Observance Lakshmi, Kubera, Gowri
Deepavali Amavasai · Lakshmi Puja
The new moon that follows the Tamil Deepavali, the evening on which Lakshmi is worshipped and the account books of the trading year are closed and opened again.
Deepavali Amavasai · Lakshmi Puja 2026 falls on Sunday, 8 November, computed for Chennai.
Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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A tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
- Sunday, 8 November 2026
- Friday, 29 October 2027
- Tuesday, 17 October 2028
Where Deepavali Amavasai · Lakshmi Puja falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2026: 8 Nov
- 2027: 29 Oct, 10 days earlier
- 2028: 17 Oct, 11 days earlier
The two days of Deepavali
Part of the same festival, in order, in the Tamil Nadu calendar
- Deepavali …
- Deepavali Amavasai · Lakshmi Puja(this page) …
The dates, year by year
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The new moon that follows the Tamil Deepavali, the evening on which Lakshmi is worshipped and the account books of the trading year are closed and opened again. Tamil households also keep the Kedara Gowri vratam on this day, a twenty-one day vow for Parvati that ends here.
- Deity
- Lakshmi, Kubera, Gowri
- Kind
- Observance Days marked, watched or begun, without a fast or a feast of their own.
Significance
The Kedara Gowri vratam has its story on Kailasa: the sage Bhringi worshipped Shiva alone and would not go round Parvati, so she kept a twenty-one day vow to Shiva as Kedareswara and won from him the left half of his body, and he became Ardhanareeswara, man and woman in one form. That is why the vow is kept by married women for the unity of the couple, and why its offerings come in twenty-ones, down to the nonbu kayiru of twenty-one strands and knots tied on at the end. For Tamil households the Deepavali itself is the oil bath at dawn on the Chaturdasi, usually the morning before, so this evening is the quieter one, given to Gowri and to Lakshmi. The Gujarati and Marwari traders of Chennai and the other Tamil cities open their new account books at the Lakshmi puja tonight, while many Tamil traders open their puthu kanakku in Chithirai instead.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Deepavali Amavasai · Lakshmi Puja: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a kalasam with mango leaves and a coconut
- raw rice and a plantain leaf to seat the kalasam
- the nonbu kayiru of twenty-one strands and knots
- twenty-one betel leaves and areca nuts
- twenty-one bananas
- raw rice, jaggery and oil or ghee for the adhirasam
- turmeric, kumkum and sandal paste
- flowers, vilva leaves and a lotus
- kuthuvilakku and agal vilakku
- a silver coin or the family's jewellery
- the account books
- a picture of Ardhanareeswara and one of Lakshmi
- rice flour for Lakshmi's feet
- camphor
The steps
0 of 9 done
What is cooked
Adhirasam is the Kedara Gowri offering, made in twenty-ones, with vadai, appam and fruit; Lakshmi is offered the Deepavali bakshanam, laddu, mysore pak, murukku and the rest, with a paal payasam in many homes. The north offers kheer, batashe, kheel and sweets at its Lakshmi puja.
The hour
Clock times for Sunday, 8 November 2026 at Chennai
Pradosha, the two hours and twenty-four minutes after sunset, is the Lakshmi puja hour; the tithi is read at that instant, which is why the puja can fall on the day before the Amavasya that holds the sunrise.
The main rite. The pradosha hour after sunset, with the Amavasai tithi running at that hour, which is why the puja can fall on the day before the Amavasai that holds the sunrise; the Kedara Gowri puja is done the same evening, in many homes just before the Lakshmi lamps are lit.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:05 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Sunset | 17:40 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 17:40 to 20:04 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
Sunrise 06:05, sunset 17:40, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Krishna Chaturdasi from previous day 10:48 until 11:28 | then Krishna Amavasai until next day 12:32 |
| Nakshatra | Swati until next day 07:24 | then Vishakha until 2 days later, 09:19 |
| Rahu kaal | 16:13 to 17:40 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 11:53 to 13:20 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 14:46 to 16:13 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:29 to 12:16 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 05:03 | moonset 16:51 |
For Sunday, 8 November 2026 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Those keeping the Kedara Gowri vratam fast through the day and eat after the evening puja. Lamps, lotus, and a coin or an ornament are set before Lakshmi.
What is avoided
Those keeping the vratam eat nothing until the evening puja, and the house eats no meat, the day being an Amavasai. In many homes the floor is not swept and nothing is thrown out after the Lakshmi lamps are lit, and no money is lent that evening, for fear of sending Lakshmi out of the door.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Tamil Nadu keeps Deepavali on the Naraka Chaturdasi morning and the Lakshmi puja on this following evening; the north keeps both on the one Diwali night, which is why the two calendars can differ by a day.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu (the dates above)
- Tamil homes keep the Kedara Gowri nonbu and a quieter Lakshmi and Kubera puja this evening, after the Deepavali oil bath of the Chaturdasi; many families take the nonbu at the temple and bring the kayiru home.
- Telugu
- The Telugu country keeps the same new moon as Deepavali, with lamps and the Lakshmi puja at night, and many families keep the Kedareswara vratam on it.
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps it as the middle day of its Deepavali, with the Lakshmi puja at dusk and, in some families, the Kedara Gowri vrata; Bali Padyami follows the next morning.
- North India
- The north keeps this evening as Diwali itself: the Lakshmi and Ganesha puja at the pradosha hour, the traders' new books blessed, and lamps and fireworks through the night.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra keeps Lakshmi Pujan this evening, with the traders' account books and cash boxes worshipped, and in many homes a new broom honoured as a form of Lakshmi.
- Bengal
- Bengal keeps the same new moon as Kali Puja, worshipping Kali through the night, Lakshmi's own puja having been kept at the Kojagari full moon.
- Punjab
- The Punjab keeps it as Diwali and, at the Golden Temple, as Bandi Chhor Divas, the day Guru Hargobind returned from Gwalior fort with the fifty-two princes.
- Nepal
- Nepal keeps it as Laxmi Puja, the third day of Tihar, with the cow worshipped in the morning, the house lit for Laxmi at night, and the girls going from door to door singing Bhailo.
The dates above are the Tamil Nadu reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Kalighat Kali Temple 1,353 kmKolkata, West Bengal
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Kali Puja on the Deepavali amavasai and Tuesdays and Saturdays are its days.
Temples of Lakshmi and Gowri near you
Not recorded for this day in particular: the nearest temples of the day's own gods, for a reader whose own temple is not listed above.
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Venkatakrishnan (Parthasarathy) with the arrow scars on his face
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · The eight forms of Lakshmi in shrines on four floors, facing the sea
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adhivyadhihara Bhaktha Anjaneyar, thirty-two feet tall from a single block of granite
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adi Kamakshi and Kamakshi, standing on the pancha agni penance
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
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A temple is listed here only where the gazetteer's own line names this day, or where this day's own entry names the town, or where the day belongs to the ancestors or the nagas and the temple is recorded for that rite. Where neither table says anything, nothing is listed as kept for the day; where fewer than three are, the nearest temples of the day's own gods are added under a heading of their own.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Deepavali Amavasai · Lakshmi Puja's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a satyanarayana puja around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
The Satyanarayana vratam and katha at home. Pournami is the day of the vratam and Ekadasi the next best; Kartika Pournami, Vaishakha Pournami and the Sankranti days are the ones most families choose. Thursday, the day of Guru, comes first among the weekdays, and Tuesday is the one usually passed over. The puja is done in the evening and the prasadam shared after the katha, so no lagna window is computed here.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.