Vijayadashami: Vijay Muhurtham timings and the bank and stock market holiday at a glance

For families in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Vijayadashami on 20 October turns on a short afternoon window. The almanac site Drik Panchang puts the Vijay Muhurtham in Hyderabad at 1:57 pm to 2:44 pm, a span of 47 minutes. For Vijayawada the same source gives 1:49 pm to 2:36 pm, roughly eight minutes earlier because the city lies further east.

Timings shift from place to place with local sunrise and sunset, so readers elsewhere should check their own city. Drik Panchang lists 1:59 pm to 2:45 pm for New Delhi, and other almanacs differ from it by a minute or two.

Tithi and nakshatra

Drik Panchang’s Hyderabad calendar shows the Dashami tithi beginning at 12:50 pm on Tuesday, 20 October, and lasting until 2:11 pm on Wednesday, 21 October. Shravana nakshatra, which began at 3:38 pm on 19 October, stays in force until 6:02 pm on 20 October. The Vijaya window therefore sits inside both the Dashami and Shravana periods on the afternoon of 20 October. The Vijayawada listing gives the same tithi and nakshatra times.

Banks shut, markets closed

The Reserve Bank of India‘s holiday matrix for October marks 20 October as a holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act in 32 of the 34 centres it covers, Hyderabad and Vijayawada among them. Gangtok and Imphal are the only centres where branches stay open that day. Neither Hyderabad nor Vijayawada has a bank holiday listed for the following day, so branches in both cities should reopen as usual on 21 October. Some centres, including Bengaluru, Kolkata and Kochi, stay closed for a second day.

Branch holidays do not usually affect UPI, net banking or ATM withdrawals, but cheque clearances and branch-only work will wait until 21 October.

The stock markets are also shut. The 2026 holiday calendars of the National Stock Exchange and BSE list 20 October as a Dussehra holiday, covering equities, futures and options, and currency derivatives. Trading resumes on 21 October.

Jammi puja and Ayudha puja

In the Telugu states the evening of Vijayadashami centres on the Jammi chettu, or Shami tree. Households offer prayers at the tree and then hand out its leaves to elders, relatives and neighbours as “bangaram” (gold) in exchange for their blessings. Tradition links the tree to the Mahabharata: the Pandavas are said to have hidden their weapons in a Shami tree during their year in disguise and recovered them on this day.

The same idea of honouring one’s tools lies behind Ayudha puja, when vehicles, machines, account books and work instruments are cleaned, decorated and worshipped. Many workshops, auto stands and offices mark it during the festival days.

On the eve of the festival, President Droupadi Murmu greeted citizens in India and abroad, describing Vijayadashami as a celebration of righteousness over injustice.

Also read: Dasara exodus: 120 rail specials, 7,000 extra RTC buses as Hyderabad heads home · Buying pheni for Dasara? What Telangana’s hygiene raids on pheni units found