Deva Pratishtha muhurat: auspicious dates for idol installation

Deva Pratishtha, known in most homes simply as idol installation or murti sthapana, is the rite by which a deity is invited to take up residence in an image or a shrine. Because the deity is meant to stay, the shubh muhurat for it is the least negotiable of all the installation timings, and families usually fix it long before the shrine itself is ready. Tarini gives you a ranked list of dated, timed windows for देव प्रतिष्ठा मुहूर्त, judged against the birth chart of the person sponsoring the pratishtha, together with the tithis and days you should avoid, so the date can be settled with your priest before anything else is booked.

About this muhurat

Consecrating an idol or a shrine, at home or in a temple. The most demanding of the installation muhurats, and the one where the date is least negotiable once it is fixed.

Deva Pratishtha is the consecration in which mantra, abhisheka and the pran pratishtha ritual establish the divine presence in a newly made idol or a new shrine. Families hold it when a home temple is set up for the first time, when a new murti replaces an older one, or when a temple building is finished. It usually runs across a morning, and across several days for a larger temple, with the pratishtha moment itself falling inside a short window. Priests generally ask for this date first and arrange the rest of the work around it.

What you receive

• Ranked, dated and timed idol installation windows within the period you choose
• Judged against the relevant birth chart, not a generic panchang
• Days and windows to avoid, marked clearly