Why do families celebrate Diwali in different ways, and sometimes on different days?

North India (Rama's return)

In much of North India, Diwali recalls Rama's return to Ayodhya after fourteen years in the forest. Valmiki's Ramayana tells 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”. The custom of lighting rows of lamps on this new moon to welcome Rama comes from living tradition; the epic itself does not tie the return to this night.

Sources for this reading

• Valmiki, Ramayana, Book 6, Canto CXXIX, “The Meeting With Bharat”, in 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 from the printed volume; the Gutenberg transcription drops the comma after “gay”. (Book VI, Canto CXXIX)
• The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Ralph T. H. Griffith, vol. V: Book VI and an outline of Book VII (London: Trübner; Benares: E. J. Lazarus, 1874) (Book VI, Canto CXXIX, “The Meeting with Bharat”, p. 303 (leaf n314), checked on the page image: “‘Let every shrine with flowers be gay, / Let incense burn and music play.” Cantos CXXIV–CXXX (pp. 290–314) name no day or night of the year for the return.)
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Diwali”: in northern India the festival also celebrates Rama's royal homecoming to Ayodhya. Read in the Wayback Machine copy (snapshot October 5, 2026). Background; cited, not copied.

Lakshmi Puja (North and West India)

For many families, above all merchant families of western and northern India, the new-moon night belongs to Lakshmi. The Vishnu Purana tells how, at the churning of the ocean, “seated on a full-blown lotus, and holding a water-lily in her hand, the goddess Sri, radiant with beauty, rose from the waves”. Gujarati merchant families place their new account books before her, and for Gujarati families the new year (Bestu Varas) begins one or two days later, most often on the day of Govardhan Puja, so check your city's date.

Sources for this reading

• The Vishnu Purana, a system of Hindu mythology and tradition, translated by H. H. Wilson (London: John Murray, 1840) (book 1, chapter 9, p. 76 (leaf n174), checked on the page image; quoted verbatim, with the printed “Śrí” written Sri)
• Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, vol. IX, part I, Gujarát Population: Hindus, compiled by Bhimbhai Kirparam, ed. James M. Campbell (Bombay: Government Central Press, 1901; title page, leaf n0): bankers and merchants spend Diwali, the last days of the Gujarati Hindu year, settling accounts; on the last day of the year the new books are piled before Lakshmi and worshipped (vahi-pujan), a custom common among townspeople, traders, shopkeepers and artisans. A government publication of 1901: public domain. Summarised in our words; checked on the page image. (Section III, Traders: Meshri Vanias, “Book Worship”, p. 82 (leaf n121))
• The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, by W. Crooke, new edition, vol. II (Westminster: Archibald Constable, 1896) (“The Diwali, or Feast of Lamps”, pp. 295–296 (leaves n318–n319): kept on the new moon of Karttik and now chiefly in honour of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth; checked on the page image of p. 296)
• Dharmasindhu (Kashinatha Upadhyaya) and Nirnayasindhu (Kamalakara Bhatta), the texts on festival rules behind the pradosh rule for Lakshmi Puja, as recorded in the Pujadeep calendar's rule lakshmi-puja.

South India (Naraka Chaturdashi)

In South India, Deepavali is above all the dawn of Naraka Chaturdashi. The Vishnu Purana tells how Krishna, with his queen Satyabhama, ended the rule of Narakasura, who held thousands of captives; the Bhagavata Purana tells the story at greater length. Families rise before sunrise, take an oil bath, wear new clothes and let off fireworks to mark that victory. This day falls before the new-moon night, so a South Indian family's main Diwali day often differs from a North Indian family's.

Sources for this reading

• The Vishnu Purana, a system of Hindu mythology and tradition, translated by H. H. Wilson (London: John Murray, 1840) (book 5, chapter 29, pp. 581–583 (leaves n679–n681), checked on the page images: Naraka shuts up captive maidens; Satyabhama rides with Krishna on Garuda; Naraka slain; sixteen thousand one hundred maidens freed; Wilson's notes on p. 583 that they were captive princesses according to the Bhagavata, and that the Bhagavata tells the legend in more detail. Summarised in our words)
• Bhagavata Purana, book 10, chapter 59 (Narakasura). Not read in a printing here: the sentence that it tells the story at greater length rests on Wilson's note (Vishnu Purana, p. 583, leaf n681). No translation is quoted.
• The Travancore State Manual, by V. Nagam Aiya, vol. II (Trivandrum: Travancore Government Press, 1906) (“Dipavali”, pp. 308–309 (leaves n347–n348), checked on the page images: kept on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of Asvayuja as the day Krishna destroyed Narakasura; universal on the East Coast; an oil bath early in the morning, new clothes, and crackers for the children)
• B. A. Gupte, Hindu Holidays and Ceremonials (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, 1916; title page, leaf n6): on the fourteenth day, the day Narakasura was killed, people bathe very early before sunrise after rubbing their bodies with oils, and put on new clothes. Gupte died 1925 (The Calcutta Review, 1925, obituary of Rai Bahadur B. A. Gupte): public domain. Summarised in our words; the author's own judgements are not repeated. Checked on the page image. (p. 36 (leaf n91))
• Pujadeep calendar rule for the Naraka Chaturdashi bath: the Krishna Chaturdashi present at moonrise before dawn; arunodaya only when neither day has it (Dharmasindhu).

Bengal (Kali Puja)

In Bengal, the new-moon night is Kali Puja, the worship of the goddess Kali at midnight. Its rule looks at midnight (nishita), not at the evening, so in some years Kali Puja and Lakshmi Puja fall on different days. Bengali families keep their own Lakshmi Puja on Kojagari Purnima, the full moon after Durga Puja.

Sources for this reading

• Pujadeep calendar rules kali-puja (nishita) and kojagara-puja: the rules only; the facts about Bengal rest on the printings below.
• Shib Chunder Bose, The Hindoos as They Are: A Description of the Manners, Customs and Inner Life of Hindoo Society in Bengal (Calcutta: W. Newman; London: Edward Stanford, 1881; title page, leaf n5): 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 nishi, or midnight, puja. Summarised in our words; the author's own judgements are not repeated. Bose's death year was not found; nothing is reproduced. Checked on the page images. (chapter IX, “The Kali Poojah Festival”, pp. 136–137 (leaves n153–n154))
• B. A. Gupte, Hindu Holidays and Ceremonials (Calcutta, 1916): Kojagari Puja falls on the full moon of Ashwin, and in the Bengal story women worship Lakshmi on that night. Gupte died 1925: public domain. Summarised in our words; checked on the page images. (pp. 101–103 (leaves n156–n158))
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Diwali”: in Bengal the goddess Kali is worshipped. Read in the Wayback Machine copy (snapshot October 5, 2026). Background; cited, not copied.

Jain families (a note)

Jain neighbours and friends light lamps on the same new-moon night for their own reason: it marks the nirvana of Mahavira. The Kalpa Sutra says that on the night he died, eighteen allied kings lit lamps, saying that since the light of knowledge had gone, they would make a light of material things. It is a Jain observance in its own right.

Sources for this reading

• Kalpa Sutra §128, in Hermann Jacobi (tr.), Gaina Sûtras, Part I (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 22, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1884). Jacobi died 1937: public domain in the US (published 1884), the UK (life + 70) and India (life + 60). Summarised in our words. (§128, p. 266 (leaf n326), checked on the page image: the eighteen confederate kings of Kasi and Kosala instituted an illumination on the new-moon day; Jacobi's note there says the Jainas celebrate Mahavira's nirvana with an illumination on the new-moon night of Karttika)

Sources

• Festival guide “Diwali (Deepavali)” in this library, which gives the five days, the stories with their texts, and the rule for each day.
• Pujadeep calendar rules lakshmi-puja, naraka-chaturdashi, govardhan-puja and kali-puja. Dates in Pujadeep come only from this calendar.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Diwali” (observances differ by region and tradition; the five days; Lakshmi on the new-moon night; Rama's homecoming in northern India; Kali in Bengal; Krishna's defeat of Narakasura in southern India; merchants open new account books). Read in the Wayback Machine copy (snapshot October 5, 2026). Background; cited, not copied.

More questions

• Diwali: what it is and how families keep it
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• Who is Rama?
• Words of the Hindu calendar
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