ಕಾಳಿ ಪೂಜೆ | Kali Puja

Kali Puja, also called Shyama Puja, is the worship of the goddess Kali on the new moon night of Deepavali. Where most of India worships Lakshmi on this amavasya, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam worship Kali. It is also kept in Tripura, in parts of Bihar and Jharkhand, and in Bangladesh. The new moon is the one that closes Ashwayuja krishna paksha in the amanta calendar of Karnataka, which is Kartika krishna paksha in the North’s purnimanta reckoning. It is the same night either way.

A worship of the night

Kali is worshipped after dark, and the puja runs into the middle of the night. Households and neighbourhood committees set up clay images of the goddess, in homes and in pandals. The offerings named most often are red hibiscus flowers, sweets, rice and lentils. In the Tantric form of the worship animals have been sacrificed to the goddess; in the Brahmanical form there is no sacrifice and the offerings are vegetarian. Both forms continue. Around the puja the night is one of lamps and fireworks, as it is everywhere at Deepavali, and in Bengal of theatre and magic shows as well.

In Kolkata the crowds go to Kalighat, where Kali is worshipped as Lakshmi on this night, which joins the two strands of the festival in one temple, and to Dakshineswar, where Sri Ramakrishna served the goddess. Barasat, north of the city, is known for its community celebrations.

How it grew

The worship of Kali spread in Bengal in the late medieval period, and the festival appears in Bengali devotional poetry of the seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century King Krishnachandra of Nadia did much to make it widespread. Its popularity grew further in the nineteenth century, with the devotion that gathered around Sri Ramakrishna and with the patronage of wealthy landowners, who sponsored large celebrations. The neighbourhood pandal of today grows out of that history.

The night before, and Lakshmi in Bengal

The chaturdashi before it, which the rest of the country keeps as Naraka Chaturdashi, is Bhut Chaturdashi in Bengal. Fourteen lamps are lit about the house, held to stand for fourteen generations of forefathers and to keep away restless spirits, and a dish of fourteen leafy greens is eaten.

Bengal does not leave Lakshmi out. It worships her on the full moon that closes the bright fortnight of Ashwayuja, as Kojagari Lakshmi Puja; see Sharad Purnima. The rest of India keeps Lakshmi Puja on this new moon.

Which day Anudina gives

Anudina gives Kali Puja on the day on which amavasya is running at nishita, the middle of the night. Drik Panchang fixes it the same way. Lakshmi Puja is decided by a different moment, the amavasya at pradosha just after sunset, and so the two are usually the same evening but not always: when the amavasya begins in the late evening, Kali Puja can fall a day before Lakshmi Puja. Where the amavasya covers the midnight of two nights, Anudina takes the first. In 2026 Kali Puja falls on 8 November.

Anudina lists Kali Puja as a Bengal observance, shown when the reader has chosen the customs of the North. A reader who follows the South will see Lakshmi Puja on the same new moon and the amavasya itself.