Ganesh Chaturthi 2026: Date, Puja Muhurat, Vidhi & Visarjan

Ganesh Chaturthi 2026 falls on Monday, 14 September 2026. The main puja is done at midday, and for Delhi that window is 11:02 am to 1:30 pm.

These timings are from the panchang this site calculates, for Delhi. Tithi start and end times hold across India, but the midday puja window shifts with your local sunrise and sunset, so check your own city before you fix a time.

Across homes, temples and street pandals, people are getting ready to bring Ganesha in with flowers, a diya, modaks and the old call of "Ganpati Bappa Morya." If you are doing this at home, you probably have a handful of practical questions: when exactly to do the puja, how to install the idol, what to offer, whether to fast, and when to do the visarjan. They are all answered below.

What Ganesh Chaturthi is

A festival for Lord Ganesha, kept as the day he appeared. He is the one who clears obstacles, and the one people turn to for wisdom and for anything being started fresh.

Idols are installed at home and in community pandals, puja is done, sweets and flowers are offered, and the days that follow are spent in prayer and celebration. In Maharashtra it becomes an enormous public festival; elsewhere many families keep it quietly at home. Both are the festival.

And that is the good thing about this one: you do not need a pandal or an elaborate arrangement for it to count. A clean space, an idol, a diya, some flowers, something to offer and a sincere prayer are enough to start.

Why it is kept

Ganesha is worshipped first in most Hindu rites, which is why his day sits at the head of things. He is called Vighnaharta, the one who takes obstacles away.

So the festival is about more than carrying a statue home. It is a chance to begin something. A business. A house. A school year. A piece of work that has been waiting. Or just a decision to go about life with more patience than before.

The puja muhurat

Ganesh puja is done in the madhyahna period, the middle stretch of the day between sunrise and sunset. For Delhi in 2026 that falls between 11:02 am and 1:30 pm on 14 September.

The Chaturthi tithi itself runs from 7:08 am on 14 September to 7:45 am on 15 September, so the whole midday window sits comfortably inside it.

If you live outside Delhi, the tithi timings are the same for you but the midday window is not, because it is worked out from your own sunrise and sunset. Check a local panchang rather than using Delhi's times.

Puja vidhi at home

The order below is the common one. Families and regions do differ, and if yours does something else, do that.

1. Clean the house and the puja space

Clean the place properly before the idol comes in. Rangoli, flowers or a toran at the door if you like. The point is a clean and quiet place to sit, not expensive decoration.

2. Keep the samagri ready

Get everything out before you start, so you are not hunting for things mid-puja:

• The Ganesha idol
• A clean cloth
• A kalash
• Diya and incense
• Flowers, and durva grass
• Roli or kumkum, akshat, sandalwood
• Fruit
• Modak or whatever bhog you are making
• A coconut
• Panchamrit, if your family uses it
• The aarti lamp

If one item is missing, go ahead anyway. Devotion is not a shopping list.

3. Install the idol

Place Ganesha on a clean, decorated platform. If you are bringing in a temporary idol for the festival, a natural clay one is worth choosing, for reasons that become obvious on visarjan day.

4. Light the diya

Light the diya and incense, then sit down properly. Take a moment before you start and remember why you are doing this.

5. Dhyan

Begin by bringing Ganesha to mind. You can chant:

"Om Gan Ganapataye Namah"

Said slowly and with attention, a few repetitions do more than a hurried hundred.

6. Offer flowers and durva

Flowers and durva grass go with Ganesha worship more than anything else. Offer them while saying his name or the mantra.

7. Offer the bhog

Modak, fruit, and whatever vegetarian preparations your family makes.

8. Aarti

Close with the Ganesha aarti. "Jai Ganesh Deva" sung together is the part children remember, so get them to join in.

What to offer

The question that comes up most is what Ganesha likes best, and the answer is modak. Beyond that, depending on where you are from:

• Modak
• Fruit
• Coconut
• Durva grass
• Laddoo
• Jaggery
• Puffed rice
• Homemade sweets
• Other sattvic food

You do not need ten dishes. A plate of homemade modaks and some fruit is a complete offering for a family puja.

Why modak

Modak has a place in this festival that nothing else does. In Maharashtra the steamed ukadiche modak is what people wait all year for; elsewhere there are fried versions and different combinations of flour, coconut and jaggery.

The cooking is a real part of the day. It is what makes this feel like a family festival and not only a religious observance.

The vrat

Some keep a Ganesh Chaturthi vrat, others do the puja without fasting. There is no single rule everyone is failing to follow. It depends on family tradition, on region, and on your own circumstances.

If you do fast, keep to what you normally keep, and be sensible about it. Anyone who is pregnant, elderly, unwell, on regular medicine or managing a condition should talk to a doctor before a strict fast. A vrat is meant to be a discipline, not a way to make yourself ill.

What is not offered

Traditions differ here, and it is worth knowing which is which. The one most widely followed is that tulsi leaves are not offered to Ganesha, which comes from an old story about Ganesha and Tulsi. Some regions have their own preferences about particular flowers as well.

Rather than treating every rule as universal, it is better to follow what your own family does.

The moon on Ganesh Chaturthi

You will hear elders say not to look at the moon on this day. The custom is tied to the Syamantaka jewel story, in which Krishna was wrongly accused of stealing it, and the blame was traced back to his having seen the moon on Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi.

By this site's calculation, the moon is above the horizon at Delhi on 14 September from about 9:01 am to 8:08 pm. That is the stretch people following this custom avoid. Moonrise and moonset shift from city to city, so check your local panchang if you keep it.

Choosing the idol

If you have not bought one yet, a few things worth thinking about.

Pick a size you can handle. In a flat, a smaller idol makes the whole thing easier, from installing to carrying it out.

Think about the immersion first. Decide where and how it is going before you buy something large.

Choose natural clay. Clay dissolves. Idols made with plaster and chemical paint do not, and they end up in the same water people drink from.

Don't let the decoration become a job. A flower garland and a diya are enough. It does not have to look like a photograph.

Ganesh Visarjan 2026

The ten-day festival ends with Ganesh Visarjan on Friday, 25 September 2026, which is Anant Chaturdashi.

Not every household keeps Ganesha for ten days. Depending on family and region, the visarjan is done after a day and a half, three days, five, seven or ten. If your family has a set number, keep to it.

Doing the visarjan responsibly

Saying goodbye to Ganesha does not have to mean putting plaster and paint into a river.

• Use a natural clay idol
• Use the artificial immersion tank your city provides
• Follow the municipal instructions for the day
• Leave plastic decorations out of it
• Keep the flowers and other waste separate

Most cities set up immersion facilities during the festival. Check what your civic body has arranged before you set out.

Making it a family thing

If you are celebrating at home, spread the work around instead of leaving it all to one person.

Give the children something real to do. A small rangoli, decorating the puja space, helping shape the modaks, learning "Om Gan Ganapataye Namah", reading a Ganesha story aloud.

Ask the grandparents to talk. What Ganesh Chaturthi was like when they were small, how the family puja used to be done, the recipes nobody wrote down. These conversations are how family traditions survive, and they only happen if someone asks.

If you are short of time

Not everyone has two hours. If you don't, keep it short and do it properly.

Clean the space. Place Ganesha. Light a diya. Offer flowers and durva. Offer fruit or a modak. Chant "Om Gan Ganapataye Namah". Do the aarti. Pray, and mean it.

That is enough to make the day what it is.

Mantras

The one most people use:

Om Gan Ganapataye Namah

And the well-known prayer:

Vakratunda Mahakaya Suryakoti Samaprabha Nirvighnam Kurume Deva Shubha Karyeshu Sarvada

It asks Ganesha to clear the way and to make what you are about to do turn out well. Say it in the morning, or just before the main puja.

If you have work that day

If you are working on Ganesh Chaturthi, don't carry guilt about not spending the day in puja. Pray before you leave. Do the main puja in the midday window if you can get away. Join the aarti when you are back. Make something simple to offer. Sit quietly for a few minutes.

A festival is supposed to bring you closer to your faith and your family, not add one more thing to fail at.

Across the country

Maharashtra is what people picture, and fairly: Mumbai and Pune fill up with public pandals, processions and programmes that run for days.

But it is kept across India under different names. In the south it is Vinayaka Chavithi. Elsewhere people say Ganesh Chaturthi or Ganesh Chauth. The rituals look different from state to state; who is being worshipped does not change.

Beneath the arrangements

It is easy for a festival to become logistics. Which idol, which decoration, which sweets, which muhurat, which flowers.

Underneath all that, this day says something simpler: begin with wisdom. Before starting something that matters, stop for a moment. Think. Pray. And accept that obstacles are part of the thing, not a sign you chose wrong.

Getting what you wanted is not the whole of success. Some of it is knowing which obstacles are there to be removed and which ones are there to teach you to wait.

Questions people ask

When is Ganesh Chaturthi 2026?

Monday, 14 September 2026.

What is the puja time in Delhi?

The midday window is 11:02 am to 1:30 pm on 14 September, by this site's panchang.

When does the Chaturthi tithi begin and end?

It begins at 7:08 am on 14 September and ends at 7:45 am on 15 September.

When is Ganesh Visarjan 2026?

The ten-day festival ends with visarjan on Friday, 25 September 2026, on Anant Chaturdashi.

What is the main offering?

Modak. Fruit, durva, coconut and other sattvic food are offered too, depending on your tradition.

Can the puja be done at home?

Yes. An idol, a diya, flowers, bhog, the mantra and the aarti make a complete home puja.

Is fasting compulsory?

No. Vrat customs differ between families and regions; follow what yours keeps.

What is the mantra?

Om Gan Ganapataye Namah.

Last thing

Ganesh Chaturthi is Ganesha's festival, but it can be a festival of beginnings for the people keeping it.

If there is something you have been putting off, this is a reasonable day to start it. If there is an obstacle you have been circling, this is a reasonable day to look at it calmly. If the family has not sat together in weeks, this is a reasonable day to put the phones down for an hour and do the aarti together.

And if you can manage nothing elaborate, it does not matter. Light one diya. Offer one flower. Say one prayer. And bring Ganpati Bappa in with a sincere heart.

Ganpati Bappa Morya!