The brightest full moon; a night vigil beneath rays of nectar for Lakshmi's blessing.
Sunday, 25 October 2026·Ashwin Shukla Purnima, at night (moonrise)·Mumbai, Maharashtra
Chandra darshan, offering kheer to the moonlight and beginning the night vigil.
Midnight Lakshmi Puja and jagaran for prosperity.
General auspicious worship through the night.
Sharad Purnima, also called Kojagiri Purnima, falls on the brightest full-moon night of the year, when the moon is said to shine with all sixteen digits (kalas). Goddess Lakshmi is believed to roam the earth this night asking 'Ko jagarti?' - 'Who is awake?' - and to bless the wakeful with prosperity. The moon's rays are held to shower amrita, the nectar of immortality, so milk and kheer are left in the moonlight and shared, and devotees keep a night vigil under the full moon.
The night celebrates abundance, health and divine grace descending with the moonlight. Staying awake (jagaran) in devotion is the heart of the observance - a wakeful vigil that invites Lakshmi's prosperity and the moon's nectarine blessing.
To keep a night vigil under the year's brightest full moon, welcoming Goddess Lakshmi and receiving the amrita of the moon's rays.
The name Kojagiri derives from 'Ko jagarti' - 'who is awake?' - the question Goddess Lakshmi is said to ask as she wanders on this luminous night, bestowing wealth on those she finds keeping vigil. Sharad Purnima also carries the tradition that the full moon of Ashwin pours down amrita, its cooling rays charging food left beneath it with healing and nourishing power. It is this belief that gives rise to the custom of placing kheer or milk in the moonlight through the night before sharing it as prasad at dawn. In the Vaishnava tradition, the night is also linked to the Raas Leela of Krishna with the gopis under the autumn moon.
From 'Ko jagarti' - 'who is awake?' - the question Goddess Lakshmi asks as she roams the earth, blessing the wakeful with prosperity.
The moon's rays on Sharad Purnima are believed to shower amrita, so milk or kheer is placed in the moonlight overnight and shared as nectar-charged prasad.
Keeping a night vigil (jagaran) - staying awake in devotion, worshipping Lakshmi and gazing upon the full moon.
At moonrise, with Chandra darshan and the offering of kheer, continuing through the Nishita Kala at midnight.