Ganesh Chaturthi 2026 is Monday, 14 September — not Tuesday, 15 September. The Chaturthi tithi that the festival follows begins at 7:06 a.m. on 14 September and ends at 7:44 a.m. on 15 September (New Delhi).
Ganapati Sthapana and the main puja are done in Madhyahna — midday — not at sunrise. In New Delhi that window is 11:02 a.m. to 1:31 p.m. The 10-day public utsav ends with Ganesh Visarjan on Friday, 25 September (Anant Chaturdashi). Do not use 23 September as the main visarjan day.
We checked Drik Panchang’s 2026 Ganesh Chaturthi page for New Delhi, Drik’s Anant Chaturdashi listing, the Maharashtra public-holiday gazette, and the FIMMDA Maharashtra bank-holiday list on 22 August 2026. Muhurat minutes move with your city’s sunrise. Do not treat Delhi’s clock as Mumbai’s or Chennai’s.
Key facts (New Delhi, as of 22 August 2026)
Festival: Ganesh Chaturthi / Vinayaka Chaturthi — Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi
Date: Monday, 14 September 2026
Chaturthi tithi: 7:06 a.m. on 14 September → 7:44 a.m. on 15 September
Madhyahna sthapana (Delhi): 11:02 a.m. to 1:31 p.m. (2 hours 28 minutes)
Moon-avoid window (Delhi): 9:06 a.m. to 8:04 p.m. on 14 September
Main visarjan: Friday, 25 September 2026 (Anant Chaturdashi)
National public holiday: no
Maharashtra gazetted holiday: 14 September
Banks: closed in some states only — check the RBI holiday matrix for September 2026
Primary panchang: Drik Panchang, New Delhi
When is Ganesh Chaturthi 2026?
Use Monday, 14 September 2026 for greetings, school notes, travel, and the family WhatsApp group. That is the date Drik Panchang prints for New Delhi. It is also the date the Maharashtra 2026 public-holiday gazette names “Ganesh Chaturthi,” and the date FIMMDA lists as a Maharashtra bank holiday.
Do not use 15 September as the festival day. Tuesday is when Chaturthi finishes, shortly after sunrise. By midday on the 15th the tithi is already over, so there is no Madhyahna Chaturthi to install the idol on. Homes that keep Bappa for one-and-a-half days do visarjan on the 15th. That is an immersion choice, not the Chaturthi date.
Why do calendars show 15 September?
A lunar tithi is not a midnight-to-midnight English day. Chaturthi in 2026 straddles two civil dates:
Monday, 14 September, 7:06 a.m. — Chaturthi begins.
Tuesday, 15 September, 7:44 a.m. — Chaturthi ends.
Phone calendars, some temple posters, and forwarded images often print the end of the tithi, or the morning leftover on Tuesday. Search “Ganesh Chaturthi 2026” and you will see both dates. The rule that actually decides this festival is not “which tithi is running at sunrise.” Drik’s note is specific: Lord Ganesha is believed to have been born in Madhyahna Kala, so Sthapana and Shodashopachara puja are done in the midday fifth of sunrise-to-sunset. On 14 September, Chaturthi covers that entire Delhi midday window. On 15 September it does not.
If a forward says “Ganesh Chaturthi is 15 September,” it is naming the tithi leftover after sunrise, not the festival. Bring Bappa home on Monday, 14 September 2026.
This is the same class of mix-up as Raksha Bandhan 2026 (28 August, not 27) and Atham versus Thiruvonam on our Onam 2026 calendar: one English date for a lunar stretch, another for the day people actually observe. Independence Day is a fixed Gregorian date. Ganesh Chaturthi is not.
What is the Ganpati Sthapana muhurat on 14 September 2026?
Drik Panchang’s New Delhi listing for 2026:
Madhyahna Ganesha Puja: 11:02 a.m. to 1:31 p.m. IST (2 hours 28 minutes).
Moon-avoid window: 9:06 a.m. to 8:04 p.m. on 14 September. Do not sight the moon while Chaturthi is running.
That midday slot is not a nationwide clock. Drik’s city list for the same day (local time) includes Mumbai 11:20 a.m.–1:48 p.m., Pune 11:16 a.m.–1:44 p.m., Hyderabad 10:58 a.m.–1:25 p.m., Bengaluru 11:02 a.m.–1:28 p.m., Chennai 10:51 a.m.–1:18 p.m., and Kolkata 10:18 a.m.–12:46 p.m. Change the city on Drik before you set an alarm. If your family priest uses a different sampradaya clock, follow that notice.
The moon rule is separate. Drik’s vrat katha ties accidental moon-sighting on this tithi to Mithya Dosha (Krishna and the Syamantaka jewel). The listed remedy mantra is सिंहः प्रसेनमवधीत्सिंहो जाम्बवता हतः। सुकुमारक मा रोदीस्तव ह्येष स्यमन्तकः॥ — a quoted panchang custom, not a reason to panic a child. The practical rule is: do not go out of your way to look at the moon on the 14th.
Ganesh Visarjan 2026: 25 September, not 23
Drik Panchang prints Ganesha Visarjan on Friday, 25 September 2026. That is Anant Chaturdashi — Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturdashi — the day public mandals take the big idols out. Drik’s Anant Chaturdashi page for New Delhi lists the tithi from 11:18 p.m. on 24 September to 11:06 p.m. on 25 September, with a puja window from 6:11 a.m. to 11:06 p.m.
Homes that do not keep Bappa for the full utsav immerse earlier. Counting 14 September as day one, the usual family options land on:
1½ days — Tuesday, 15 September (afternoon)
3rd day — Wednesday, 16 September
5th day — Friday, 18 September
7th day — Sunday, 20 September
Public / main visarjan — Friday, 25 September (Anant Chaturdashi)
Some roundups print 23 September because that is the tenth civil day after the 14th. Drik does not: the utsav closes on Anant Chaturdashi — Friday the 25th.
Public visarjan in Mumbai is a civic event. Follow BMC and police route notices closer to the 25th. Times of India reported in August 2026 that BMC had already distributed 3,000 litres of eco-friendly colours to idol makers. Home immersions belong in the ponds your city names, not in a random lake.
Is 14 September 2026 a holiday?
Treat three calendars as three calendars.
1. National public holiday: 14 September is not a nationwide gazetted holiday like Independence Day. Private offices in cities where Ganesh Chaturthi is not a state holiday will usually work unless the employer says otherwise.
2. State offices: Maharashtra’s 2026 public-holiday list names Monday, 14 September 2026 as Ganesh Chaturthi (23 Bhadrapad, 1948 Saka). Other states that typically close for Vinayaka / Vinayagar Chaturthi publish their own GAD orders. We will not invent a 28-state table. Read your state’s 2026 holiday notification if you need leave.
3. Banks (Negotiable Instruments Act): Ganesh Chaturthi is a regional bank holiday. FIMMDA’s Maharashtra 2026 list marks 14 September. A full-year transcription of the RBI 2026 calendar (ClearTax) marks that date at Mumbai, Nagpur, Belapur, Panaji, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Chennai, and Bhubaneswar. New Delhi is not on that line — Delhi banks closed for Janmashtami on 4 September, not for Ganesh. Confirm on the RBI holiday matrix (regional office, September 2026).
Some matrices also mark 15 September for Samvatsari, Nuakhai, or “Ganesh Chaturthi (2nd day).” That does not move the festival to Tuesday. 12 September is the second Saturday, so banks are already shut nationwide; in states that also close on the 14th that stitches a three-day bank weekend. UPI usually keeps running. Do not trust a pan-India “banks closed for Ganesh” forward.
What the day is for
Ganesh Chaturthi is Ganesha’s birth festival on Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi: the idol comes home or into the mandal, is worshipped first, and is later returned to water. Vinayaka Chavithi and Vinayagar Chaturthi are the same tithi under local names. Magha-month Ganesh Jayanti is a different festival. A typical home sequence, without a mandatory script: clay idol, Madhyahna sthapana, modak, daily aarti for as many days as you keep Bappa, then visarjan. A society that only allows a 1½-day murti is applying a housing rule, not a panchang error.
This page sits in the Culture cluster with Janmashtami 2026, Raksha Bandhan 2026, the Onam 2026 calendar, and the Shree Hanuman Chalisa.
What to do next
Put Monday, 14 September 2026 in the family chat, not 15 September.
Open Drik Panchang, set your city, and note the Madhyahna window and the moon-avoid hours. Delhi’s 11:02 a.m.–1:31 p.m. is a starting point, not a national clock.
Decide the visarjan day now: 1½ / 3 / 5 / 7 days, or Anant Chaturdashi on 25 September. Do not use 23 September as the main public day.
Banks: check the RBI matrix for September 2026. Maharashtra branches are listed as closed on the 14th; Delhi is not. Digital payments usually still work.
In Mumbai, watch BMC and police visarjan notices closer to the 25th, and prefer clay idols and named immersion ponds.
FAQ
When is Ganesh Chaturthi in 2026?
Monday, 14 September 2026. That is Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi as observed at Madhyahna in India.
Is Ganesh Chaturthi on 14 September or 15 September 2026?
14 September. Chaturthi begins at 7:06 a.m. on the 14th and ends at 7:44 a.m. on the 15th (New Delhi). The festival follows the midday tithi, so it is Monday. Tuesday is only the leftover morning of the tithi, or a 1½-day visarjan date.
What is the Ganpati Sthapana muhurat in New Delhi?
11:02 a.m. to 1:31 p.m. on 14 September 2026. Set your own city on Drik Panchang before you treat those minutes as local. Mumbai is 11:20 a.m. to 1:48 p.m.
When is Ganesh Visarjan 2026?
The main public visarjan is Friday, 25 September 2026 (Anant Chaturdashi). Families may immerse on 15, 16, 18 or 20 September depending on how many days they keep the idol. Do not use 23 September as Anant Chaturdashi.
Is Ganesh Chaturthi a bank holiday in 2026?
Only in some states — Maharashtra yes, Delhi typically no. Confirm September 2026 on the RBI matrix. UPI usually still works.
Should we avoid looking at the moon on Ganesh Chaturthi?
Drik Panchang says yes, while Chaturthi is running — in New Delhi, 9:06 a.m. to 8:04 p.m. on 14 September. If the moon has already been seen, the same page gives the Syamantaka mantra quoted above. It is a panchang custom, not a reason to panic a child.
Sources
Drik Panchang: 2026 Ganesh Chaturthi, New Delhi — date, Madhyahna, tithi, moon-avoid window, city muhurats, visarjan 25 September.
Drik Panchang: 2026 Anant Chaturdashi, New Delhi — Friday, 25 September; Ganesh Utsava ends this day.
Maharashtra public holidays 2026 — Ganesh Chaturthi on 14 September 2026.
FIMMDA: Maharashtra bank holidays 2026 — 14 September, Ganesh Chaturthi.
RBI holiday matrix — official regional-office view; select September 2026. ClearTax’s 2026 transcription of that calendar lists the 14 September Ganesh offices named above and does not list New Delhi.
Times of India, August 2026 — BMC distributed 3,000 litres of eco-friendly colours to Mumbai idol makers ahead of 14 September.
Last checked: 22 August 2026. If a state GAD or RBI regional office issues a fresh holiday circular, that notification wins — we will update this page.