Kartik Purnima 2026
24 November 2026

Kartik Purnima is the full moon that ends the month of Kartik, held to be the holiest month of the year. The Kartik snan, the daily dawn bath that many keep through the month, ends on this day with a holy dip in the Ganga or another sacred river or lake, followed by deepdaan and daan. Tradition holds that bathing and giving on this Purnima carry great punya.

Several traditions meet on this day. It is Tripurari Purnima, remembering Shiva’s victory over Tripurasura. Tradition holds that Vishnu’s Matsya avatar, the fish, appeared on this day. Pilgrims gather for the dip at Pushkar, where the Pushkar fair is held, and at Garhmukteshwar, Haridwar, Prayagraj and Varanasi. Guru Nanak Dev ji’s gurpurab is kept on the same full moon and has its own page.

• Gangajal
• A lota for arghya
• Tulsi leaves (picked the day before)
• Flowers
• Roli and akshat (unbroken rice)
• Diyas, ghee or oil, and wicks
• Dhoop
• Panchamrit and fruit for the Satyanarayan bhog
• Milk for Chandra’s arghya
• Daan: grain, clothes, til, jaggery

Source: Bhagavata Purana, Book 8; the link of the Matsya avatar to Kartik Purnima is tradition

King Satyavrata was offering water in the river Kritamala when a tiny fish came into his palms and begged him not to throw it back, for fear of the bigger fish. The king put it in his water pot. Overnight it outgrew the pot; he moved it to a larger vessel, then a pond, then a lake, and each time it filled the place. At last he released it into the ocean, and understood that this was no ordinary fish.

Vishnu revealed himself as Matsya, the fish. He told the king that in seven days the worlds would be flooded, and that a boat would come; Satyavrata was to board it with the seven sages, taking seeds and herbs of every kind. When the waters rose, the boat came, and the king tied it with the serpent Vasuki to the horn of the great fish, who carried it safely through the flood.

Tradition holds that Vishnu took the Matsya form on Kartik Purnima, and for this reason too the day is kept with Vishnu puja.

What to do

• Take the bath before sunrise, since the Kartik snan is a dawn bath and the day is set by the Purnima at sunrise.
• Give some daan after the bath, even if small, as snan and daan go together on this Purnima.
• Light a diya at the tulsi in the evening, as the Kartik month of lamps closes with this deepdaan.
• At crowded ghats and melas, keep your group together and stay where the bathing area is marked.

What to avoid

• Avoid meat, alcohol, onion and garlic on the day, as the Kartik month is kept sattvik and ends on this Purnima.
• Avoid plucking tulsi on the Purnima evening; pick the leaves for the puja the day before.
• Avoid leaving plastic or waste at the river after the dip; the river is being honoured.

The day goes by many names: Tripurari Purnima, Dev Deepawali in Kashi (kept on the evening the Purnima holds at pradosh), and Kartik Purnima everywhere. The Pushkar fair in Rajasthan and the Garh Ganga mela at Garhmukteshwar centre on it, and the Sonepur fair in Bihar begins around it. In Odisha it is Boita Bandana, when small boats are floated at dawn in memory of the sadhabas, the merchants who sailed to Bali and Java. Karthigai Deepam in Tamil Nadu is a separate festival, set by the Krittika nakshatra in the solar month of Karthigai, though it often falls near this full moon.

Kartik Purnima is Kartik in both the Purnimanta and Amanta calendars: it closes the month in the Purnimanta calendar and falls mid-month in the Amanta one, and the bright half has the same month name in both. The snan and daan are kept on the day the Purnima holds at sunrise. Read at each place’s own sunrise, that day can differ between cities, and when the Purnima begins in an afternoon, Dev Deepawali that evening comes a day before the snan.