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
- Wednesday, 27 October 2027
- Monday, 16 October 2028
- Sunday, 4 November 2029
Where Dhanteras · Dhanvantari Jayanti falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 27 Oct
- 2028: 16 Oct, 10 days earlier
- 2029: 4 Nov, 18 days later
The five days of Diwali
Part of the same festival, in order, in the Tamil Nadu calendar
- Dhanteras · Dhanvantari Jayanti(this page) …
- Naraka Chaturdashi · Chhoti Diwali …
- Diwali · Lakshmi Puja …
- Govardhan Puja · Annakut …
- Bhai Dooj · Bhau Beej …
The dates, year by year
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The thirteenth day of the dark fortnight of Kartika, the first day of the Diwali days. Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods, rose from the churning of the ocean with the pot of amrit on it, so it is the doctors' and the ayurveda day; households buy metal, a vessel, a coin or gold, and light the yama deepam, a lamp set facing south at the door for Yama.
- Deity
- Dhanvantari, Lakshmi, Kubera, Yama
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
The story told in northern homes is of King Hima's son, whose stars said a snake would take his life on the fourth night after his wedding. His young wife would not let him sleep: she heaped her gold and silver at the door of the room, lit lamps all round it and told him stories and sang through the night, and when Yama came as a serpent he was so dazzled by the glitter that he lay on the heap listening until dawn and went away without his prize. That is why metal is bought on this day and why the lamp for Yama is lit at the door facing south, his direction, so that no untimely death comes in. The elders also remind the family that the first wealth is health, since the day belongs to Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods, and India now keeps it as National Ayurveda Day. The new vessel bought today is never brought home empty: it is filled with rice, sweets or water before it crosses the threshold, so that the house it enters is never empty either.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Dhanteras · Dhanvantari Jayanti: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a new vessel of steel, brass, copper or silver
- a silver coin, or a little gold
- a new broom
- whole coriander seed and jaggery
- pictures of Dhanvantari, Lakshmi, Ganesha and Kubera
- roli, rice, flowers and tulsi leaves
- a four-wicked lamp of wheat dough or clay
- mustard oil and cotton wicks
- thirteen small clay lamps
- a toran of mango leaves or marigold
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
No feast is fixed, but the Diwali sweets are begun: the north offers jaggery with whole coriander, boondi laddoo and kheer as naivedya. Maharashtra offers dhane-gul, coriander seed with jaggery, to Dhanvantari, and the faral is fried through the week; Nepal puts out rice and sweets for the crows first on this day, as Kag Tihar.
The hour
Clock times for Wednesday, 27 October 2027 at Chennai
The Trayodashi running at pradosha, the two hours and twenty-four minutes after sunset, because the lamp and the purchase belong to that evening.
The main rite. The Trayodashi running at pradosha, the evening hour after sunset, when the purchase is brought home and the puja of Dhanvantari, Lakshmi and Kubera is done; the Yama lamp is lit at the door at the same hour or later in the night.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunset | 17:44 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 17:44 to 20:08 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
Sunrise 06:01, sunset 17:44, 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 Trayodasi from 01:04 until 22:50 | then Krishna Chaturdasi until next day 20:49 |
| Nakshatra | Uttara Phalguni until 13:01 | then Hasta until next day 11:36 |
| Rahu kaal | 11:53 to 13:21 (1 h 28 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 07:29 to 08:57 (1 h 28 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 10:25 to 11:53 (1 h 28 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:29 to 12:16 (0 h 47 min) | the midday muhurta, not counted on a Wednesday |
| Moonrise | 03:41 | moonset 15:55 |
For Wednesday, 27 October 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast is required. The new vessel is filled and used, and the lamp is left burning through the night.
What is avoided
Nothing is lent and no money is given out of the house after dark, and an empty vessel is never brought in. Many families will not buy iron, glass, knives or anything black on the day.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Buying gold or silver on Dhanteras is kept across the north and west and has spread to the whole country; the south keeps the Deepavali oil bath the next morning and does not make Dhanteras a buying day in the same way.
In other regions
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps the Trayodashi as Neeru Tumbuva Habba, when the great copper bathing pots are scrubbed, decorated and filled with water for the oil bath of the next dawn.
- North India
- The Hindi belt keeps it as the first of the five days, with the markets open late for the vessels and the gold and the Yama lamp set at the door that night or the next.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra keeps Dhantrayodashi, with the vaidyas and doctors worshipping Dhanvantari, the women offering dhane-gul, and the Yamadeepdan lamp set facing south at dusk.
- Nepal
- Nepal keeps the same day as Kag Tihar, the first of the five days of Yamapanchak, and buying metal on Dhanteras has become common in Kathmandu and the Terai.
- Gujarat
- Gujarat keeps Dhanteras as the opening of the Diwali week, with the vessels and the gold bought in the evening and the Lakshmi puja of the shop done that night.
- Sindhi
- The Sindhi shops keep it as the opening of the Diyari week, and the metal bought on it goes to the shop rather than to the house.
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.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
धनतेरस की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएंDhanteras ki hardik shubhkamnayein
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
Temples of Lakshmi 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 · Neervanna Perumal below and Ranganathar on the hill, in four postures
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.
- Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Dhanvantaraye
- Om Yakshaya Kuberaya (Kubera mantra)
- Lakshmi Ashtottaram (the 108 names)
- Yamaya Dharmarajaya (the fourteen names of Yama)
A name without a link is a long reading, read in full from the family’s own copy or at the place of worship; the library prints the shorter prayers.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Dhanteras · Dhanvantari Jayanti's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a gold around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
Buying gold or jewellery. Poosam is the star for buying gold, and Akshaya Tritiya (Vaishakha Shukla Thritiyai) and Dhanteras (Krishna Trayodasi before Deepavali) are the two days the whole country buys on, whatever else the day carries. No lagna rule is applied here, so the day is graded as a whole.
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.