Diwali Mahaparv · Lakshmi puja

What the day is

• The Amavasya, the new moon, of the month the north calls Kartika — the heart of the lamp festival.
• The day has its order: an oil bath in the morning, Shraadh for the forebears in the afternoon, and at pradosh the lamps, the torches and the Lakshmi puja.

What to do today

• Take an oil bath in the morning and worship the household gods.
• Keep a fast by day if you are able, and offer Shraadh in the afternoon if your family keeps it.
• At pradosh, in the window this page shows, light the lamps and worship Lakshmi.

When

• At pradosh, the early night, in the window this page shows — this is the time of the puja.

Set up

• Prepare a clean place in the middle of the house, decorated with flowers, leaves and cloth; the worshipper faces north.
• Seat Lakshmi on her image, on a shalagrama, or on a pot of water; many homes place Ganesha beside her (practice)
• Lay coins, jewellery and new account books before her as Dhana-Lakshmi (practice)

Worship

• Take the sankalp for lasting prosperity, invoke Lakshmi and offer the services one by one: water, arghya, achamana, sandal, flowers, incense, lamp, naivedya and betel.
• Offer flowers three times, praying to her, the beloved of Hari, for the refuge she gives those who come to her.
• Then worship Kubera, lord of treasure, for wealth and grain.
• Offer sweets, such as laddus of cow's milk with cardamom, clove and camphor.

Sthira lagna

• Many families time the puja within pradosh to a fixed (sthira) rising sign, most often Vrishabha, so that Lakshmi stays; some hold a second puja later in the night, in Simha or at nishita (practice)
• The sign is family custom; the window shown here is pradosh. The lagna table for the day, showing which sign rises when, is on that day's panchang card; this page names no sthira-lagna window of its own.

By day

• Do not eat by day, except children, the old and the sick.
• In the afternoon, those who keep it offer parvana Shraadh to the forebears with curd, milk and ghee.

At night

• After the lamps and the Lakshmi puja, first feed Brahmins and anyone hungry, then eat with family and friends.
• Eat adorned and in new clothes; the Bhavishya Purana names white garments.

Sweets

• Homes prepare sweets to offer and to share with neighbours (practice)

Deepa-dana

• At pradosh, set lamps through the house and at temples, crossroads, riverbanks, cowsheds and market places; such rows of lamps are called lamp-trees.
• The name comes from this: lamps waved in worship make it Deepavali, the Matsya Purana says.

Torches for the forebears

• Light a torch facing south, with the sacred thread over the right shoulder, to show the forebears their way; in Bengal it is shown with its own prayers.

Driving out Alakshmi

• After nishita, the deep middle of the night, the women of the house drive Alakshmi, ill fortune, out of the courtyard with the sound of a winnowing fan and a drum.
• In many homes today a lamp is kept burning through the night instead (practice)

Lakshmi's night

• On this new moon, says the Brahma Purana, the gods were freed from fear by Vishnu, and Lakshmi slept at ease in the lotus; so tonight her rest and her welcome are kept.
• In Bengal the night is called Sukharatri, the night of ease.

Lamps for gods and forebears

• The lamps honour the gods, guide the forebears home, and keep Lakshmi steady in the house; lamps lit in Bali's reign keep her from leaving.

Three days

• Diwali Amavasya is the middle of the three days of Dipotsava, from the Chaturdashi to the bright Pratipada.

The rule

• The Lakshmi puja needs the Amavasya at pradosh, and the day is chosen by that.
• When the Amavasya holds at pradosh on the later day, or on both days, the later day is taken; when only the earlier day has it, the Lakshmi puja is done that evening and the morning oil bath on the next day.
• One more measure: when the Amavasya runs a ghatika into the night on the later day, Sukharatri is kept then.

When neither evening has it

• One view takes the later day when the Amavasya lasts long enough on it; schools differ in this rare case.

Swati

• On whichever of the three days the moon is in Swati, that day is the most auspicious.

On this page

• The date and the pradosh window are worked out from this rule for your city.

Lakshmi freed

• Vishnu freed the gods and Lakshmi from Bali's prison; they rested on the ocean of milk, and so tonight Lakshmi is given a soft bed and worshipped at her ease.

Bali and Vamana

• Vishnu as Vamana asked Bali for three steps of earth, gave the worlds back to Indra and sent Bali to the underworld; in return he granted Bali three days of rule on earth, from this Chaturdashi to the Pratipada.
• Lamps lit in Bali's reign keep Lakshmi steady in the home.

Rama's return

• Across North India Diwali is the night Ayodhya lit lamps to welcome Rama, Sita and Lakshmana home (practice)

Across India

• Homes everywhere light lamps and worship Lakshmi; traders in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan open new account books with Chopda or Bahi puja (practice)
• In Bengal, Assam and Odisha the same night is Kali Puja, which has its own page (practice)
• In much of the south the main celebration is the dawn oil bath of the day before (practice)
• In Gujarat the next day begins the new year (practice)

Other traditions

• Jains mark Mahavira's nirvana on this night, and Sikhs observe Bandi Chhor Divas, lighting lamps at gurdwaras (practice)