2014
Thursday, 2 October 2014
In 2014 the tithi runs from 1:49 pm on 1 Oct to 12:08 pm on 2 Oct; it is running at sunrise (the usual rule, called udaya tithi) on Thursday, 2 October 2014, so that is the day of Durga Ashtami.
2015
Wednesday, 21 October 2015
In 2015 the tithi runs from 2:23 pm on 20 Oct to 1:29 pm on 21 Oct; it is running at sunrise (the usual rule, called udaya tithi) on Wednesday, 21 October 2015, so that is the day of Durga Ashtami.
How the date is fixed
Durga Ashtami falls on the eighth day of the bright half of the lunar month Ashwina (Shukla Ashtami). The date is the day on which that tithi is running at sunrise (the usual rule, called udaya tithi).
About
Durga Ashtami is the eighth tithi of the bright half of Ashwina, in September or October. It is the main day of Durga Puja in Bengal and of kanya puja in North India. The tithi at sunrise is taken; when Ashtami is joined with Navami on the same day, the Ashtami puja is done in the forenoon and the texts give the Sandhi puja at the junction of the two tithis, a 48-minute window centred on the moment Ashtami ends. Some families keep Ashtami and others Navami as their household day, by lineage custom.
How it is observed
Kanya puja, the Sandhi puja at the Ashtami–Navami junction, and the chandi path in temples and pandals.