Sharad Purnima 2026: 25 October, Moonrise 5:00 PM, Kojagari Puja 11:39 PM

Why 25 October

Kojagara Puja is kept on the night when the Purnima tithi holds at Nishita, the time around midnight (Dharmasindhu). In 2026 Purnima runs from the afternoon of 25 October to the morning of the 26th, so it holds through the whole night of 25 October, and the festival falls on that day. Drik Panchang gives the same date for New Delhi.

In other cities moonrise and the Nishita time differ by some minutes: in Kolkata the moon rises at 4:21 PM and Nishita is 10:55 to 11:45 PM; in Mumbai the moon rises at 5:28 PM and Nishita is 11:57 PM to 12:47 AM. See your city’s times on the Sharad Purnima page.

What is done on the day

• Many people keep the Purnima fast; newly married women begin the year’s Purnima fasts from this full moon (Drik Panchang).
• After moonrise, water or water mixed with milk is offered to the moon.
• Lakshmi puja and a vigil at Nishita; the name “Kojagara” is linked to “ko jagarti?” (“who is awake?”).
• By folk custom, rice-and-milk kheer is covered with thin cloth, left in the moonlight overnight and shared as prasad in the morning. This is a folk custom, not a rite from a text.
• In Braj the night recalls Krishna’s Maharaas (Bhagavata Purana 10.29–10.33); in Bengal it is Kojagari Lakshmi Puja, in Odisha Kumar Purnima.

The katha in two lines

In the popular folk tale a moneylender’s two daughters keep the Purnima fast, the elder fully and the younger halfway. The younger’s children do not live, and when she keeps the full fast her baby comes back to life through her elder sister’s merit. The second katha, of the Kojagara vrat, is about the brahmin Valit; both are told in full on the katha page.