Ashwin Maas 2026: 27 September to 26 October — Full Vrat-Tyohar List and Niyam

2026-09-07

Our panchang lays Ashwin 2026 out as four movements — Pitru Paksha from 27 September, Shardiya Navratri from 11 October, Vijayadashami on 20 October, Sharad Purnima on 25 October. One screen to pin for the month, with the two-day Saptami and the 25-or-26 purnima question settled with tithi hours.

Ashwin is the month a family actually plans around. Its first fortnight belongs to the ancestors — shraddha, tarpan, a quieter table, big decisions deferred. Its second half is the loudest stretch of the Hindu year: nine nights of the Devi, Vijayadashami, and a full-moon night when kheer cools under the open sky. In 2026 the month runs Sunday, 27 September to Monday, 26 October. This page is built to be pinned once and used all month: every date below is from our own Drik-validated panchang for Delhi, and every line links to the deeper article where one exists.

How Ashwin 2026 is counted

By the purnimanta reckoning of North India a month runs full moon to full moon, dark fortnight first. Bhadrapada closed with the purnima of 26 September; Ashwin opens with Krishna Pratipada on Sunday, 27 September 2026 and ends with its own purnima on Monday, 26 October. In the amanta calendars of the South and West this first fortnight carries the label Bhadrapada instead — the days and observances are identical, only the month name printed above them changes. For the month just ended, see our Bhadrapada 2026 vrat and festival list.

The full month on one screen

All dates are for Delhi, IST. Panchak sits over the month's last week, roughly 21/22 to 26 October — more on that below. Sunrise shifts by city, so if a day looks borderline where you live, check your own tithi timings.

First movement: Pitru Paksha, 27 September to 10 October

The shraddha fortnight opens the month, and one clarification is needed straight away because it catches people every year: the Purnima shraddha — for those who died on a purnima — was performed on 26 September, the Bhadrapada Purnima itself, one day before Ashwin begins. From 27 September, each day of the dark fortnight carries the shraddha of its matching tithi: pratipada for those who left on a pratipada, and so on down to amavasya.

The fortnight closes on Saturday, 10 October — Sarva Pitru Amavasya, also called Mahalaya: the day for ancestors whose tithi is unknown, and for any shraddha missed earlier. If a family keeps only one day of the fourteen, tradition says keep this one. The day-by-day shraddha tithis, the rules that actually stand in shastra and the habits added later are in our full Pitru Paksha 2026 guide.

The vrats inside the shraddha fortnight

Shraddha does not pause the regular vrat cycle; three fasts fall inside it.

Sankashti Chaturthi — Tuesday, 29 September. A Tuesday sankashti makes it Angarki, the most prized of the year's twelve. Note the mechanics: at sunrise on the 29th the running tithi is still tritiya — chaturthi only begins at 5:10 pm. That is no defect, because sankashti is governed by moonrise, not sunrise: the fast breaks on seeing the moon, which rises in Delhi at 7:39 pm with chaturthi comfortably in force. A calendar that tabulates by sunrise tithi may print the 30th; the vrat belongs to the 29th.

Indira Ekadashi — Tuesday, 6 October. The one ekadashi of the year whose fruit is traditionally made over to the ancestors — fitting, seated as it is in the middle of the shraddha fortnight.

Thursday, 8 October — one evening, two vrats. Trayodashi gives Guru Pradosh in the evening twilight; chaturdashi arrives at 10:16 pm, in time for the midnight puja of Masik Shivratri. There is no conflict: pradosh belongs to the sandhya hours and shivratri to nishita, past midnight. One Shiva evening, two distinct observances.

Second movement: Shardiya Navratri, 11 to 19 October

The mood of the month turns overnight. Amavasya ends the ancestors' fortnight on 10 October; Ghatasthapana is the very next morning, Sunday, 11 October. The kalash is seated within a fixed morning muhurat — timings, samagri and step-by-step vidhi are in our Ghatasthapana muhurat guide. Days 2 to 6 run 12 to 16 October without incident. Then the calendar does something that will fill family WhatsApp groups with contradictory forwards, so here it is plainly.

Why Saptami runs two days — and Ashtami-Navami share one

Saptami this year is a vriddhi tithi: it holds sunrise on both Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October, so Navratri's seventh day stretches across two civil days. Immediately after, the calendar takes that day back: on Monday, 19 October ashtami and navami compress into one, and Durga Ashtami and Maha Navami are kept the same day. Families that do kanya pujan on ashtami and families that do it on navami land, this year, on the same Monday. Nine calendar days, nine tithis — but not one to one. The full grid, with the tithi hours behind the two-day saptami, is in our Navratri 2026 calendar.

Third movement: Vijayadashami — Tuesday, 20 October

Dashami brings Dussehra: Ravan dahan after sunset, and the two quieter pujas the day is actually named for — shastra puja of the tools and instruments of one's work, and aparajita puja of the Devi as she who is undefeated. Vijayadashami is counted among the year's few fully unblemished days for beginnings: a venture, a child's first letters, a new ledger. The day's windows are in our Vijayadashami 2026 guide.

Fourth movement: Sharad Purnima — the 25-or-26 question

The month ends on its most beautiful night and its most argued date. Our panchang gives purnima as:

• Purnima begins — 25 October 2026 at 11:56 am
• Purnima ends — 26 October 2026 at 9:41 am

Two observances, two rules. The kheer night — Kojagara — is Sunday, 25 October: what matters is purnima running while the moon stands in the sky, and through the night of the 25th it runs throughout. The snan-daan purnima is Monday, 26 October: bathing and daan go by the udaya tithi, and purnima holds sunrise only on the 26th. Neither date is wrong; they answer different questions. The full reasoning, and what to do with the kheer at dawn, is in Sharad Purnima 2026: 25 or 26 October.

Papankusha Ekadashi, Pradosh and the Panchak tail

Papankusha Ekadashi falls on Thursday, 22 October — the shukla ekadashi two days after Dussehra — and Pradosh Vrat on Friday, 23 October — trayodashi covers the evening pradosh window on the 23rd and runs out at 1:36 pm on the 24th, so the dusk vrat belongs to Friday.

The last week also carries Panchak, roughly 21/22 to 26 October at the day level — the moon's passage from the later half of Dhanishtha through Revati. Custom defers a short, specific list inside it: buying or cutting wood, weaving a cot, first laying of a roof, journeys due south. It is not a blanket of inauspiciousness: Sharad Purnima's kheer, the daily puja, Ekadashi and Pradosh all proceed untouched. If a particular muhurat matters to you that week, check the day's rahu kaal and panchang rather than treating six days as closed.

The month's niyam: restraint first, utsav after

Ashwin's rule fits in one sentence: restraint until amavasya, celebration after it. During Pitru Paksha, tradition defers new beginnings — weddings, griha pravesh, large purchases, new ventures — not because the days are malignant but because they are reserved: the fortnight belongs to the ancestors, and auspicious starts are simply scheduled around it, the way one does not throw a party during a household's days of remembrance. Simple food, steady routine, no fear.

From Ghatasthapana on 11 October the gates reopen, and Vijayadashami itself is the strongest beginning-day of the half-year. The month closes with purnima snan-daan on Monday, 26 October; Kartik follows, carrying Karwa Chauth and Diwali. That list will get its own page, as this month's did.