Chitragupta Puja 2026 and 2027: All Four Dwitiya Dates

Chitragupta Puja is the day Kayastha families keep for Chitragupta, the scribe of Yama’s court in the Puranic accounts. In Kayastha custom it comes round twice a year, and each time on a Dwitiya, a second lunar day. The autumn one is Kartika Shukla Dwitiya, the Yama Dwitiya of the Diwali week, which in 2026 is Wednesday, 11 November 2026. The spring one is Chaitra Krishna Dwitiya, in the dark fortnight that opens with Holi. The 2026 spring date, Thursday 5 March 2026, has already passed; the next is Wednesday, 24 March 2027. Whether a household keeps one of the two or both is a matter of its own practice. Below, all four dates for 2026 and 2027 are worked from the site’s computed panchang.

The Four Dwitiyas of 2026 and 2027 (चित्रगुप्त पूजा 2026 कब है)

The two Kartika spans are the generated festival table’s own figures for Bhai Dooj, which falls on the same Dwitiya. The table has no row for the Chaitra Dwitiya, so those two spans come from the site’s lunar code, which reproduces the table to within 1 minute on the 86 festival rows it is checked against. Sunrise and the tithi current at sunrise are from the daily panchang for New Delhi.

Sunrise or Midday: Two Readings, the Same Day Each Time

An almanac places a tithi observance by asking which tithi is current at a chosen moment of the day. The simplest moment is sunrise. For Bhai Dooj, the festival table uses another, madhyahna, and tests it at one instant: the midpoint between that day’s sunrise and sunset. That instant is the table’s test and nothing more; it is not offered here as a time for the puja. Both readings were run on every day each Dwitiya touches, including the afternoon it opens.

For all four, the two readings name the same day. Each Dwitiya begins on the day before its date, and in each case well after that day’s midday:

• Chaitra 2026: opens 16:50 on Wednesday 4 March 2026, so that date holds neither the sunrise nor the midday of the Dwitiya.
• Kartika 2026: opens 14:00 on Tuesday 10 November 2026, so that date holds neither the sunrise nor the midday of the Dwitiya.
• Chaitra 2027: opens 14:28 on Tuesday 23 March 2027, so that date holds neither the sunrise nor the midday of the Dwitiya.
• Kartika 2027: opens 17:52 on Saturday 30 October 2027, so that date holds neither the sunrise nor the midday of the Dwitiya.

Each one is also over before the sunrise after its date, so none of the four offers two Dwitiya mornings to choose between. The readings can split when a Dwitiya opens after sunrise but before midday: its first day then catches the midday but not the sunrise, and the two tests point to different dates. None of the four is built that way, so on these figures there is no disagreement to report.

Why the Spring Date Is Two Days After Holi (होली के बाद)

A search for Chitragupta Puja “after Holi” often expects the very next day. On this site’s tables the gap is two days in both years. The table dates Holi, the day of colours, as the day after Holika Dahan, and on that date the full moon is still running at sunrise: in 2026 the Purnima lasts until 17:07 on 3 March 2026, and in 2027 until 16:13 on 22 March 2027. The next sunrise in each year belongs to the Krishna Pratipada, and only the one after it to the Dwitiya: 5 March after a Holi on 3 March, and 24 March after a Holi on 22 March.

The month name depends on how a calendar counts. A calendar whose months close at the full moon, the common northern reckoning, calls this fortnight Chaitra Krishna; one whose months close at the new moon still counts it in Phalguna. The tithi, and so the date, is identical under both.

March 2027: the Narrowest Margin of the Four

The 2027 spring Dwitiya opens at 14:28 on 23 March 2027 and closes at 13:14 on 24 March 2027, early in the afternoon. At New Delhi the midday instant on 24 March falls inside it with 46 minutes to spare, the smallest margin of the four. Midday comes later the further west a city lies, so the margin shrinks westward. Worked for all 38 cities in the site’s city panchang, the midday of 24 March still falls inside the Dwitiya in every one, and so does that morning’s sunrise; the closest is Ahmedabad, with 28 minutes left.

What matters in practice is the closing instant. From 13:14 IST the Tritiya is current, at the same moment everywhere in India, so a family whose custom puts the rite in the afternoon of 24 March will find the Dwitiya already over. The Kartika Dwitiyas are roomier but also close before dark: at 15:53 on 11 November 2026 and at 17:13 on 31 October 2027, each ahead of sunset at New Delhi.

What Is Chitragupta Puja? The Scribe in the Garuda Purana

In the Garuda Purana’s account of what happens after death, the dead are brought before Yama, and Chitragupta, seated in Yama’s court, holds the written record of each person’s deeds, from which the judgement in that text proceeds. The Purana pictures him as a writer of accounts. The calendar pairing follows the same court: the Kartika Dwitiya carries Yama’s name, and Kayastha families give that day to Yama’s scribe.

Kalam-Dawat Puja: Pen, Inkpot and Ledger (कलम-दवात पूजा)

The household rite takes its name from two objects: kalam, the pen, and dawat, the inkpot. In Kayastha family custom the pens the family writes with and an inkpot are placed in front of a picture or image of Chitragupta and worshipped with him, and the family’s account books are laid out beside them. The details beyond that vary between families, and the order of worship, the offerings and the hour come from each family’s practice or its priest.

This page gives no muhurat for the puja. The festival table holds the Dwitiya and the day-part it tests, not an hour for any rite, and the useful figures above are the boundaries: when each Dwitiya opens and when it ends.

Kanchipuram: a Temple on Another Calendar

Outside the north the observance follows other reckonings. The Chitragupta temple at Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu keeps its festival for him, as a temple custom, on Chitra Pournami, the full moon of the Tamil month of Chithirai, which is neither of the two Dwitiyas above. This page does not compute that date.

Neighbouring Dates and Pages

The Kartika date’s working, from the Govardhan Puja handover to the tilak question, is on the Bhai Dooj 2026 page, and the 2027 Kartika row has its own page at Bhai Dooj 2027. The spring Dwitiya of 2027 follows Holi 2027. The month lists for November 2026 and March 2027 carry the fasts and festivals around each date, and every computed festival is on the festival pages. For sunrise and sunset in your own town, use the panchang tool. In Hindi: चित्रगुप्त पूजा 2026 और 2027: चारों द्वितीया तिथियाँ.