Akshaya Navami 2026
18 November 2026

Akshaya Navami falls on Kartik Shukla Navami, the day after Gopashtami, and is also called Amla Navami. Akshaya means that which does not diminish, and tradition holds that puja, daan and good deeds done on this day keep their merit undiminished. Tradition also holds that the Satya Yuga began on this Navami, which is why it is counted among the most auspicious days of Kartik.

The heart of the day is the amla (Indian gooseberry) tree. Women worship it, wind raw thread around its trunk as they circle it, and the family sits under it to cook or eat a meal together. The amla is believed to be dear to both Vishnu and Shiva, and the day is kept for the wellbeing of the family and for children.

• Water and a little milk for the roots
• Roli and akshat (unbroken rice)
• Haldi
• Kachcha sut (raw cotton thread)
• Flowers
• Diya, ghee and dhoop
• Amla fruit
• Food for the meal under the tree
• Something to sit on (a mat or durrie)
• Daan: grain, clothes or amla

Source: Popular tradition, told at the Amla Navami puja in North India

Once Lakshmi, going about the earth, wished to worship Vishnu and Shiva together. She thought of what each holds dear: tulsi is dear to Vishnu and bel to Shiva. Then she saw that the amla tree carries the qualities of both, and she chose it as the form in which to worship the two of them at once.

She worshipped the amla tree with devotion. Pleased, Vishnu and Shiva appeared before her. Lakshmi cooked food beneath the tree and served it to them first, and only then ate herself.

That day was Kartik Shukla Navami. Since then, tradition says, families worship the amla on this Navami and eat their meal in its shade, as Lakshmi did. That is why the amla fruit is offered and eaten on this day, and why the shared meal under the tree, served first as bhog and only then eaten, is the heart of the puja.

What to do

• Eat at least a little of the meal under the amla tree, as that shared meal is the centre of the day.
• If there is no amla tree nearby, worship a potted amla or a branch with fruit at home, so the puja is still kept.
• Give some daan, even small, since tradition holds that what is given on Akshaya Navami does not diminish.
• Take the children along to the tree, as many families keep the day for their wellbeing.

What to avoid

• Avoid breaking branches or stripping the tree for the puja; take only fruit that comes away easily, since the tree is what is being worshipped.
• Families keeping the puja avoid meat, alcohol, onion and garlic in the meal that day, as the food is first offered as bhog.

In Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh the day is best known as Amla Navami; Akshaya Navami is the name used more widely, including in Odisha and Bengal. In Mathura and Vrindavan, tradition has devotees walk the parikrama of both towns on this day. In Bengal the same Navami is the main day of Jagaddhatri Puja, a separate observance that happens to share the tithi.

Being in the bright fortnight, it is Kartik Shukla Navami in both the Purnimanta and the Amanta calendar. The date is the day on which the Navami holds at sunrise, through the morning when the puja is done. Read at each place’s own sunrise, a Navami that begins near dawn can put the day a day apart between cities.