Research Contributor (Panchang & Calendar)
Ajay Kumar researches the Hindu calendar for ProperPandit: lunar months, regional new years, festival dates and muhurat timings by city. He has 7 years of practice and study of Hindu traditions, and is an independent contributor with work in another professional field.
Vrat & festivals
Diwali Lakshmi Puja is on Sunday 8 November 2026 in every overseas city we checked. Here are the local muhurat and Pradosh Kaal windows for New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Houston, the Bay Area, Toronto, London, Leicester and Dubai.
Vrat & festivals
Choghadiya for Friday 6 November 2026, Dhanteras, for New Delhi, Mumbai, Toronto, New York and London, plus the evening puja muhurat for Toronto, Brampton, Mississauga, New Jersey, Chicago, Houston and San Francisco, all from Drik Panchang and checked against our own sunrise and sunset maths.
Vrat & festivals
Diwali Lakshmi Puja falls on Sunday 8 November 2026 in all seven cities we checked across India, the USA, the UK, Canada and the UAE. The evening window differs by city, and Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj land a day earlier in London and New York than in New Delhi.
Panchang & calendar
Amanta months end at new moon, purnimanta at full moon. Same days, different names for the waning fortnight. A conversion rule and who uses which.
Panchang & calendar
Each Hindu month is named after a nakshatra, but today the name is fixed by where the Sun is. The full list, Hindi forms, and the rule behind it.
Panchang & calendar
Ugadi, Gudi Padwa, Puthandu, Vishu, Pohela Boishakh, Bestu Varas: why India has so many new years, and the two kinds of calendar behind them.
Puja guides
A plain, step-by-step way to do Diwali Lakshmi Puja at home, from cleaning and setting up the altar to aarti and prasad, with a samagri list and substitutes that are easy to find outside India.
Vrat & festivals
Dev Deepawali, the 'Diwali of the gods', lights Varanasi's ghats on the full moon of Kartik, about fifteen days after Diwali. The beliefs behind it, how the day is fixed, and what to know before you go.
Vrat & festivals
In 2026 Drik Panchang lists Govardhan Puja on Tuesday 10 November and Bhai Dooj on Wednesday 11 November for New Delhi, but London and New York keep both a day earlier. Here is why, with the local timings and what each day involves.
