Kali Chaudas 2026: the date, what the night means, and a simple home puja

The short answer: Kali Chaudas 2026 is the night of Saturday, 7 November. The chaturdashi (fourteenth lunar day) of the dark fortnight before Diwali begins at 10:48 am on Saturday 7 November and ends at 11:28 am on Sunday 8 November (IST). That makes the night of the 7th the only night of this chaturdashi. Its midnight window falls at 11:59 pm to 12:47 am in Ahmedabad and 11:40 pm to 12:28 am in Delhi. Other cities are in the table below.

Kali Chaudas is a night for worshipping the Devi as Kali at home: lamps, flowers, a simple puja and prayer. Below is what the night means, how the date is worked out, and a household puja you can follow.

What Kali Chaudas is

Chaudas is the everyday word for chaturdashi, the fourteenth day of the lunar fortnight. Kali Chaudas is the name used in Gujarat for the chaturdashi just before Diwali, and it puts the stress on the night and on Kali. Other regions call the same day Narak Chaturdashi, Roop Chaudas or Choti Diwali, and stress its morning bath and the lamp for Yama. It is one tithi with two kinds of observance: morning rites that ward off naraka (hell) and untimely death, and a night given to the Devi.

Why the night belongs to the Devi

The clearest statement is in the Skanda Purana's Kartika Mahatmya (the section on the month of Kartika). Describing the days from Trayodashi to Diwali, it says:

चतुर्दशीकी रात्रिमें देवी महारात्रिका प्रादुर्भाव हुआ है, अतः शक्तिपूजापरायण पुरुषोंको चतुर्दशीका उत्सव अवश्य करना चाहिये ।

"On the night of the chaturdashi the goddess Maharatri appeared. So those devoted to the worship of Shakti must keep the festival of the chaturdashi." — Skanda Purana, Vaishnava Khanda, Kartika Mahatmya (Gita Press abridged Hindi edition)

Maharatri, "the great night", is a name of the Devi herself. In Brahma's hymn in the first chapter of the Durga Saptashati she is praised as "कालरात्रिर्महारात्रिर्मोहरात्रिश्च दारुणा": the night of time (kalaratri), the great night (maharatri) and the fearful night of delusion (moharatri). Of all the Devi's forms, Kali is the one most closely tied to that dark power that ends time, and Kali Chaudas is when households honour her in that form. For who Kali is and what her forms mean, see our guide to the forms of Maa Kali.

The next night, Diwali's amavasya, is the main Kali Puja in Bengal. The Dharma Sindhu (Chowkhamba Hindi edition, in its note on the Diwali amavasya) quotes the Bhavishya Purana for it:

प्रतिसंवत्सरं कुर्यात् कालिकाया महोत्सवम् । कार्तिके तु विशेषेण ...

"Every year one should hold the great festival of Kalika, and especially in Kartika..." — Bhavishya Purana, as quoted in the Dharma Sindhu, Ashvina-amavasya section

So the Devi is honoured on both nights: on chaturdashi night as Kali Chaudas, and on amavasya night as Kali Puja.

The 2026 dates, and why they fall where they do

All times below come from our panchang engine for each city.

• Chaturdashi: 10:48 am, Sat 7 Nov to 11:28 am, Sun 8 Nov.
• Amavasya: 11:28 am, Sun 8 Nov to 12:32 pm, Mon 9 Nov.

A night observance follows the tithi that is running during the night. On Saturday night the chaturdashi covers the whole night, including midnight. By Sunday night it has already ended. So Kali Chaudas is Saturday night, 7 November.

The morning rites of the same chaturdashi, the oil bath of Narak Chaturdashi, follow a different rule. The Dharma Sindhu puts that bath in the early morning, and names the time after moonrise and before sunrise as the main one. It takes the chaturdashi that is running at that moonrise. On Saturday morning the moon rises at 4:39 am in Delhi, but the tithi then is still trayodashi (the thirteenth). On Sunday morning the moon rises at 5:37 am, inside the chaturdashi. So the Narak Chaturdashi bath is before sunrise on Sunday, 8 November. Lakshmi Puja is the same Sunday evening. In 2026 the morning bath and Diwali fall on the same date, which is why some calendars look confusing this year.

The midnight window on Kali Chaudas, 7 November 2026

The nishita muhurta is the 48 minutes around true midnight, the window the texts treat as the heart of the night. Times are IST, and the end time falls after midnight, on 8 November.

For your own city, open the Aaj Ka Panchang tool for 7 November 2026, or a dated page such as Ahmedabad, 7 November 2026. Look for Nishita Muhurta. The puja does not have to be squeezed into these 48 minutes. The whole night is the chaturdashi's. Midnight is simply the most traditional time to sit.

A simple Kali puja for the home

This is a short household shodashopachara (sixteen-offering) puja. It is condensed from the Sankshipt Kali Pujan Vidhan, the household Kali puja in Ashok Kumar Gaur's Kali Siddhi. It needs no initiation and uses no secret mantras, only prayer verses.

1. Bathe and dress. Wear washed clothes. The manual says red is the best colour for a Devi vrat.

2. Sit in the right place. Use the north-east corner of the home, on ground cleaned with Ganga water, on a kusha mat or a blanket, facing east or north. Tie back your hair, and put a tilak of roli or red sandal on your forehead.

3. Purify. Sip water three times (achamana), saying "salutation to Keshava", "to Narayana", "to Madhava". Take a few slow breaths, then sprinkle water on yourself and on the puja items.

4. Make the vow. In your own words, say: "Mother, I will worship you with whatever offerings I have."

5. Ganesha and Gauri first. Wrap a betel nut in kalava (red-yellow sacred thread) to stand for Ganesha and offer sandal, a flower, incense, a lamp and a sweet. The manual says that if you have no image, a mental offering is enough.

6. Meditate and invite the Devi. After a short meditation prayer, invite her with the manual's verse:

   आगच्छ वरदे देवि दैत्यदर्पनिषूदिनि । पूजां गृहाण सुमुखि नमस्ते शङ्करप्रिये ॥

   "Come, boon-giving Devi, crusher of the demons' pride. Accept this worship, gracious one. Salutation to you, beloved of Shankara." — Kali Siddhi, Sankshipt Kali Pujan Vidhan

7. The offerings, one by one. Offer a seat, water for the feet, arghya, water to sip, a bath (with panchamrit, a mix of milk, curd, ghee, honey and sugar, if you have it), cloth, sandal paste, kumkum, sindoor, akshat (unbroken rice), flowers and a garland, bilva leaves, incense, a ghee lamp, naivedya (cooked vegetarian food or sweets) and seasonal fruit. The manual gives a short Sanskrit verse for each offering.

8. Close the puja. Offer a betel leaf (tambula) and a coin (dakshina), wave a camphor lamp (aarti), walk around the altar or turn in place (pradakshina), and bow. Read any hymn to the Devi you know. Finally, take leave of her with the manual's closing verse:

   इमां पूजां मया देवि यथाशक्त्युपपादिताम् । रक्षार्थं त्वं समादाय व्रज स्थानमनुत्तमम् ॥

   "O Devi, take this worship, offered as well as I was able, keep us under your protection, and return to your supreme abode." — Kali Siddhi, Sankshipt Kali Pujan Vidhan

The same Skanda Purana chapter counts this chaturdashi among the three Kartika days for offering lamps, so light lamps at the door and around the house as evening falls.

The morning rites of the same chaturdashi

If you keep the Narak Chaturdashi side too, the Skanda Purana lists these rites for the morning (Sunday 8 November in 2026):

• An oil bath before sunrise. The text says that on this day Lakshmi lives in oil and Ganga in water.
• During the bath, circling a sprig of apamarga (chirchita, the prickly chaff-flower plant) over the head three times, with its mantra.
• Tarpan to Yama: three handfuls of water with sesame for each of his fourteen names. The text adds that even someone whose father is alive may offer it.
• Lamps: the text counts the chaturdashi, the amavasya and the next day as the Kartika days for offering lamps.

What this article leaves out

Some booklets sell this night for tantric prayogas (rites performed for a specific result), including rites aimed at other people. We have not included any of them. The household worship above is the part of the tradition meant for everyone, and the part the Puranas actually ask of a householder.

Sources

• Skanda Purana (Gita Press abridged Hindi edition): Vaishnava Khanda, Kartika Mahatmya, the chapter on the festivals from Trayodashi to Diwali (Devi Maharatri on chaturdashi night; the morning bath, apamarga, Yama tarpan, lamps).
• Dharma Sindhu (Chowkhamba Hindi edition): Ashvina-masa section (Narak Chaturdashi bath at moonrise; Diwali amavasya, with its note quoting the Bhavishya Purana on Kali Puja).
• Kali Siddhi by Ashok Kumar Gaur: Sankshipt Kali Pujan Vidhan, the household shodashopachara Kali puja.
• Durga Saptashati: Chapter 1, Brahma's hymn: the Devi as kalaratri, maharatri and moharatri.
• Dates and times: computed by Kundlit's panchang engine (Swiss Ephemeris, Lahiri ayanamsha) for each city's coordinates.

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For the full sequence of the five Diwali days with dates for your city, see the festival calendar, and our Diwali puja samagri list and Lakshmi puja muhurat for the night after.