Dhanteras 2026: Dhanatrayodashi Date, Puja Time and Meaning

Dhanvantari, Lakshmi and the meaning of Dhanteras

The name is a contraction of Dhanatrayodashi: dhan, wealth, and teras, the thirteenth. The Puranas tell that when the gods and demons churned the cosmic ocean, Dhanvantari, physician of the gods and patron of Ayurveda, rose from the waters holding the pot of amrit, the nectar of immortality, and tradition places his appearance on this tithi. The day is therefore also Dhanvantari Jayanti, and many trace the “dhan” in its name to him as much as to money; as the old Hindi saying has it, a healthy body is the first of all comforts.

The second strand is prosperity in the plain sense. Lakshmi and Kubera, the treasurer of the gods, are worshipped in the evening, and buying metal, above all gold, silver or new utensils, is seen as welcoming abundance into the house ahead of Lakshmi Puja. Dhanteras is the first day of the five-day Diwali arc, followed by Naraka Chaturdashi, Lakshmi Puja, Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj.

A third tradition belongs to the evening lamp. The son of King Hima, the story goes, was fated to die on the fourth night after his wedding. His young bride would not let him sleep: she lit lamps all around, told stories and sang, and heaped her gold and silver ornaments at the door. When Yama arrived in the form of a serpent, the glitter dazzled him, and held by her songs he stayed on the heap until dawn, then went away without his prize. In memory of that night a lamp is offered to Yama on Dhanteras, the custom called Yama Deepdaan.

How the Dhanteras date is worked out

Dhanteras is Kartika Krishna Trayodashi in the purnimanta calendar of the North and Ashvin Krishna Trayodashi in the amanta calendar of Gujarat, Maharashtra and the South: one tithi with two month names, because the amanta month runs on until the new moon. It is the thirteenth tithi of the waning fortnight and usually falls between mid-October and early November.

The governing time is pradosh, the window of roughly two and a half hours after sunset in which the Lakshmi–Kubera puja and the Yama deepdaan are performed, and the rule is that Trayodashi should be current during pradosh. Because the tithi seldom begins at sunrise, it may be in force on one evening yet end before sunset the next day, or touch both evenings only in part. Panchangs settle this with the pradosh rule, and small differences in how they read it explain why “Dhanteras kab hai” occasionally returns two answers. The date on this page follows the pradosh rule for New Delhi.

Within pradosh, many families and traders prefer the stretch when a sthira (fixed) lagna, usually Taurus (Vrishabha), is rising. For purchases, a large number of people also consult choghadiya, which divides the day and the night into eight segments each, and pick the favourable ones.

Dhanteras puja vidhi and the Yama Deepdaan

The morning goes to cleaning: the house, the shop and especially the entrance are swept and washed, and rangoli and lamps make the doorway ready for the days ahead. Purchases are made through the day, ideally in a favourable choghadiya, and brought home before the evening so that they can be placed in the puja.

At pradosh an altar is set up with images of Lakshmi, Kubera and Dhanvantari beside Ganesha. After the sankalp they are offered roli, akshat, flowers, incense, a ghee lamp and naivedya, often a jaggery sweet or coriander seeds mixed with jaggery, and the new coins and vessels are placed before the deities and worshipped too. Families who mark Dhanvantari Jayanti add prayers for the health of the household, and practitioners of Ayurveda honour him as the originator of their tradition.

The Yama deepdaan follows. A four-wicked chaumukha lamp, shaped from wheat flour or clay and filled with oil, is lit and set outside the main door facing south, the direction of Yama, with a prayer that no untimely death should touch the family.

Dhanteras dos and don’ts, by custom

Buying something new is the heart of the day. The classic purchases are gold and silver coins or jewellery; metal utensils of brass, steel or silver; a new broom, honoured in many homes as a form of Lakshmi that sweeps poverty away; and whole coriander seeds, which are offered in the puja, kept with the family’s valuables and later sown. These are customs of welcome, not guarantees, and many families simply buy one small, useful thing.

Traditionally, people avoid buying sharp objects such as knives and scissors, iron or black items on Dhanteras, and many avoid lending money or giving away valuables that evening. In many homes new vessels are not carried in empty but filled first with water, grain or sweets. Place the Yama lamp where it cannot tip over, and with markets at their most crowded, buy from trusted jewellers and check the hallmark.

Regional customs around Dhanteras

In Maharashtra the season opens a day earlier with Vasubaras, when cows and their calves are worshipped, and on Dhanteras coriander seed mixed with jaggery, dhane-gul, is offered as naivedya. Gujarati homes and business families perform Lakshmi puja with coins washed in milk or panchamrit, and in cities across the country the jewellery and utensil markets have their busiest day of the year.

South India knows the day as Dhana Trayodashi, but Deepavali there centres on the dawn oil bath of Naraka Chaturdashi, so Dhanteras is a quieter occasion, though buying gold on the day has become popular there too. In Nepal, Tihar begins around the same days with Kag Tihar, when crows are fed as messengers of Yama. And because Trayodashi is also the tithi of the Pradosh vrat to Shiva, Dhanteras often coincides with it, and those who keep Pradosh worship Shiva at dusk on the same evening.

Astrological significance of Dhanteras

On the waning Trayodashi the Moon has closed to within 24° to 36° of the Sun, a thin crescent that rises in the east before dawn. Muhurta Chintamani gives the tithi to Kamadeva, the god of desire, and places it in the Jaya, or “victory”, group with the third and eighth tithis. Desire and victory are fitting associations for a day spent welcoming prosperity.

In this season the Sun is usually in sidereal Libra (Tula), its sign of debilitation. Libra is ruled by Venus (Shukra), the planet of luxury, comfort and precious things in Vedic astrology, which suits the custom of buying metal and ornaments. The Moon usually transits Virgo (Kanya) or Libra, often in Hasta or Chitra nakshatra; Chitra’s deity is Tvashtar, identified with Vishvakarma, the divine craftsman, an apt match for a day of new tools, vessels and jewellery.

Vishti karana (Bhadra) does not fall on Krishna Trayodashi itself; it belongs to the first half of the following Chaturdashi. For the puja a fixed lagna is preferred, and in this season Taurus generally rises within the pradosh window, so traders like to begin their Lakshmi–Kubera worship while it is on the horizon.