May 2026 Panchang & Festivals

The month of May offers a rich planetary sky as well as diverse cultural significance. One of the forem0st planetary developments is the rising of Mars from almost a 6 month long combustion. The planet that signifies courage, grit and efforts was in close proximity to Sun from November 2025 and has moved out of the fiery range of Sun on 2nd May, 2026!

Sun remains exalted in Aries for first forenight of the month and Venus remains in its own sign Taurus till May 14. Mars moves to its own sign Aries for next ~40 days or so. Mercury moves from Aries to Taurus and then to Gemini within the month of May. Saturn, the mighty planet changes its Nakshatra to Revati on May 17.

The month starts on an auspicious note with Budh Purnima on 1st May and Sage Narad Jayanti on 2nd May. The month of May also sees the start of culturally rich and spiritually promising Bada Mangal Tuesdays. We see an extended Jyestha in May and that extends till last week of June. This is because of Adhik Maas or Purushottam maas that’s considered a very potent time for doing spiritual activities.

The month of May also sees Shani Amavasya as well as Vat Savitri vrat on 16th May and Ganga Dussehra on 27th May, 2026!

Major Planetary Movements & Events

The month of May is having a fairly solid placement of planets up above in the sky.

There are no major afflictions to any planets except for Mercury being combust but a combust Mercury is not seen as too bad a phenomenon.

Sun, the king of our planetary system remains exalted till May 15 but more importantly stays in its own Nakshatra Krittika till may 25.

Another very noteworthy development is that Saturn moves out of its own Nakshatra Uttara Bhadrapad to Revati Nakshatra which is owned by good friend Mercury. So no major hassles on this front too!

Mars	Combustion ends	on May 02
	Moves to Aries	on May 11

Venus	Moves to Gemini	on May 14

Mercury	Moves to Taurus	on May 15
	Moves to Gemini	on May 29
	combustion ends	on May 23

Sun	Moves to Taurus	On May 15

Nakshatra movements of Major Planets in May 2026

Planet	Nakshatra	Moves in	Moves out	Friendly or Enemy Nakshatra

Sun	Krittika	11th May	25th May	Own

Mars	Revati	Start of month	11th May	Mercury, an enemy planet Nakshatra
	Ashwini	11th May	29th May	Friendly Ketu Nakshatra
	Bharani	29th May	16th June	Nakshatra of Venus, considered Neutral

Mercury	Ashwini	Start of month	7th May	Nakshatra of Enemy planet Ketu
	Bharani	7th May	13th May	Friendly planet Venus Nakshatra
	Krittika	13th May	19th May	Friendly planet Sun Nakshatra
	Rohini	19th May	25th May	Nakshatra of Enemy planet Moon
	Mrigashira	25th May	End of month	Neutral planet Mars Nakshatra

Venus	Rohini	Start of month	8th May	Nakshatra of enemy planet Moon
	Mrigshira	8th May	20th May	Nakshatra of neutral planet Mars
	Ardra	20th May	31st May	Rahu, Friendly planet Nakshatra

Saturn	Revati	17th May	for next few months	Friendly planet Mercury Nakshatra