Maha Navami 2026: Taleju Temple Opens for Its One Day a Year

Maha Navami, the ninth day of Dashain, falls on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. It is the last day of Navaratri, and across Nepal it is the day the year's tools, machines and vehicles are worshipped, and the one day of the year when the Taleju temple in Kathmandu opens its gates to everyone.

The story behind the day

Dashain is Nepal's longest and most important festival, a 15-day celebration of good winning over evil. In the story at its centre, the demon Mahishasura was causing terror in the world of the gods until the goddess Durga fought and killed him. Inside Himalayas explains that the first nine days of Dashain stand for that battle between the forms of Durga and Mahishasura, and the tenth day marks her victory. For other Hindus, the festival also stands for the victory of Rama over Ravana in the Ramayana. Maha Navami is the peak of the nine nights, when the battle in the story reaches its last day and ceremonies across Nepal reach their fullest.

The temple that opens once a year

The Taleju Bhawani temple stands in the Hanuman Dhoka Durbar area of Kathmandu Durbar Square. For the rest of the year its gates stay closed to the public. On Maha Navami they open from morning, and thousands of devotees line up through the day to pay respect to the goddess Taleju Bhawani, ECS Nepal and Inside Himalayas both report. ANI has described serpentine lines stretching around the temple on this day in past years, with devotees arriving from early morning.

The day of tools and vehicles

Maha Navami is also Vishwakarma day, named for the god of creation and craft. The worship of tools, vehicles and machines on this day is called Ayudha Puja. Artisans, craftsmen, traders and mechanics worship the things they make their living with: tools, instruments, machines and vehicles. Cars, motorbikes, workshop machines and farm tools are cleaned and blessed, in the belief that worshipping them on this day helps avoid accidents and damage in the year ahead, Kathmandu Metro and Inside Himalayas report. Security forces also perform kot puja, the worship of armouries, on this day.

Official ritual sacrifices are held on Maha Navami in the Kot courtyard at Hanuman Dhoka, with military honours for the goddess, and families complete their Dashain sacrifices on this final day before tika. Nepal Hiking Team's festival guide notes that the armed forces perform official ritual sacrifices at Hanuman Dhoka and the Kot courtyard and fire a salute, while households that do not practise animal sacrifice offer fruit and vegetables instead. The jamara grown from seeds sown on the first day of the festival is offered at shrines and temples on this day, and verses from the Durga Saptashati and Devi Stotra are recited in homes and temples.

What comes the next morning

The day after Maha Navami is Vijaya Dashami, Wednesday, Oct. 21, the main day of Dashain, when elders place tika and jamara on the foreheads of younger family members. The national calendar committee has set the auspicious time for tika in Nepal at 10:26 a.m., facing west. Families in the diaspora follow their own city's time, which in North America falls a day earlier, on Tuesday, Oct. 20. Tika giving and receiving then continues for several days, until the festival closes with Kojagrat Purnima on Sunday, Oct. 25.

For families still travelling home, Tuesday is the last full day to arrive before tika morning.