Time Your Day to the Ritual Windows
On Monday, 19 October 2026, Maha Ashtami in Hyderabad runs to a fixed clock. Sunrise is at 6:10 AM, and the Ashwina Shukla Ashtami tithi holds from 8:28 AM to 10:52 AM. The day's centrepiece is Sandhi Puja, the 48 minutes that bridge the last 24 minutes of Ashtami and the first 24 minutes of Navami, observed from 10:28 AM to 11:16 AM. Abhijit muhurta follows from 11:37 AM to 12:24 PM.
These windows are computed for Hyderabad at 17.3850, 78.4867, from the JPL DE440 ephemeris, and the observance follows the udaya-tithi rule — Ashwina Shukla Ashtami at sunrise — with Sandhi Puja kept across the Ashtami-Navami join per Durgotsava nibandha tradition. If you want to observe the day as it is meant to be kept, build your morning around the Sandhi Puja window and keep the hours before it free.
Know the Date Before You Book
Maha Ashtami falls on Monday, 19 October 2026. That single fixed point is what your travel planning hangs on: the tithi, the sunrise, the Sandhi Puja and the Abhijit muhurta all fall on that one day, and all of them are morning and midday windows rather than evening ones.
- Tithi (Ashwina Shukla Ashtami): 8:28 AM to 10:52 AM
- Sunrise: 6:10 AM
- Sandhi Puja: 10:28 AM to 11:16 AM (48 minutes)
- Abhijit muhurta: 11:37 AM to 12:24 PM
All timings are IST. The day's observance is anchored to sunrise, so an early start is not optional if you want to follow the sequence as it unfolds.
What the Timing Actually Means
Sandhi Puja is the hinge of the day. It spans the join between Ashtami and Navami — the last 24 minutes of Ashtami and the first 24 minutes of Navami — which is why it runs 48 minutes in total, from 10:28 AM to 11:16 AM. In the Durgotsava nibandha tradition this is the window kept across the junction of the two tithis.
Abhijit muhurta, from 11:37 AM to 12:24 PM, follows directly after. Between the tithi opening at 8:28 AM and the close of Abhijit muhurta at 12:24 PM, the whole of the day's ritual structure sits inside a single morning.
Carry the Timings With You
The published timings come with a shareable timing card and QR verification, and the same source lists timings for other cities. If you are travelling, that is worth noting: the Hyderabad windows are computed for Hyderabad's coordinates, so a timing card for another city will not match what you see here.
Save the four numbers — 6:10 AM, 8:28–10:52 AM, 10:28–11:16 AM, 11:37 AM–12:24 PM — before you go, and check them against the verification card rather than relying on a forwarded message.
Plan Around the Date
Book your travel so you are settled in Hyderabad by Sunday night, 18 October 2026, and keep Monday morning clear: the tithi opens at 8:28 AM and the Sandhi Puja closes at 11:16 AM, with Abhijit muhurta running to 12:24 PM. Everything the day is built around happens before lunch. Fix the date, fix the morning, and the rest of your trip can be arranged around it.