When to Buy Gold: Dhanteras and Akshaya Tritiya
Two days a year carry most of India's gold buying, and both move around the calendar because they follow the moon. Below are the dates, the tithi windows they sit inside, and the hours on the day itself that tradition counts as favourable, worked out for eight cities rather than quoted as one national figure.
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Dhanteras — Friday, 6 November 2026
45 days away. Kartik Krishna Trayodashi, running from 10:30 AM on 6 November to 10:47 AM on 7 November.
Favourable buying hours, Friday, 6 November 2026
Amrit, Shubh and Labh are the daytime Choghadiya periods tradition treats as favourable. They are cut from each city's own sunrise and sunset, so they are not the same everywhere. Rahu Kaal is the span to keep clear of.
| City | Favourable windows | Avoid (Rahu Kaal) |
|---|---|---|
| Delhi | Labh 7:58 AM – 9:20 AM Amrit 9:20 AM – 10:42 AM Shubh 12:04 PM – 1:25 PM | 10:42 AM – 12:04 PM |
| Mumbai | Labh 8:06 AM – 9:31 AM Amrit 9:31 AM – 10:56 AM Shubh 12:21 PM – 1:46 PM | 10:56 AM – 12:21 PM |
| Bengaluru | Labh 7:41 AM – 9:08 AM Amrit 9:08 AM – 10:35 AM Shubh 12:02 PM – 1:29 PM | 10:35 AM – 12:02 PM |
| Chennai | Labh 7:31 AM – 8:58 AM Amrit 8:58 AM – 10:25 AM Shubh 11:52 AM – 1:18 PM | 10:25 AM – 11:52 AM |
| Kolkata | Labh 7:07 AM – 8:31 AM Amrit 8:31 AM – 9:55 AM Shubh 11:19 AM – 12:43 PM | 9:55 AM – 11:19 AM |
| Hyderabad | Labh 7:42 AM – 9:08 AM Amrit 9:08 AM – 10:33 AM Shubh 11:59 AM – 1:24 PM | 10:33 AM – 11:59 AM |
| Pune | Labh 8:02 AM – 9:27 AM Amrit 9:27 AM – 10:52 AM Shubh 12:17 PM – 1:42 PM | 10:52 AM – 12:17 PM |
| Ahmedabad | Labh 8:11 AM – 9:35 AM Amrit 9:35 AM – 10:58 AM Shubh 12:22 PM – 1:46 PM | 10:58 AM – 12:22 PM |
Computed from the ephemeris for each city. For any other city and date, the panchang gives the same figures.
Dhanteras
Dhanteras is the thirteenth tithi of the waning fortnight of Kartik, two days before Diwali. The name joins dhan, wealth, to teras, thirteenth. It is kept for Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods who rose from the churning of the ocean carrying a pot of amrita, and the pot is the reason the day became associated with buying metal vessels long before it was associated with gold.
Observed on the 6th because Trayodashi covers pradosh kaal, the evening window, on that day. By the evening of the 7th it has already given way to Chaturdashi.
There are two different timings in circulation for the day and they answer different questions. The puja muhurat — in Delhi in 2026, roughly 5:55 PM to 7:50 PM — is the evening window for the Lakshmi and Kuber puja, and it sits in pradosh kaal just after sunset. The buying windows are daytime, and they are the ones in the table above. A page that gives you only the first has not answered the question most people are asking.
The evening also carries Yama Deepam, a lamp set facing south for Yama. It is a separate observance from the buying and the puja, and it belongs to the same night.
The full Dhanteras page carries the year-by-year dates, the buying hours for eight cities and the difference between the buying and puja timings in more detail.
Akshaya Tritiya
Akshaya means that which does not diminish. The day is the third tithi of the waxing fortnight of Vaishakha, and the tradition holds that whatever is begun on it keeps growing rather than wearing out — which is the whole of its reputation for gold. The Mahabharata is begun on it, Parashurama is born on it, and the Ganga is said to have descended on it.
Tritiya starts late on the 8th and runs out at 09:03 on the 9th. It is kept on the 9th, the day the tithi is present at sunrise, which is why the puja window closes when the tithi does.
Unlike almost every other day in the calendar, Akshaya Tritiya is counted among the few that need no muhurat at all. The classical position is that the day is free of malefic influence for its whole length, so nothing has to be timed within it. That is worth knowing before paying attention to any site that sells you a narrow window on it.
Both festivals, the coming years
| Year | Dhanteras | Akshaya Tritiya |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Friday, 6 November 2026 | — |
| 2027 | Wednesday, 27 October 2027 | Sunday, 9 May 2027 |
| 2028 | Sunday, 15 October 2028 | Thursday, 27 April 2028 |
| 2029 | — | Wednesday, 16 May 2029 |
Akshaya Tritiya 2026 has already passed. Dates checked against published panchang rather than derived, because deciding which Trayodashi belongs to Kartik needs the lunar month, not just the tithi.
Why the dates move
Both days are fixed to tithis, and a tithi is not a day. It is the time the Moon takes to gain twelve degrees on the Sun, which runs anywhere from about nineteen to twenty-six hours depending on how fast the Moon is moving. So a tithi drifts against the clock, and a festival tied to one lands at a different hour each year and on a different date.
It also means a tithi rarely fills a calendar day neatly, which is where the observance rules come in. Dhanteras needs Trayodashi in the evening; Akshaya Tritiya needs Tritiya at sunrise. When a tithi straddles two days — as Trayodashi does in 2026, starting on the 6th and ending on the 7th — those rules are what settle which day the festival is kept, and they are the reason two calendars occasionally disagree.
The rest of the year
Two days a year is a narrow window for a purchase that is often not urgent. The recurring alternative is Pushya nakshatra, which comes round roughly every 27 days and is the one repeating window tradition treats as favourable for buying. On a Thursday it becomes Guru Pushya, held to be the most auspicious combination there is. Every window for 2026 and 2027, with exact start and end times, is on the Pushya nakshatra dates page.
Common questions
When is Dhanteras 2026?
Dhanteras 2026 falls on Friday, 6 November 2026. Kartik Krishna Trayodashi, the tithi it follows, begins at 10:30 AM on 6 November and runs until 10:47 AM on 7 November. It is kept on the 6th rather than the 7th because the festival is observed when Trayodashi covers pradosh kaal, the window just after sunset, and by the evening of the 7th the tithi has already ended. Diwali follows on 8 November.
When is Akshaya Tritiya 2027?
Akshaya Tritiya 2027 falls on Sunday, 9 May 2027. Vaishakha Shukla Tritiya begins at 11:43 AM on 8 May and ends at 9:03 AM on 9 May. The festival is kept on the 9th, the day the tithi is present at sunrise, which is why the puja window that morning closes at 9:03 when the tithi does.
What time should you actually buy gold on Dhanteras?
Most sites publish only the evening puja muhurat, which is when the Lakshmi and Kuber puja is performed. Buying is a daytime activity, and the daytime windows tradition counts as favourable are the Amrit, Shubh and Labh Choghadiya periods. They are cut from local sunrise to local sunset, so they differ by city: on Dhanteras 2026 the Amrit window opens at 8:31 AM in Kolkata and 9:35 AM in Ahmedabad. The one span to keep clear of is Rahu Kaal.
Does Akshaya Tritiya need a muhurat at all?
By tradition, no. Akshaya Tritiya is one of the handful of days considered free of malefic influence for their whole duration, so the classical position is that no separate muhurat is needed to begin something on it. That is precisely why it carries the reputation it does for buying gold and for starting ventures. People still avoid Rahu Kaal out of habit.
Why do these dates move every year?
Both follow the lunar calendar rather than the Gregorian one. Dhanteras is the thirteenth tithi of the waning fortnight of Kartik; Akshaya Tritiya is the third tithi of the waxing fortnight of Vaishakha. A lunar year runs about eleven days short of a solar one, so the dates drift earlier until an extra month is inserted and they jump forward again. That is why Dhanteras is 6 November in 2026, 27 October in 2027 and 15 October in 2028.
Is there a good day to buy gold between the two festivals?
Pushya nakshatra, which comes round roughly every 27 days. It is the one recurring window the tradition treats as favourable for purchase, and when it falls on a Thursday it becomes Guru Pushya, held to be the most auspicious combination in the calendar. That gives you twelve to fourteen opportunities a year rather than two.
Whether a given day suits you personally is a different question from whether it is generally auspicious, and it depends on your own chart — the dasha running, and how Jupiter and Venus sit in it. A free kundli will show you both.