The days of Durga Puja, Shashthi to Dashami

The five days people mean by 'Pujo' are Shashthi, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Dashami — the sixth to the tenth days of the waxing moon in the month of Ashwin. They are tithis, set by the almanac, not fixed calendar dates, which is why the festival moves around late September and October from year to year.

This site's countdown runs to 16 October 2026 for 2026. It does not publish the individual tithi timings — those are set by the panjika and by the committee following it, and a website inventing them would be worse than a website leaving them out.

Two things happen before Shashthi that are properly part of the festival. Mahalaya, a week earlier, opens Devi Paksha. And the days from Chaturthi and Panchami onwards are when Kolkata quietly starts pandal hopping — the pandals are finished, the lights are on, and the crowds are a fraction of what they become.

Shashthi is the arrival. Bodhon wakes the goddess, the face of the idol is unveiled, and the pandal formally opens. It is the calmest of the five evenings and, for a first-time visitor, comfortably the most pleasant.

Saptami begins before dawn with the Nabapatrika — the 'Kola Bou' — carried to the river, bathed and brought back. From Saptami evening the crowds are serious.

Ashtami is the big one: pushpanjali in the morning, the largest crowds of the festival at night, and Sandhi Puja at the junction with Navami. If you can only go once and want the full force of it, this is the night. If you want to see the pandals, it is the night to avoid.

Navami is the last full day and, to a lot of people in Kolkata, the best of them — the crowds are still large but the mood has turned, because everybody knows what tomorrow is.

Dashami is farewell: sindoor khela in the morning, the idols carried to the river through the afternoon and night, and by the following morning the pandals are frames again.

For seeing the pandals as objects: Chaturthi, Panchami or Shashthi, in that order. The work is finished, the lighting is on, and you can stand still in front of it.

For the atmosphere at full pressure: Ashtami night. Accept the queues, go with people you like, and treat the walking as the event.

For a compromise: any morning. Between about seven and ten the city is genuinely quiet, the light is good, and you can cover twice as many pujas as you can after dark.

The immersions run for days after the tenth, and Bijoya — the visiting, the sweets, the touching of feet — runs for weeks. Lakshmi Puja follows on the next full moon and Kali Puja a fortnight after that, so the season does not end when the pandals come down.