Last updated: June 2026.
Vinayaka Chavithi (Ganesha Chaturthi) 2026 falls on Monday, September 14, 2026 in India, as computed by our astronomy engine for the Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi Tithi prevailing at madhyahna (midday) — the traditional moment of Lord Ganesha's birth.
Vinayaka Chavithi is observed on Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi — the fourth Tithi of the bright fortnight of Bhadrapada Masam. Because Lord Ganesha is believed to have been born at midday, the festival is assigned to the civil day on which Chaturthi Tithi prevails during Madhyahna Kala (the midday period between sunrise and sunset). When the Tithi spans two days, the day with Chaturthi at madhyahna takes precedence — this is why printed calendars occasionally differ by a day, and why the date can shift for cities outside India.
Read the complete Vinayaka Vratha Kalpam — samagri, step-by-step puja vidhanam, dhyana shlokas, the 21 patri, and the Vratha Katha. Read online or download as PDF.
Open the Vratha Kalpam & Puja Vidhanam →Though the vratam is kept at home on Chavithi day, the public festival runs much longer. Community pandals install grand clay idols of Lord Ganesha and worship them for up to nine or eleven days, culminating in Ganesh Nimajjanam — the immersion procession, when the idols are carried with music and dance to a river or tank and given to the waters. Hyderabad's Khairatabad Ganesh is among the tallest idols raised anywhere, and Vijayawada's processions to the Krishna River draw enormous crowds. The immersion carries a quiet teaching: the form the devotee lovingly shapes from clay is, in the end, returned to the elements.
The full step-by-step home worship — the samagri, the sixteen upacharas, the twenty-one patri and the Vratha Katha — is laid out in our Vinayaka Vratha Kalpam guide.
Telugu tradition specifically favours the matti Vinayakudu — an idol of plain river clay, undecorated by chemical paints — because it dissolves cleanly back into the water, making the most traditional choice also the most eco-friendly. The signature naivedyam is undrallu (steamed rice-and-lentil dumplings) and kudumulu, offered alongside modakam and laddu that Lord Ganesha is said to love. During the puja the family reads the Shamantakopakhyanam and, by tradition, avoids looking at the moon on Chavithi night without first hearing that story — a custom explained on our Vratha Kalpam page.
For Telugu families in the United States, Canada, UK, Gulf, and Australia, the madhyahna Tithi check applies to your local sunrise and sunset. In most US time zones the festival aligns with the Indian date, but it can shift by a day in some years. Verify with your city's computed Panchangam below.
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