When Is Purnima? Next Purnima Date, Tithi Timings and Purnima List

When is Purnima? Devotees ask this every month, because the full moon is a day of fasting, Satyanarayan Katha, the Ganga bath and charity. The box below shows the next Purnima — its date, Purnima tithi timings, the snan-daan day and the vrat day — worked out from sunrise in your city, followed by the full Purnima list for this year and next.

How is the Purnima date decided?

Purnima is the fifteenth tithi of Shukla paksha, when the moon is full. A tithi depends on the distance between the Moon and the Sun, so Purnima tithi can begin at any hour — morning, afternoon or midnight. Panchangs follow two rules:

• Purnima for snan-daan: the day Purnima tithi prevails at sunrise (udaya tithi). The Ganga bath, charity and most festivals are on this day.
• Purnima vrat: the day Purnima tithi prevails in the evening (at sunset and moonrise), because the fast is completed with darshan and arghya to the moon.

In most months both fall on the same day. But when Purnima tithi begins in the afternoon or evening, the fast is on the first day and the snan-daan on the next. In the list above, such months show the “Vrat” date separately under the date.

Example: Sharad Purnima and Kartik Purnima 2026

In 2026 Ashwin Purnima tithi ran from about 11:57 AM on 25 October to 9:42 AM on 26 October. The moon was full on the night of 25 October, so the Sharad Purnima kheer and fast were on 25 October and the snan-daan on 26 October. Kartik Purnima tithi runs from 11:42 PM on 23 November to 8:23 PM on 24 November — so the fast, bath, charity and Dev Deepawali are all on 24 November.

12 or 13 Purnimas in 2026?

A normal year has 12 Purnimas. But roughly every three years an Adhik Maas (Purushottam Maas) is added, giving 13. 2026 has an Adhik Jyeshtha month, so there are 13 Purnimas this year — Adhik Jyeshtha Purnima is on 31 May 2026. Weddings and similar ceremonies are not held in an Adhik month, but worship, japa and charity are believed to bring many times the merit.

Purnima of every month and its festivals

Purnima	Festivals and significance
Chaitra Purnima	Hanuman Jayanti
Vaishakh Purnima	Buddha Purnima, Kurma Jayanti
Jyeshtha Purnima	Vat Purnima Vrat, Kabir Jayanti
Ashadha Purnima	Guru Purnima (Vyasa Purnima)
Shravan Purnima	Raksha Bandhan
Bhadrapad Purnima	Purnima Shraddh — Pitru Paksha begins next day
Ashwin Purnima	Sharad Purnima (Kojagari)
Kartik Purnima	Kartik Purnima, Dev Deepawali, Guru Nanak Jayanti
Margashirsha Purnima	Dattatreya Jayanti, Annapurna Jayanti
Paush Purnima	Shakambhari Jayanti, start of Magh Snan
Magh Purnima	Magh Purnima bath, Sant Ravidas Jayanti
Phalgun Purnima	Holika Dahan

See every fast and festival of the year in our Vrat Calendar.

Purnima vrat vidhi

1. Morning: wake in Brahma Muhurat, bathe in a holy river or at home with Gangajal in the water, and offer water to the Sun.
2. Sankalp: take the vow of the fast before Lord Vishnu. Keep a fruit fast or one meal as you are able.
3. Puja: offer yellow flowers, tulsi leaves, panchamrit, bananas and panjiri to Lord Vishnu / Satyanarayan and light a ghee lamp.
4. Katha: listen to the Satyanarayan Vrat Katha with your family and sing Om Jai Jagdish Hare.
5. Moon arghya: after moonrise, offer water with raw milk, rice and white flowers to the moon and chant “Om Som Somaya Namah”.
6. Charity: give grain, clothes, milk, rice or sweets, then take the prasad and break the fast.

Satyanarayan Katha on Purnima

On Purnima many homes hold the Satyanarayan Vrat Katha. Told in the Reva Khand of the Skanda Purana, it has five chapters. In the first, Lord Vishnu himself tells Narada Muni about the Satyanarayan vrat as a way out of suffering in Kali Yuga. The later stories — of a poor Brahmin, a woodcutter, King Ulkamukh, the merchant Sadhu and his daughter Kalavati, and King Tungadhwaj — show that forgetting a vow or disrespecting the prasad brings trouble, while keeping the vow with faith brings happiness and prosperity.

For the katha, decorate a canopy with banana leaves, place a picture of Lord Satyanarayan on a chowki and prepare panjiri of wheat flour, panchamrit and bananas as prasad. After the katha sing the aarti and share the prasad — it should never be refused.

What to eat during the Purnima fast

• Fruit, milk, curd, dry fruit and coconut water
• Dishes made with sabudana, kuttu, singhara or rajgira flour
• Potato and sweet potato cooked with rock salt (sendha namak)
• In the evening, after the moon arghya, kheer or a sattvic meal — kheer kept in moonlight on Sharad Purnima is especially significant
• The sick, pregnant women, children and the elderly should keep a fruit fast as they are able and consult a doctor if needed.

What to do and avoid on Purnima

Do	Avoid
Bathe in the Ganga or a holy river	Tamasic food, meat and alcohol
Satyanarayan Katha and Vishnu puja	Anger, quarrels and harsh words
Arghya to the moon, worship of Goddess Lakshmi	Disrespecting anyone, especially elders and women
Lamps near the peepal and tulsi	A dirty, dark home — always light a lamp in the evening
Give grain and clothes to the needy	Sleeping in the daytime on a fast day

Significance of Purnima

On Purnima the moon is complete with all sixteen kalas. In Jyotish the moon governs the mind, so the Purnima fast is considered good for peace of mind and emotional balance. The day is dear to Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi — which is why homes hold the Satyanarayan Katha. Many great festivals — Guru Purnima, Raksha Bandhan, Sharad Purnima, Kartik Purnima and Holi — fall on Purnima.

Krishna paksha begins the day after Purnima, and Amavasya comes about fifteen days later. See When is Amavasya for the next new moon and When is Ekadashi for Ekadashi. Today’s tithi and nakshatra are on Today’s Panchang. Read more on Wikipedia.

Frequently asked questions