Lakshmi Panchami 2026 Date

About Lakshmi Panchami

One of only seven Kalpadi tithis in the year — days the panchanga marks as the start of a new Kalpa, or cosmic cycle. Falling on Chaitra Shukla Panchami, days after the lunar new year, it opens the calendar with a fast for Lakshmi at home and at the workplace.

Don't confuse this Shri Panchami with the more famous one. Vasant Panchami in Magha is also called Shri Panchami, but that day belongs to Saraswati. Here 'Shri' is Lakshmi herself — and the timing is the point. Coming in the first week of the Hindu new year, the vrata is meant to seat prosperity at the threshold of the calendar, which is why the puja is performed at the workplace as well as in the home shrine. Lakshmi is invoked not as a single figure but as Ashta Lakshmi — her eight forms covering wealth (Dhana), grain (Dhanya), progeny (Santana), courage, and more — so the offering asks for the full range of well-being, not just money. Symbols on the altar typically include the lotus, the elephant, gold, and the cowrie shell.