Kartik Purnima / Dev Diwali
The Kartika full moon — Dev Diwali at the Varanasi ghats, Guru Nanak's birth, and the Tripurari Purnima of the Shaivas.
Where it is kept Varanasi above all; also Punjab as Gurpurab, Pushkar for the fair, Bengal as Raas Purnima, and the coasts for the Kartik bath.
When it falls
Computed from the Moon's elongation from the Sun. The civil day is the one carrying the tithi running at sunrise.
Overview
The full moon of Kartika carries more observances than any other in the year. At Varanasi it is Dev Diwali, fifteen days after Diwali, when the gods are said to come down to bathe and every step of every ghat is lined with lamps. For Shaivas it is Tripurari Purnima, the day Shiva destroyed the three cities. For Sikhs it is Guru Nanak Jayanti, the birth of the first Guru, and the largest gurpurab of the year.
It also closes the month-long Kartik snan, the daily pre-dawn bathing observance, and the Pushkar fair in Rajasthan reaches its bathing day here.
Where it comes from
The Tripurari narrative — the three flying cities of the asuras destroyed with a single arrow — is in the Mahabharata and the Shiva Purana, and gives the full moon its Shaiva name.
Guru Nanak's birth is traditionally kept on this full moon, though the Janamsakhi sources and modern historical work point to a birth in April 1469 at Rai Bhoi di Talwandi. The Kartika Purnima observance is the established one and the discrepancy is long acknowledged within the tradition.
Why it matters
For Varanasi it is the largest night of the year, and the lamp-lighting along the ghats is a civic event as much as a religious one.
The bathing on this full moon — at Prayagraj, Garhmukteshwar, Pushkar, or on the coast — is one of the most widely kept in the calendar, and closes the Kartika observances that began at Prabodhini Ekadashi.
How to celebrate
- Light lamps at the water — a ghat, a tank, a riverDev Diwali is a festival of lamps on water.
- Take the Kartik bath at dawn if you have kept the monthThis is the closing day of the observance.
- Attend the akhand path or the nagar kirtan if you keep the gurpurabThe Guru Granth Sahib is read through and the procession precedes the day.
- Give food — langar, annadana, whatever form you keepCommon to every tradition observing this full moon.
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 float non-degradable lamps or containersEarthen diyas and leaf boats dissolve; plastic and thermocol do not, and the Ganga carries the whole city's.
- Do not take alcohol or meat if you keep the Kartika observanceThe month-long vrat excludes both, and this is its closing day.
- Do not conflate Guru Nanak's traditional birthday with the historical dateThe tradition keeps Kartika Purnima; the sources point to April 1469. Both are stated here.
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.
- Mahabharata, Karna Parva, and Shiva Purana, for the Tripura narrative.
- Skanda Purana, for the Kartika bathing observance and Dev Diwali.
- Puratan Janamsakhi and Bhai Bala Janamsakhi, for the Guru Nanak birth traditions and the April 1469 dating.
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