Dhanteras
Dhanvantari Trayodashi — the first day of the Diwali sequence, and the lamp set out for Yama.
Where it is kept All India, most strongly in the north, west and Gujarat; as Dhanteras or Dhanatrayodashi.
When it falls
Computed from the Moon's elongation from the Sun. The civil day is the one carrying the tithi running in Pradosh Kaal, the window after sunset.
Overview
The thirteenth tithi of dark Kartika opens the five days of Diwali. It is Dhanvantari Jayanti — the physician of the gods, who rose from the churning of the ocean carrying the pot of amrita — and India's National Ayurveda Day is fixed to this tithi.
The evening rite that the texts actually prescribe is the Yama Deepam: a lamp with a south-facing wick, set outside the house at dusk, for Yama. It is one of the few household observances directed to the god of death, and it asks for an untimely death to be averted.
Where it comes from
The Dhanvantari association comes from the samudra manthana narrative in the Bhagavata and Vishnu Puranas, where he emerges on this tithi with the amrita. The Government of India designated the day National Ayurveda Day in 2016 on that basis.
The buying of metal — a vessel, a coin, a piece of gold or silver — is the popular observance and is much older than the Akshaya Tritiya gold custom, though it has been amplified in the same way. The traditional purchase is a bartan, a household vessel, not jewellery.
Why it matters
It sets the sequence: Dhanteras, Naraka Chaturdashi, Lakshmi Puja, Govardhan Puja, Bhai Dooj — five days that function as one festival.
The Yama Deepam is the part most households now skip, and it is the part with the textual basis. The lamp is set outside, facing south, and it is not brought back in.
How to celebrate
- Light the Yama Deepam outside at dusk, wick pointing southThe prescribed rite of the day; south is Yama's direction.
- Clean the house before the eveningThe cleaning belongs to Dhanteras rather than to Diwali night.
- Buy a vessel or a piece of metal if you keep the customThe traditional purchase is a household vessel.
- Honour Dhanvantari — and, if you have one, your physicianIt is Ayurveda Day on this tithi for exactly this reason.
What to avoid
These are not all the same kind of thing. Some are prohibitions from a named text, some are Indian law, some are practical, and some are a confusion worth not repeating. Each item says which it is.
- Do not bring the Yama lamp back insideIt is set out and left; that is the form of the rite.
- Do not treat the buying as the observanceThe lamp and the cleaning are the observance. The purchase is custom.
- Do not lend money on this day if you keep the traditional restrictionA widely held north Indian custom; it is folk practice, not scripture.
Where this comes from
Everything above is either computed by this site’s own panchang engine, or drawn from the works listed here. Where a custom is modern, commercial or contested, the page says so rather than presenting it as ancient.
- Bhagavata Purana and Vishnu Purana, for Dhanvantari's emergence at the churning of the ocean.
- Skanda Purana and Padma Purana, for the Yama Deepam rite on Kartika Krishna Trayodashi.
- Government of India, National Ayurveda Day designated on Dhanteras, 2016.
Dates are computed for the place named above and will differ elsewhere. Regional traditions vary; where two reckonings are in use, both are named rather than one being chosen silently.
Other festivals
All festivals, with dates for any year · The calendar on the home page