Janmashtami 2026 is on Friday, 4 September 2026, on the Krishna Ashtami tithi, in New Delhi. The tithi runs from 02:26 on 4 September to 00:14 on 5 September. The Nishita puja is from 23:58 to 00:43.
Timings for New Delhi, checked 26 October 2026.
Each event with its day and its time, worked out for New Delhi by the rule the tradition gives for it.
Ashtami: 02:26 on 4 September to 00:14 on 5 September
Janmashtami, Krishna Janmashtami or Gokulashtami, is the eighth day of the dark half of Bhadrapada (Shravana in the south's reckoning), kept as the birth of Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. The tradition places the birth at midnight under Rohini nakshatra, so the worship centres on Nishita, the muhurta around midnight. The next day, in Maharashtra and beyond, is Dahi Handi.
The Bhagavata Purana tells that Krishna was born at midnight in a prison cell in Mathura, where King Kamsa held his sister Devaki and her husband Vasudeva. That night the guards fell asleep and the doors opened, and Vasudeva carried the newborn across the flooded Yamuna in a basket to Gokul, where Nanda and Yashoda brought him up. The festival keeps the hour of the birth.
Devotees fast through the day, often without grain, and the temples and homes are decorated with flowers and swings. At Nishita the image of the infant Krishna is bathed in milk, curd, ghee, honey and water, dressed and laid in a cradle, and the birth is celebrated with conch shells, bells and bhajans. Panjiri, makhan and misri are offered, and the fast is broken after the midnight puja or the next morning.
Janmashtami is kept on the day Ashtami is current at Nishita, the muhurta around midnight, since the tradition places Krishna's birth there; when the next day has Ashtami at sunrise and Rohini nakshatra with it, and the first midnight has no Rohini, that next day is chosen. The fast is broken after sunrise once Ashtami and Rohini are both over.
Short answers about Janmashtami, for New Delhi.
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Add to my calendarNishita is the eighth of the fifteen muhurtas of the night, around midnight, worked out from your city's sunset and the next sunrise. The tradition places Krishna's birth there, so the main puja and the midnight moment fall inside it.
Smarta calendars keep the day on which Ashtami is current at midnight, while Vaishnava traditions, ISKCON among them, follow the Ashtami at sunrise and the Rohini nakshatra by their own rules, and in some years keep the next day. The date here is the Smarta one.
On Friday, 4 September 2026 in New Delhi.
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