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

The ninth day of Dashain is Tuesday, Oct. 20. The Taleju temple in Kathmandu opens to the public for its only day of the year, and tools and vehicles are worshipped across Nepal.

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

Key points

  • Maha Navami, the ninth day of Dashain, falls on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026.
  • The Taleju Bhawani temple stands in the Hanuman Dhoka Durbar area of Kathmandu Durbar Square.
  • Maha Navami is also Vishwakarma day, named for the god of creation and craft.

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 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. 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.

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.

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.

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

Timeline

  1. Oct 18, 2026Maha Ashtami, the eighth day of Dashain, is observed across Nepal.
  2. Oct 20, 2026Maha Navami. The Taleju temple at Hanuman Dhoka opens to the public for its one day of the year, and tools and vehicles are worshipped.
  3. Oct 21, 2026Vijaya Dashami, the main tika day. The auspicious time for tika in Nepal is 10:26 a.m.

Sources