Kojagara Puja 2026 falls on Sunday, 25 October 2026. The Nishita muhurat, the midnight window when the puja is properly done, is 11:38 PM to 12:29 AM in Dubai, a window of fifty-one minutes. The moon rises at 05:05 PM.
The name is a question. Kojagara comes from ko jagarti, who is awake. Lakshmi is said to move through the world at midnight on this one night, asking exactly that, and to stay where someone answers.
All timings on this page are calculated for Dubai in Gulf Standard Time.
Kojagara Puja 2026 at a glance
- Date: Sunday, 25 October 2026
- Nishita puja (Dubai): 11:38 PM to 12:29 AM, 26 October
- Moonrise: 05:05 PM
- Purnima tithi begins: 10:25 AM, 25 October
- Purnima tithi ends: 08:11 AM, 26 October
- Deity: Goddess Lakshmi
- Same night: Sharad Purnima and the kheer ritual
The Nishita window, moonrise and tithi, all calculated for Dubai.
Why This Puja Happens at Midnight
Almost every Hindu puja is a morning or early-evening act. This one is not, and the reason is built into the story.
Lakshmi is said to descend on the Ashwina full moon and walk from house to house, asking ko jagarti. The word carries both meanings at once: who is physically awake, and who is spiritually alert. She passes over the sleeping and settles where she is answered.
So the observance is a vigil, not a ceremony. The puja at 11:38 PM is the formal part, but the point is the hours around it. Families traditionally stay up playing dice, singing, or simply talking, with the lamps lit and the door left open.
There is a practical reading of it too. The Purnima falls five days after Vijayadashami and a fortnight before Diwali, right at the close of the harvest. Staying awake to count the year's gain, with the account books nearby, is not a bad description of what the night became.
Kojagara Puja 2026 Timings for the UAE
| Observance | Date and Time (Dubai) |
| Kojagara Puja 2026 | Sunday, 25 October 2026 |
| Nishita Puja Muhurat | 11:38 PM to 12:29 AM, 26 October |
| Duration | 51 minutes |
| Moonrise | 05:05 PM |
| Sunset | 05:42 PM |
| Purnima Tithi Begins | 10:25 AM, 25 October 2026 |
| Purnima Tithi Ends | 08:11 AM, 26 October 2026 |
One Night, Four Names
Which version you keep depends entirely on where your family is from, and they look quite different from one another.
Bengal: Kojagari Lokkhi Pujo. The household Lakshmi puja that follows Durga Puja by five days, and for many Bengali families the most important puja of the year after Durga herself. Alpana, the white rice-paste floor art, is drawn from the door inward, often with the goddess's footprints leading in. The offerings are chirer naru, narkel naru, moa, khoi and batasha.
Odisha: Kumar Purnima. Unmarried girls worship the Sun at dawn and Gajalakshmi in the evening, and the day carries a Kartikeya association. Khoi and coconut sweets again, and traditional games through the night.
Maharashtra: Kojagiri Purnima. Masala doodh, milk boiled with saffron, cardamom and nuts, is left in the moonlight and drunk at midnight. The eldest child of the household is honoured and given an aarti.
Mithila and Assam: the Lakshmi vigil, kept close to the Bengali form.
None of them is the correct one. If your grandmother did it a particular way, that is the version.
For the Lakshmi vigil
A frame for the altar, kamalgatta for the offering, and the Suktam to read while you wait.
Kojagara Puja Vidhi
- Clean the house properly during the day. This is not decoration, it is the observance. Lakshmi is said not to stay where there is clutter or dirt.
- Draw the alpana or rangoli at the entrance and in front of the altar. Footprints drawn leading inward are the traditional motif.
- Set the altar with a red or white cloth, the Lakshmi murti or frame at the centre, and a kalash of water with mango leaves and a coconut beside it.
- Offer arghya to the moon at 05:05 PM, pouring water slowly while facing it.
- Set the kheer or masala doodh out in the moonlight in the early evening. This is the Sharad Purnima half of the night.
- Stay awake. Keep the lamp burning. The old practice is to play dice or sing, and the modern one is simply to sit together.
- At 11:38 PM begin the Nishita puja. Light the lamp, offer kumkum, akshat, lotus or red flowers, kamalgatta, betel, fruit and sweets.
- Recite the Shri Suktam or chant Om Shreem Mahalakshmyai Namaha 108 times. Our guide on how to recite the Shri Suktam covers the pronunciation and the sequence.
- Aarti with camphor, then distribute the prasad.
- Leave a lamp burning and the main door unlocked or symbolically ajar until you sleep.
Business families often place the account books or the ledger before the goddess on this night, which is the same instinct behind Chopda Puja at Diwali. If you keep a Shree Yantra, this is one of the better nights of the year to clean and re-establish it.
The Kojagari night kit
One box for the samagri, charan diyas for the doorway, gangajal for the kalash.
What to Offer
- Lotus or red flowers, and kamalgatta, the lotus seeds Lakshmi is offered by name
- Kumkum, haldi and akshat
- Khoi, batasha, coconut sweets, jaggery
- Kheer or masala doodh from the moonlight
- Fruit, betel leaf and supari
- A silver or copper coin placed before the goddess
- A ghee lamp that stays lit through the night
The wider range is in Pooja Samagri, and Pooja Boxes and Kits is the shorter route if you would rather order one box.
Kojagara Puja in the UAE
The timing is the best it gets in 2026. 25 October is a Sunday, so the 11:38 PM Nishita window falls on a weekend night. In most years this puja collides with a working Monday and families either do it early or skip the midnight part entirely. Not this year.
Bengali households are the ones who will feel it. Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi all have substantial Bengali communities, and Kojagari Lokkhi Pujo closes the Durga Puja season that began earlier in the month. If you have been to a pandal in October, this is the quiet household bookend to it.
Alpana is worth planning. Rice paste on a tiled apartment floor works, but it needs to be the right consistency and it needs to come up cleanly afterwards. Many families here use a stencil or a reusable mat instead, which is not traditional but keeps the deposit intact. Our rangoli in the UAE guide covers the practical alternatives.
Ordering. 25 October sits four days before Karwa Chauth and a fortnight before Diwali, which is the heaviest stretch of the year for pooja deliveries in the Emirates. Order by around 21 October. Khoi and batasha in particular are seasonal lines that clear out.
Timing note. The Nishita window is calculated from local midnight, which is not clock midnight. In Dubai it lands at 11:38 PM to 12:29 AM. An Indian panchang will give you a different window, roughly an hour and a half off, and on a fifty-one minute muhurat that matters.
Diwali follows on 8 November, and the Lakshmi Puja that night is the better-known one. Our complete Maa Lakshmi puja vidhi covers both, and Diwali 2026 in the UAE has the five-day calendar.
Frequently asked questions
When is Kojagara Puja 2026?
Sunday, 25 October 2026. The Nishita puja window in Dubai is 11:38 PM to 12:29 AM on the 26th, and the moon rises at 05:05 PM.
What does Kojagara mean?
It comes from the Sanskrit ko jagarti, meaning who is awake. Lakshmi is said to move through the world at midnight on this full moon asking that question, and to remain where someone answers.
Is Kojagara Puja the same as Sharad Purnima?
Same night, two observances. Sharad Purnima is the full moon and the kheer left in the moonlight. Kojagara Puja is the Lakshmi vigil kept through that night with a midnight puja. Most families who keep one also keep the other. Our Sharad Purnima guide covers the kheer side.
Do I have to stay awake all night?
The tradition says yes, and the whole meaning of the name rests on it. In practice, staying awake through the Nishita puja and a while after is what most families manage, and that is accepted. Leaving a lamp burning is the part not to skip.
How is this different from Diwali Lakshmi Puja?
Diwali Lakshmi Puja is on the Kartika Amavasya, the new moon, and is done in the evening. Kojagara is on the Ashwina Purnima, the full moon, and is done at midnight. Diwali is the household's formal invitation; Kojagara is the vigil.
What is offered on Kojagara Puja?
Lotus flowers and kamalgatta, kumkum, akshat, khoi, batasha, coconut sweets, fruit, betel and a coin. The kheer or masala doodh that has sat in the moonlight is offered and then shared.
Can I keep it if I am not Bengali, Odia or Maharashtrian?
Yes. The vigil has no regional restriction, and North Indian families increasingly keep it as a lead-in to Diwali. Use whichever regional form appeals, or simply do the midnight puja and the lamp.
Why is the door left open?
It is symbolic, an invitation to the goddess who is walking outside. In a UAE apartment, leaving a lamp at the entrance and the door unlatched for the duration of the puja carries the same meaning without any of the risk.
Bringing it home
Clean the house, draw the footprints at the door, put the kheer out at five past five, and be awake at 11:38 PM. That is the whole of it.
The rest of the season is on our Hindu Festival and Tithi Calendar for the UAE, and Karwa Chauth follows four days later.
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