Sharad Navratri 2026 Starts on 11 October

Sharad Navratri 2026 begins on Sunday 11 October with Ghatasthapana, the day after Sarva Pitru Amavasya. Shukra is already vakri in Tula, and Guru is still uchcha in Karka until the last day of the month. The nine nights sit inside that sky, not in a blank calendar square.

Picture a brass kalash on a balcony in Indore, a sketch. The family argues about the colour of the day because three WhatsApp forwards disagree. The panchang argument is smaller than it looks. Ghatasthapana follows Ashwin Shukla Pratipada. In 2026 that pratipada is widely taken on 11 October. Vijayadashami is the messy one, 20 or 21 October, and it has its own note.

What the grahas are doing during the nine nights

Shukra rules Tula, and Tula is where Shukra is walking backwards from 3 October until about 13 November. Navratri’s goddess worship does not pause for a retrograde. What pauses, if you are sensible, is a new jewellery order and a freshly signed vendor contract. The vrata stays. Surya enters Tula on 17 October, Tula Sankranti, which falls inside the festival. That Saturday is both a solar ingress and a Navratri day. Light the lamp you already keep. Do not invent a second muhurat on top of the one your pandit gave for sthapana.

Guru in Karka through most of these nights is exalted. A Thursday inside Navratri can carry both the goddess of that day and Guru’s weekday. Keep them distinct. The colour and the katha belong to the night. Guru’s small daan, if you do one, is curd and rice or a set of clothes, which is his place in the Graha Shanti sequence of Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, not a new ritual bolted onto the kalash.

The month’s other stations are on the October 2026 transit calendar. If the festival has raised a question about a child, a fast, or a marriage date parked until after Dussehra, the chart is the next step: a free Kundli, then the running Vimshottari Dasha analysis.

Questions people keep asking

What date is Ghatasthapana in 2026?

Sunday 11 October is the date most North Indian and many national lists give. If your city takes the tithi at a different sunrise, follow that panchang for the kalash, not a national headline.

Should Navratri be postponed because Venus is retrograde?

No. The vrata is the vrata. Shukra vakri is a reason to reread a new purchase, not a reason to skip the nine nights.