Vaikuntha Chaturdashi 2026 Date
Vaikuntha Chaturdashi 2026 is on Monday, 23 November 2026, on Chaturdasi tithi.
Dates are for India (IST). Tithi timings for your city are on the Vaikuntha Chaturdashi page.
About Vaikuntha Chaturdashi
The one night a year when Vishnu is installed inside the sanctum of Kashi Vishwanath — Varanasi's great Shiva temple — and the building itself is treated as Vaikuntha. Observed on Kartika Shukla Chaturdashi, the eve of Dev Diwali.
The Shiva Purana tells why. Vishnu vowed to worship Shiva with a thousand lotuses at Kashi. When one bloom went missing from the count, he plucked out his own lotus-like eye to complete the offering. Shiva restored the eye and handed him the Sudarshana Chakra. The ritual day mirrors that exchange. Vishnu offers tulsi to Shiva, and Shiva offers bilva (bael) leaves to Vishnu — a deliberate swap, since tulsi is normally reserved for Vishnu alone and bilva for Shiva alone. The clock is split too: Vaishnavas worship at Nishitha (midnight), Shaivas at Arunodaya (pre-dawn). In Varanasi, Shaiva devotees take the Manikarnika Snan, a dawn dip at Manikarnika Ghat. Beyond Kashi, the day is also kept in Rishikesh, Gaya and across Maharashtra.
