Festivals
Durga Puja outside Bengal 2026: Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, and the cities with their own guides
Durga Puja 2026 outside Bengal: each city's own almanac days, the Bengali pujas in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune that have put 2026 on their own pages, and why Saptami comes a day early.
In this post (7)
In 1930 a man from Hindustan Construction and a man from Bengal Lodge, both named Shib Chandra, got a Durga Puja going in a compound on Sleater Road. A judge, Khitish Chandra Sen, agreed to be its first president. That, by the Bombay Durga Bari Samiti's own history, is how its Puja began, the one its site calls Mumbai's oldest: a handful of Bengalis a very long train ride from home, deciding that if Kolkata could not come to them, they would make a small piece of it themselves.
That is still what a Puja outside Bengal is for. In Kolkata you go out to see the city's pandals. In Mumbai or Chennai you go to find your people, in a hired hall, a club or a Kali Bari, and for five days the city's Bengalis are in one place.
Durga Puja 2026 dates in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai
Drikpanchang gives the same week for all four cities. Its calendars for Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai put the Bilva Nimantran, the Bodhon and the Adhivas on Friday 16 October, and Saptami with the Kola Bou's bath on Saturday 17. Kolkata keeps its Saptami for Sunday. The reason is sunrise: Saptami tithi begins at 5.54 am on the Saturday, after the sun is up in Kolkata and before it rises further west and south, so those cities wake to Saptami a day early. Our Bengaluru guide works through the same sum.
| Day | Kolkata | Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai | Madras Kali Bari card | NMBA, Vashi card |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 16 Oct | Shashthi, Bilva Nimantran | Bodhon, Amantran, Adhivas | Maha Shashthi | Shashthi |
| Sat 17 Oct | Bodhon, Adhivas | Saptami, Kola Bou's bath | Maha Saptami | Saptami |
| Sun 18 Oct | Saptami, Kola Bou's bath | Saptami continues | Maha Ashtami | Maha Ashtami |
| Mon 19 Oct | Ashtami, Sandhi Puja | Ashtami, Sandhi Puja | Sandhi 7.28 to 8.14 am, Navami | Navami, Sandhi 7.26 to 8.14 am |
| Tue 20 Oct | Navami | Navami | Navami Adhik Puja | Bijoya Dashami, immersion 6 pm |
| Wed 21 Oct | Bijoya Dashami, sindoor khela | Immersion by the Bengali rite, sindoor | Dashami, sindoor khela 1 pm |
The last two columns are there because committees do not all read the same almanac. Madras Kali Bari and the Navi Mumbai association both put Maha Ashtami on Sunday and the Sandhi Puja early on Monday morning, and the Vashi puja ends on Tuesday. So go by your own pandal's card, not by a Kolkata calendar. What each rite means is in our Durga Puja day by day.
Durga Puja in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai
Bombay Durga Bari Samiti
Mathuradas Vissanji Hall, Kemps Corner
The Samiti's site calls it Mumbai's oldest Durga Puja, held without a break since 1930, and this is its 97th Sharodotsav, 16 to 21 October. Its own history lists the landmarks: a silver-jubilee Puja at Cross Maidan in 1954 with Bismillah Khan, Sitara Devi and Ravi Shankar, and a permanent venue at Tejpal Hall on August Kranti Marg from 1971. This year it is at Mathuradas Vissanji Hall. The 2026 theme is Shakti, a force for harmony, not destruction.
- Since
- 1930, by its own account
- 2026
- 97th year, Fri 16 to Wed 21 Oct
- Venue
- Mathuradas Vissanji Hall, Kemps Corner
Navi Mumbai Bengali Association (NMBA)
CIDCO Exhibition Centre, Sector 30, Vashi
NMBA dates itself to 1981; its Sharodotsav 2026 page has the whole week. The Puja is in the air-conditioned CIDCO Exhibition Centre, next to Vashi station, from 16 to 20 October. The page promises free bhog on three days and gives 12.30 to 3 pm for Saptami and Ashtami and 1 to 3 pm for Navami, Monday 19; the Sandhi Puja is at 7.26 am on Monday 19, and sindur khela is at 1 pm on Tuesday 20, with the immersion at 6 pm.
- 2026
- Fri 16 to Tue 20 Oct
- Bhog
- Free: Saptami and Ashtami 12.30 to 3 pm, Navami 1 to 3 pm
- Train
- Vashi station, next door
Powai Bengali Welfare Association (PBWA)
Durga Puja Ground, Hiranandani Gardens, Powai
PBWA has held the Powai Sarvajanin Durgotsav at Hiranandani Gardens since 2006, and its Durgotsav page lists the 21st day by day, from Panchami, Thursday 15 October, to Dashami, Wednesday 21. It keeps Ashtami over two days, Sunday 18 and Monday 19, with the Sandhi Puja at 7.26 am on the Monday. Community bhog is from 12.30 pm, Saptami to Navami. The evenings bring Lopamudra Mitra on Saturday, Sahana Bajpei on Sunday, the Anand Bhaskar Collective on Monday and Amit Kumar on Tuesday. On Dashami, sindoor khela is at 1 pm and the immersion at 7 pm.
- 2026
- 21st year, Thu 15 to Wed 21 Oct
- Bhog
- From 12.30 pm, Sat 17 to Tue 20
- Venue
- MCGM ground, opposite Jal Vayu Vihar
Mumbai has many more Bengali pujas, from Juhu to Chembur and Shivaji Park, but none of the others has put its 2026 details on a website of its own yet.
Durga Puja in Chennai
Madras Kali Bari
12 Umapathy Street, West Mambalam
The society behind the temple was registered on 28 February 1969, by its own history, and 2026 is its 44th Durga Puja. The 2026 invitation has the whole week: annadanam bhog at 1 pm on Saptami, Ashtami and Navami and at Tuesday's Adhik Puja, the Sandhi Puja from 7.28 to 8.14 am on Monday 19, and on Dashami, Wednesday 21, sindoor khela at 1 pm and the immersion procession at 3 pm. It also opens the season in a very Chennai way, with a Golu of dolls inaugurated the same evening as the goddess, Sunday 11 October.
- 2026
- 44th Puja, Shashthi Fri 16 to Dashami Wed 21 Oct
- Bhog
- Annadanam at 1 pm, Saptami to Tuesday 20
- Sindoor
- Wed 21 Oct, 1 pm
The Bengal Association in T. Nagar, the South Madras Cultural Association and Dakshini have not announced their 2026 plans on sites of their own yet.
Durga Puja in Hyderabad
Prabashi Socio-Cultural Association
Saptapadi Garden Function Hall, Nizampet Road
The association's name says it: prabashi, the Bengali who lives away. Its site announces the Prabashi Sarbojanin Durgotsav for 16 to 21 October 2026 at the Saptapadi Garden Function Hall on Nizampet Road. The page says the details of the puja will be shared soon.
- 2026
- Fri 16 to Wed 21 Oct
- Not announced yet
- Programme and bhog times
Hyderabad's other big Bengali pujas, in Himayatnagar, Sainikpuri and Gachibowli, post mainly on social media; none has a 2026 page of its own yet.
Durga Puja in Pune
Pune's days are the same as Mumbai's by drikpanchang's Pune calendar: Bodhon on Friday 16 October, Saptami on Saturday 17, immersion and sindoor on Wednesday 21. The city's Kali Baris and associations, from Khadki to Shivajinagar, post their plans mainly on social media. Aagomoni Prabasi Sangha has put its 2026 programme on a website of its own.
Aagomoni Prabasi Sangha
Gyandeep Garden Mangal Karyalay, Pashan
Its own events page lists Durga Puja 2026 from Thursday 15 October to Wednesday 21 at Gyandeep Garden Mangal Karyalay in Pashan, open from 9 am to midnight every day except Dashami, when it closes at 4 pm. The puja schedule on its home page keeps Ashtami over two days, as its panchang does, Sunday 18 and Monday 19, with the Sandhi Puja from 10.27 to 11.17 am on the Monday. Bhog is from 1 pm on four days, Saptami to Navami, and the Kumari Puja is at 11.15 am on Navami, Tuesday 20. On Dashami, sindoor khela starts at 10.30 am and the immersion procession at 3.30 pm.
- 2026
- Thu 15 to Wed 21 Oct
- Hours
- 9 am to midnight; Dashami till 4 pm
- Bhog
- From 1 pm, Sat 17 to Tue 20
Delhi's CR Park and Bengaluru
Both have guides of their own. In Delhi, Saptami also falls on Saturday 17, CR Park's Cooperative Ground puja is in its 51st year and the Kali Mandir has held a Durga Puja since 1977; the pandals, the metro stops and Noida and Gurugram are in our CR Park guide. In Bengaluru, the Bengalee Association on Assaye Road traces its Puja to 1950, and BARSHA's 11th in Electronic City has a Kumartuli-made idol; the rest, and what the 2011 census really counted, are in our Bengaluru guide.
Abroad
The Times Square Durga Puja's own site still says only "coming soon", so its 2026 plans are still to be announced. If you are far enough away that the time zone matters more than the almanac, our Mahalaya guide has the Mahalaya broadcast in your own city's time.
Elsewhere in the United States, two pujas have put their 2026 plans on their own sites. Shiva Durga Krishna Kali Mandir in Houston keeps the almanac by its own clock: Mahalaya with til tarpan at 11 am on Saturday 10 October, Shashthi on Friday 16, Ashtami on Sunday 18 with the Sandhi Puja from 11.21 pm to 12.09 am, Houston time, Dashami on Tuesday 20, and the sindoor khela held over to Saturday 24. Near Boston, Bangla O Biswa holds its Puja on the weekend after Dashami, Friday 23 to Sunday 25 October, at Andover High School, with Tanusree Shankar's dance and Anindya Bose live on the Friday, Sourendro and Soumyojit in concert on the Saturday and Akriti Kakkar on the Sunday.
3:12Play: #typo: Types of Bengalis outside Kolkata#typo: Types of Bengalis outside Kolkata
Mirchi Bangla
Mirchi Bangla's Mirchi Agni, about three minutes: every kind of probashi Bengali you will meet at the bhog queue, and possibly you. For the walk from the station.
In West Mambalam this year a Kali Bari will open a Golu of dolls on the same evening as its Bengali Durga. It is a small thing, and it is the whole story of the probashi Puja: you carry the goddess a thousand miles, and the city you have moved to quietly adds something of its own.
References (5)
- Durga Puja calendar 2026, Mumbai, Drik Panchang. Checked 30 Sep 2026.
- Durga Puja calendar 2026, Pune, Drik Panchang. Checked 30 Sep 2026.
- Durga Puja calendar 2026, Hyderabad, Drik Panchang. Checked 30 Sep 2026.
- Durga Puja calendar 2026, Chennai, Drik Panchang. Checked 30 Sep 2026.
- Durga Puja calendar 2026, Kolkata, Drik Panchang. Checked 30 Sep 2026.
Pictures: A Durga Puja in Mumbai, photographed on 20 October 2023, during that year's Puja: Albatross2431, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped
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