Māsik Durgāṣṭamī is the Śukla Aṣṭamī of every lunar month, the bright eighth that belongs to Goddess Durgā. Families who keep a monthly Durgā vrata honour her on this day with a lamp, red flowers and her names. There is no single kathā that must be read each month, because the longer telling belongs to Navarātri. The day is kept simply, as a steady monthly remembrance of the Mother. How the day is fixed: The day is the civil day on which Śukla Aṣṭamī is present at local sunrise. The pañcāṅga reads the tithi at sunrise for your own place, so there is no single all-India date. Keep in mind: Āśvina Śukla Aṣṭamī is one of these monthly days and is also Durgāṣṭamī of Navarātri, which has its own page. If your family pañcāṅga follows a different sunrise reckoning, confirm the tithi there. This year: The 2026 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. Lamp and pūjā: Households light a lamp, offer red flowers or a simple naivedya, and recite Durgā's names or a stotra they already know. The fast: Some keep a fruit or milk fast until the evening pūjā, some take a simple meal and offer only a lamp and namaskāra, and some visit a Durgā or village-goddess shrine. Worth remembering: Kālāṣṭamī falls on the Kṛṣṇa Aṣṭamī of the dark fortnight and is a different monthly day. Navarātri Durgāṣṭamī is the annual festival, and neither is merged with this monthly vrata. No single fast menu binds every house, and a North Indian pattern need not be copied everywhere. Families who avoid Rāhu kālam, Yamagaṇḍam or Guḷikai do not begin the pūjā in those hours. Kulācāra and deśācāra decide the details, so it is best to follow the elders of your own house and the priest you trust.
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