna is calculated from local sunrise and sunset, so it shifts by city, and panchangs differ. A published time is wrong for most readers. Take the date from here and the timing from a panchang for your own city, or from your family pandit.

How long should you observe?

There is no single correct answer, and shorter observances are not lesser ones. Common patterns:

• Dedh Din — one and a half days, visarjan on the 15th
• 3 days — visarjan on the 16th
• 5 days — visarjan on the 18th
• 7 days — visarjan on the 20th
• 10 days — visarjan on Anant Chaturdashi, 25 September

Households usually keep to whatever their family has always done. If you are starting fresh, pick the length you can genuinely sustain twice-daily puja for — an abandoned observance is worse than a shorter one.

The 10-day calendar

Note that Anant Chaturdashi is the tithi, not simply the tenth day — tithis can stretch or compress against calendar days. Confirm against a panchang.

What to do, and when

Two to three weeks before — now

• Buy the murti. Sizes sell out, and eco-friendly clay idols go first.
• Order the dry samagri. See the complete samagri list.
• Confirm your madhyahna muhurat with a local panchang.
• Decide how many days you are observing.

The week before

• Clean the house and set up the chowki space.
• Order durva from your flower seller — ask specifically, most do not stock it by default.
• Buy the toran and rangoli colours.

The day before

• Prepare or order modak.
• Buy fresh flowers, mango leaves, coconuts and fruit.
• Read through the sthapana vidhi once, so the sequence is fresh.

Visarjan day

• Perform the uttar puja before moving the murti. This is the step most often forgotten.
• For home visarjan, have a bucket or drum ready and a garden or plant pot for the clay water.

Short on time? The Advik Rituals Ganesh Chaturthi Puja Kit carries the samagri side of this list in one box — 21 durva, red hibiscus and marigold garland, panchamrit for daily abhishek, modak bhog samagri, kalash with coconut and mango leaves, and a vidhi booklet. Hand-packed in Kashi (Varanasi).

Why the dates move each year

Hindu festivals follow a lunisolar calendar. The lunar month is about 29.5 days, so twelve lunar months fall roughly eleven days short of a solar year — and an extra month (adhik maas) is inserted periodically to correct the drift. That is why Ganesh Chaturthi lands anywhere from late August to mid-September depending on the year.

Next

• The complete Ganesh Chaturthi samagri list
• Ganpati sthapana vidhi at home, step by step
• Why tulsi is never offered to Lord Ganesha

Dates given here follow widely published panchangs. Tithi timings and regional observance vary — confirm your local dates and muhurat before fixing plans.