Karthika Masam 2026: Start Date (10 November), Somavarams, Rituals & Complete Festival Calendar

Quick answer: Karthika Masam 2026 begins Tuesday, 10 November and ends Tuesday, 8 December 2026 (Telugu Amanta calendar). It has four Karthika Somavarams — 16, 23, 30 November and 7 December — with Nagula Chavithi (13 Nov), Utthana Ekadashi (20 Nov), Tulasi Vivaham (21 Nov) and Karthika Pournami (24 Nov). The month is sacred to both Shiva and Vishnu, and its central practice is the daily evening Deepa Daanam.

Karthika Masam 2026 begins on Tuesday, 10 November 2026 and ends on Tuesday, 8 December 2026 in the Telugu, Kannada, Marathi and Gujarati (Amanta) calendar. In the North Indian Purnimanta system, Kartik month runs from 27 October to 24 November 2026. It opens the morning after Deepavali — the lamps lit on Amavasya night are lit again the next evening, and every evening for thirty days.

Of all twelve months, this is the one the Puranas single out. The Skanda Purana calls no month equal to Karthika; the Padma Purana says a single lamp offered in this month with faith undoes the accumulation of many lifetimes. It is the rare month sacred to both Shiva and Vishnu — Hari and Hara worshipped in the same thirty days, often at the same altar.

Karthika Masam 2026: key dates at a glance

Why 10 November and not 9? The Amavasya tithi begins at 11:27 AM on 8 November and ends at 12:31 PM on 9 November 2026. Since Amavasya still prevails at sunrise on the 9th, that day belongs to Aswayuja; Karthika Suddha Padyami prevails at sunrise on the 10th — so the month opens on Tuesday, 10 November.

The four Karthika Somavarams of 2026

Mondays in Karthika are the most powerful days for Shiva worship in the entire year. In 2026 there are four: 16 November, 23 November, 30 November and 7 December. The observance: a pre-dawn bath, a Shiva temple visit, Rudrabhishekam or at least a bilva-patra archana, a fast held until the evening lamp is lit, and the meal taken only after darshan. The second Somavaram (23 November) falls on Vaikuntha Chaturdashi — the one day of the year when Shiva and Vishnu are worshipped together in a single rite.

Festival calendar — Shukla Paksha (10–24 November)

Festival calendar — Krishna Paksha (25 November – 8 December)

Tithi-based dates in the second fortnight can shift by a day with location; confirm against your city’s panchangam.

Why Karthika Masam is considered the most meritorious month

• Deepa Daanam — a lamp offered in Karthika carries merit disproportionate to the act; the Skanda Purana holds even a lamp lit without understanding yields fruit, for the light itself is the offering.
• Karthika Snanam — a bath before sunrise in a river, tank, or at home with the rivers invoked in the water, is said to carry the merit of pilgrimage.
• Hari–Hara Aikyam — both Shiva and Vishnu are supreme this month; the sectarian line that divides most of the calendar dissolves here.
• Multiplied merit — any good act (charity, fasting, japa, feeding another) yields multiplied results in Karthika; so, the texts warn, do wrong acts.

The season explains the symbol. Karthika sits at the year’s darkest turn — nights lengthening, harvest gathered, cold arriving. The lamp lit at the Tulasi kota each evening is a small refusal of that darkness, repeated for thirty consecutive days until it becomes a habit of the household. The inner reading, given in the same texts, is direct: the lamp outside is a mirror for the lamp within. Deepa Daanam is not so much an offering to the deity as a training of attention.

Karthika Masam rituals: what to do

• Karthika Snanam — bathe before sunrise, invoking the rivers ("Gange cha Yamune chaiva Godavari Saraswati") into the water.
• Deepa Aradhana — light lamps at dusk every evening: at the Tulasi kota (the most important), the threshold and puja room, and at a Shiva or Vishnu temple. Use sesame oil or ghee with cotton wicks; on Pournami, 365 wicks.
• Karthika Puranam — read one chapter each evening after lighting the lamp, completing all thirty by Amavasya.
• Nitya japa — Om Namah Shivaya through the day; the Damodarashtakam at the lamp in Vaishnava homes.
• Vanabhojanam — the Telugu "forest meal": families gather in a park or grove, ideally under an usiri (amla) tree, and eat together in the open, most often on a Sunday after Karthika Pournami.

Deepa Daanam on Karthika Pournami (24 November 2026): 365 wicks lit together; Jwala Toranam at Shiva temples (a flaming arch between two pillars, most spectacular at Draksharamam and the Pancharama kshetras); floating lamps on the Godavari, Krishna and Tungabhadra; Satyanarayana Vratam in many households. Tulasi Vivaham (21 November): on Ksheerabdi Dwadashi the Tulasi is married to Vishnu (a Shaligrama or small Krishna murti) — this reopens the wedding season, being the first marriage of the new muhurat cycle after Chaturmasya ends. Nagula Chavithi (13 November): women fast and offer milk, turmeric and chalimidi at an anthill or Subrahmanya temple, praying for progeny and relief from Naga Dosha and Kala Sarpa Dosha.

Karthika Masam do’s and don’ts

• Do: strict vegetarianism (no meat, egg, onion or garlic); sattvic food, ideally one meal on vrata days; daily charity however small (a lamp, a meal, oil for a temple lamp); feed brahmanas, the poor, cows and dogs; celibacy on Somavarams and Ekadashis.
• Don’t: non-vegetarian food and intoxicants; anger, harsh speech and quarrels (held to carry multiplied negative fruit); cutting the Tulasi plant, or picking its leaves on Ekadashi and Dwadashi.
• Reopened from 20 November: Chaturmasya ends at Utthana Ekadashi, so marriages, upanayanam, griha pravesham and new ventures become auspicious again — the first clear muhurat window since before Bhadrapada Masam.

Karthika Masam 2026 for NRI families

• Somavaram is a weekday, not a tithi — Mondays are Mondays everywhere, so 16, 23, 30 November and 7 December hold worldwide with no conversion. This makes Karthika unusually easy to observe abroad.
• Karthika Pournami and Ekadashi are tithi-based; confirm your city’s date on a local panchang (North American families frequently observe these a day earlier than India).
• Deepa Daanam without an open flame — where building rules prohibit it, ghee lamps in a contained brass holder or LED deepams are widely accepted; many US and UK temples run collective deepotsavam on the nearest weekend.
• No Tulasi plant? A potted tulasi from an Indian grocery, or a clean space with a photograph, suffices for the daily lamp; keep tulasi indoors through the November cold.
• Vanabhojanam travels well — a community picnic in a local park is the whole tradition; Telugu associations across the US, UK, Australia and the Gulf hold these each Karthika.

What makes Karthika different is not any single festival but the repetition — a small clay lamp, a little sesame oil, a cotton wick, and a Tulasi plant by the door, returned to at dusk for thirty consecutive evenings. By the fourth or fifth evening it stops being an observance and becomes the hour the household turns toward. No purohit, no expense, no learning required — only the lamp, and the returning. Karthika Masam 2026: 10 November to 8 December. The first deepam is lit on Tuesday evening, 10 November.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does Karthika Masam 2026 start?

Tuesday, 10 November 2026, the day after Deepavali Amavasya concludes; it ends Tuesday, 8 December 2026 (Telugu Amanta). North Indian Kartik runs 27 October–24 November 2026.

Why does Karthika Masam start on 10 November and not 9?

The Amavasya tithi ends at 12:31 PM on 9 November, so Amavasya still prevails at sunrise that day and the 9th belongs to Aswayuja. Karthika Suddha Padyami prevails at sunrise on 10 November.

How many Karthika Somavarams are there in 2026?

Four — 16, 23, 30 November and 7 December 2026.

When is Karthika Pournami 2026?

Tuesday, 24 November 2026 — the day of Deepotsavam, Jwala Toranam, 365-wick offerings, Dev Deepavali at Varanasi and Guru Nanak Jayanti.

When is Tulasi Vivaham 2026?

Saturday, 21 November 2026, on Ksheerabdi Dwadashi, the day after Utthana Ekadashi.

When is Nagula Chavithi 2026?

Friday, 13 November 2026, on Karthika Shukla Chaturthi.

Can marriages be performed in Karthika Masam?

Yes, from Utthana Ekadashi on 20 November 2026 onward, when Chaturmasya ends. The first ten days still fall within Chaturmasya.

Why is Karthika Masam sacred to both Shiva and Vishnu?

It is the one month the Puranas assign to both. Mondays and the Deepam belong to Shiva; Utthana Ekadashi, Tulasi Vivaham and Damodara worship belong to Vishnu.