Diwali: What, Why, When, How

What it is

Diwali, or Deepavali, means "a row of lamps". It is the festival of lights, kept over five days around the new moon of the autumn month the calendars call Ashvin or Kartika. Homes are cleaned, lamps are lit at dusk, families dress in new clothes, share sweets and visit one another.

The five days are Dhanteras, Naraka Chaturdashi (also called Choti Diwali), Lakshmi Puja on the new-moon night, Govardhan Puja, and Bhai Dooj. For most families in North and West India the main day is Lakshmi Puja. In much of South India the main celebration is the dawn of Naraka Chaturdashi, with an oil bath and new clothes. In Bengal the new-moon night is also Kali Puja.

Each region tells its own story of why the lamps are lit, and all of these stories belong to the festival. In some years two of the days fall on one date, so Diwali has four days, not five.

Why it is kept

Diwali carries several stories. Each region has a favourite, and none of them cancels the others.

Rama comes home. In much of North India, Diwali recalls Rama's return to Ayodhya after fourteen years in the forest and his victory over Ravana. Valmiki's Ramayana tells of the return and of the city's joy. When news of Rama comes, Bharata orders, in Griffith's translation, “Let every shrine with flowers be gay / Let incense burn and music play” (Book 6, Canto 129). The custom of lighting rows of lamps on this new moon to welcome Rama is held by living tradition; the epic itself does not tie the return to this night.

Lakshmi rises from the ocean. In many homes, and above all in merchant families of western and northern India, this night belongs to Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune and well-being. The Vishnu Purana tells how the gods and the asuras churned the ocean of milk, and how “seated on a full-blown lotus, and holding a water-lily in her hand, the goddess Sri, radiant with beauty, rose from the waves” (H. H. Wilson's translation, book 1, chapter 9). Just before her came Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods, “robed in white, and bearing in his hand the cup of Amrita”. Many families honour him on Dhanteras, the first day. The texts on festival rules, such as the Dharmasindhu and the Nirnayasindhu, set Lakshmi's worship in the evening of this new moon.

Krishna and Narakasura. In South India and Goa, the centre of the festival is the dawn of Naraka Chaturdashi. The Vishnu Purana (book 5, chapter 29) and the Bhagavata Purana (book 10, chapter 59) tell how Krishna, with his queen Satyabhama, ended the rule of Narakasura, who had seized the earrings of Aditi and held thousands of captives. Some South Indian tellings give the final blow to Satyabhama. The oil bath before dawn and the morning lamps and fireworks celebrate that victory.

Krishna lifts Govardhan. The day after the new moon recalls how Krishna asked the cowherds of Vraja to honour the hill Govardhan, their own provider, instead of Indra. Indra sent a storm, and Krishna lifted the hill to shelter the people and their cattle: “For seven days and nights did the vast clouds sent by Indra rain upon the Gokula of Nanda” (Vishnu Purana, book 5, chapter 11, Wilson). The Bhagavata Purana tells the same story (book 10, chapters 24 and 25). In Maharashtra and Karnataka this day is also Bali Pratipada, which remembers the generous king Bali of the Vamana story; tradition says he returns to visit his people on this day.

Yama visits his sister. Bhai Dooj, also called Yama Dvitiya, is told through the story of Yama, the lord of death, and his sister Yamuna. She had long asked him to visit. On this day he came, and she welcomed him with a tilak on his forehead and a meal. The story says that Yama was so pleased that he blessed every brother who visits his sister on this day and receives her tilak.

Other families, same nights. In Bengal, the new-moon night is Kali Puja, the worship of the goddess Kali at midnight. Jain families mark these days as the nirvana of Mahavira, and Sikh families as Bandi Chhor Divas; those observances are their own.

The texts behind the story

• Valmiki, Ramayana, Book 6 (Yuddha Kanda), cantos 124–130: Rama's return to Ayodhya and his consecration. R. T. H. Griffith (tr.), The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse (London: Trübner; Benares: E. J. Lazarus, 1870–74), Project Gutenberg transcription. Griffith died 1906: public domain. Quoted verbatim. (Book VI, Canto CXXIX "The Meeting With Bharat")
• Vishnu Purana, book 1, chapter 9 (the churning of the ocean; Dhanvantari and Sri), book 5, chapters 10–11 (Govardhana) and chapter 29 (Naraka). H. H. Wilson (tr.), The Vishnu Purana: a system of Hindu mythology and tradition (London: John Murray, 1840). Wilson died 1860: public domain. Quoted verbatim. (book 1 ch. 9, p. 76; book 5 ch. 10–11, pp. 522–529 (the quoted line on p. 527); book 5 ch. 29, p. 581)
• Bhagavata Purana, book 10, chapters 24–25 (Govardhana) and 59 (Narakasura); book 8 (Vamana and Bali). Summarised in our own words; no translation is quoted.
• Yama and Yamuna on Kartika Shukla Dvitiya (Yama Dvitiya): traditional story, told in vrat-katha collections and cited in the texts on festival rules. Summarised in our own words.

When it is kept

Lakshmi Puja is kept on the Amavasya (the new-moon tithi) of Ashvin in the amanta calendar, which the purnimanta calendar of North India calls Kartika Amavasya. The rule, from the texts on festival rules (Dharmasindhu, Nirnayasindhu, Vratraj) as most Smarta panchangs apply it, asks for the day on which Amavasya is present during pradosh, the evening period after sunset at your location. A day counts when Amavasya covers at least one ghatika (24 minutes) of that evening; if both days count, or neither, the later day is taken. The other four days have their own rules, and the app computes each one: Dhanteras is the Krishna Trayodashi present at pradosh; Naraka Chaturdashi is the Krishna Chaturdashi present before sunrise, in arunodaya, when the oil bath is taken; Govardhan Puja is the Kartika Shukla Pratipada present in the first part of the morning; Bhai Dooj is the Shukla Dwitiya present in the afternoon (aparahna).

The date, from the calendar engine

• Diwali 2027: Lakshmi Puja falls on Thursday, October 28, 2027 in Washington DC (computed for this city). In New Delhi it falls on Friday, October 29, 2027.

The date depends on your city. Every city we cover is on the year page.

Traditions and regional customs

• Smarta (Dharmasindhu, Nirnayasindhu): Lakshmi Puja on the Amavasya that holds pradosh
• North Indian purnimanta months: the same new moon is called Kartika Amavasya
• South Indian: Deepavali morning is Naraka Chaturdashi, with the oil bath before sunrise
• Bengali: Kali Puja at midnight on the same Amavasya (engine id kali-puja)
• Gujarati: the new year (Bestu Varas) begins on the Govardhan Puja day
• Marathi and Kannada: Bali Pratipada (Padwa) on the Govardhan Puja day
• Nepali: Tihar, ending with Bhai Tika

Why the day can differ

The new moon begins at one instant everywhere on Earth, but sunset does not. Whether Amavasya covers the evening depends on your own sunset, so cities can keep Lakshmi Puja on different days. In a check of fourteen cities over eleven years, all of them kept the same day in only two of those years. The Americas often keep it a day earlier than India, and Australia, New Zealand and Fiji sometimes a day later. That is why the app shows your city's date and, when it differs, the date in India beside it.

Traditions differ too. Bengali families keep Kali Puja at midnight (nishita) on the Amavasya, so it can fall on a different day from Lakshmi Puja. Bengali families keep their own Lakshmi Puja on Kojagari Purnima, five days after Dussehra. Some panchangs also give a Lakshmi Puja time inside the evening, during a fixed rising sign (sthira lagna); the app does not compute that time, so ask your family priest or temple if your family uses it. Month names differ between amanta and purnimanta calendars, but the days are the same.

How to keep it at home

1. In the days before, clean and tidy the home. Many families repair, paint or clear out old things, and draw a rangoli at the door with coloured powder, rice flour or flowers.
2. Dhanteras evening: light a lamp at the main door. Many families also place a lamp facing south outside the home for Yama (Yama Deepam), and honour Dhanvantari with a prayer for the family's health. Buying a new metal utensil or a coin is a custom of the day; nothing has to be bought to keep it.
3. Naraka Chaturdashi morning: wake before sunrise, rub sesame oil on the body and bathe (abhyanga snan), often with a paste of gram flour and turmeric. In South Indian homes this is the main Deepavali bath, followed by new clothes, a prayer, sweets and greetings. In the evening, light lamps; Bengali families light fourteen lamps for the ancestors on this night.
4. Lakshmi Puja evening: bathe and wear clean or new clothes. Set a low table with a red or yellow cloth and place a picture or murti of Lakshmi and Ganesha on it, with a kalash (a pot of water with mango leaves and a coconut) if your family uses one. Light the main lamp of ghee or oil and keep it burning through the puja.
5. Begin with Ganesha, then worship Lakshmi: offer water, kumkum and turmeric, unbroken rice (akshat), flowers such as lotus or marigold, sweets and fruit. Many North Indian families offer puffed rice and sugar drops (kheel and batashe) and a few coins. Gujarati merchant families place their new account books before the goddess (chopda pujan); others place pens, tools or school books.
6. Say the prayers your family knows. Commonly used are the Ganesha shloka "Vakratunda mahakaya", the Shri Suktam (a hymn in the appendix to the Rig Veda), the Mahalakshmi Ashtakam, the 108 names of Lakshmi, and the aartis "Om Jai Lakshmi Mata" and "Om Jai Jagdish Hare". South Indian families often recite the Kanakadhara Stotram, which tradition attributes to Shankara.
7. After the aarti, carry lamps to every room, the doorway, windows and balcony. Many families keep one lamp burning through the night. Where building rules or smoke alarms do not allow open flames, use candles in safe holders or electric lights. Set off fireworks only where local law allows them, and keep children back from the flame.
8. Govardhan Puja: many families cook many dishes (annakut, "a mountain of food") and offer them to Krishna, then share them. In North Indian homes a small hill is shaped in the courtyard and circled in prayer; abroad, families often shape the hill from food or clay on a plate. Gujarati families greet the new year on this day, and Marathi couples keep Padwa.
9. Bhai Dooj: the sister invites her brother, puts a tilak of kumkum and rice on his forehead, waves an aarti and serves him a meal; the brother gives a gift. Bengali families call it Bhai Phonta, Marathi families Bhau Beej and Nepali families Bhai Tika. Siblings who live far apart often keep it by video call.

Fasting

Diwali is mainly a feast, not a fast. Some families fast on the Lakshmi Puja day until the evening puja and then eat together; some sisters fast on Bhai Dooj until they have put the tilak on their brother. These are family customs, not rules for everyone. Anyone who is pregnant, unwell, elderly or on regular medicine should keep only a light fast, or none, and talk to a doctor first.

Food

Sweets are the heart of the table: laddoo, barfi, kaju katli, gulab jamun and kheer across North India; the Marathi faral of chakli, karanji, shankarpali, chivda and besan laddoo; Gujarati mathiya and ghughra; South Indian murukku, Mysore pak and adhirasam; Bengali sandesh and coconut naru. The Govardhan annakut brings dozens of dishes, and on Bhai Dooj the sister often cooks her brother's favourite meal.

For children

Long ago, Prince Rama, his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana lived in the forest for fourteen years. When at last they came home to Ayodhya, the people were so happy that they lit lamps in every window and doorway to welcome them. On Diwali, families light lamps too: to say welcome, to say thank you, and to show that a small light can push back the dark. Many families also welcome Lakshmi, the goddess of good fortune, into a clean and bright home.

Something to do together

Make a rangoli together at the door with rice flour, coloured powder or flower petals, and paint a plain clay diya. Light it together with a grown-up beside you, and each say one thing you are thankful for.

Sources

• Panchang engine rules lakshmi-puja, dhanteras, naraka-chaturdashi, govardhan-puja, bhai-dooj, kali-puja and kojagara-puja (packages/panchang/data/festivals.json), with the sources each rule lists. Dates in the app come only from this engine.
• Shib Chunder Bose, The Hindoos as They Are (Calcutta, 1881): in Bengal the Kali Puja, next in importance to the Durga Puja, falls on the last night of the waning moon in Kartik and is a midnight puja. Summarised in our words; checked on the page images.
• Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, vol. IX, part I, Gujarat Population: Hindus (Bombay, 1901): Gujarati bankers and merchants settle accounts at Diwali and worship the new account books before Lakshmi (vahi-pujan). A government publication of 1901; summarised in our words. (Section III, Traders: Meshri Vanias, “Book Worship”, p. 82 (leaf n121))
• Dharmasindhu (Kashinatha Upadhyaya, 1790) and Nirnayasindhu (Kamalakara Bhatta, 1612), the texts on festival rules behind the pradosh rule for Lakshmi Puja and the arunodaya rule for the Naraka Chaturdashi bath, as recorded in the engine rules.
• N. Dershowitz and E. M. Reingold, "Indian Calendrical Calculations" (festival rules, citing F. Kielhorn, 1897), the engine's reference for tithi-based festival days.
• R. T. H. Griffith (tr.), The Rámáyan of Válmíki (1870–74), Book 6. Public domain (Griffith died 1906).
• H. H. Wilson (tr.), The Vishnu Purana (London, 1840). Public domain (Wilson died 1860).
• Wikipedia, "Diwali" (background on the five days and regional customs).

Related guides

• Dhanteras (Dhanatrayodashi)
• Naraka Chaturdashi (Choti Diwali)
• Govardhan Puja (Annakut)
• Bhai Dooj (Yama Dvitiya)
• Chhath Puja
• Kali Puja (Shyama Puja)
• Sharad Navratri and Durga Puja