Naraka Chaturdashi / Kali Chaudas
The fourteenth tithi of dark Kartika — Krishna's killing of Narakasura, and the pre-dawn oil bath.
Where it is kept Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra as Naraka Chaturdashi; Gujarat and Bengal as Kali Chaudas; Rajasthan as Roop Chaudas.
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
In the south and in Maharashtra this is the main day of Diwali, not Amavasya. The observance is the abhyanga snan: an oil massage with ubtan before dawn, then a bath taken in the Chaturdashi tithi while it is still dark, and new clothes after. In Tamil Nadu this bath is Diwali.
In Gujarat and Bengal the same night is Kali Chaudas, given to Kali and to the removal of what has accumulated over the year. In Bengal it precedes Kali Puja on the following new moon.
Where it comes from
The Bhagavata Purana gives the narrative: Narakasura, the demon king of Pragjyotisha — historically Assam — held sixteen thousand women captive and was killed by Krishna with Satyabhama's help on this tithi. The freed women had nowhere to return to, and Krishna's marriage to them is the epilogue the text supplies.
The oil bath before dawn is the ritual form of the victory: the tradition reads the bath as washing off the demon's blood, and in Tamil practice the oil is given by the mother and the bath is the first act of the day.
Why it matters
It fixes the southern and Maharashtrian Diwali on a different day from the northern one. A national calendar that prints Diwali on the Amavasya alone is describing the north.
The pre-dawn timing is precise — the bath must fall within the Chaturdashi tithi and before sunrise, which is a narrow window and is computed for the place.
How to celebrate
- Take the oil bath before sunrise, within the Chaturdashi tithiThe window is the observance; after sunrise it is an ordinary bath.
- Use the ubtan — gram flour, turmeric, oilThe traditional preparation, applied before the bath.
- Light lamps in the eveningThe Diwali lamps begin tonight in most of the south and west.
- Wear new clothes after the bathCustomary and near-universal on this day.
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 put off the bath until after sunriseThe rite is tied to the tithi and the pre-dawn hour.
- Do not burst fireworks near a lamp-lit house or in an enclosed laneThe injury figures around Diwali are dominated by exactly this; the Supreme Court's green-cracker and time-window orders apply through the festival.
- Do not assume the northern date is yoursThe southern and Maharashtrian Diwali is today; the northern one is tomorrow.
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 10.59, for the killing of Narakasura and the release of the captives.
- Padma Purana, for the abhyanga snan on Kartika Krishna Chaturdashi before sunrise.
- Supreme Court of India orders on firework composition and permitted hours, applicable across the Diwali period.
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