Festival Lakshmi, Ganesha, Kubera, Rama
Diwali · Lakshmi Puja
The new moon of the dark fortnight of Kartika, the night Rama came back to Ayodhya and the night Lakshmi is welcomed into a lit house.
Diwali · 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.
Read more Show less
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
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
- Sunday, 8 November 2026
- Friday, 29 October 2027
- Tuesday, 17 October 2028
Where Diwali · 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 five days of Diwali
Part of the same festival, in order, in the North India calendar
- Dhanteras · Dhanvantari Jayanti …
- Naraka Chaturdashi · Chhoti Diwali …
- Diwali · Lakshmi Puja(this page) …
- Govardhan Puja · Annakut …
- Bhai Dooj · Bhau Beej …
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The new moon of the dark fortnight of Kartika, the night Rama came back to Ayodhya and the night Lakshmi is welcomed into a lit house. Every door and parapet is lined with lamps, the doorway is left open, the house is swept and new, the account books of the trading year are closed and opened, and the crackers run until late.
- Deity
- Lakshmi, Ganesha, Kubera, Rama
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Lakshmi is held to walk the earth on this darkest night looking for a house fit to stay in: one swept clean, lit at every door and window, its people awake and at peace with one another, and that is the whole reason for the cleaning, the lamps and the open door. Ganesha is worshipped beside her because wealth without wisdom does not stay, and the new clay pair of Lakshmi and Ganesha bought each year sits in the puja through the year, the old pair given to the river or to a clean place under a tree. The khil and batashe offered to them are the new season's paddy puffed and the new cane's sugar dropped into sweets, the first of the harvest given back to the one who gave it. The same night is kept by the Jains for Mahavira's nirvana and by the Sikhs as Bandi Chhor Divas, and the north remembers it too as the night the Pandavas came home from their exile. Elders hold that what a house is on Diwali night it will be for the year, so no one quarrels, no one at the door is refused, and the lamp in the puja is kept burning till dawn.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Diwali · Lakshmi Puja: how it is kept
Keep ready
- new clay idols of Lakshmi and Ganesha
- a chowki and a red cloth
- a kalash with mango leaves and a coconut
- khil-batashe and the sugar toys
- kamal gatta, a lotus and marigold
- roli, rice, mauli and sindoor
- silver coins and the jewellery of the house
- the new bahi khata, a pen and an inkpot
- a large ghee lamp for the night
- clay diyas, mustard oil and cotton wicks
- rangoli colours
- sweets and fruit for the offering
- an old soop for the dawn
The steps
0 of 11 done
What is cooked
Khil, batashe, the sugar toys and the sweets of the house are the offering: kaju katli, besan and motichoor laddoo, gujiya, soan papdi and kheer. The evening meal in the north is puri or kachori with a dry and a gravy sabzi, raita and the sweets, and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar cook suran, the elephant yam, for the night. Maharashtra eats the faral, Bengal the bhog of Kali Puja, the Punjab the karah prasad of the gurdwara with the sweets of home, and Nepal sel roti fried in ghee.
The hour
Clock times for Sunday, 8 November 2026 at Chennai
The Amavasya prevailing at pradosha, the two hours and twenty-four minutes after sunset, because the Lakshmi puja is done that evening. This is why Diwali can fall the day before the Amavasya that holds the sunrise.
The main rite. The Lakshmi puja is done in the pradosha, the evening after sunset while the Amavasya runs, and many families choose within it the sthir lagna of Vrishabha, the fixed sign rising then, so that the goddess who comes will stay. The lamps are lit from the puja flame, and the lamp in the puja burns through the night.
| 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
No fast is required for the Lakshmi puja; some keep the day light and eat after it. Sweets are made and given away, and the first lamp is lit at the tulsi or the threshold.
What is avoided
The house is not swept after the puja, lest Lakshmi be swept out with the dust, and no money is lent or given away after dark. Quarrels, harsh words, meat and liquor are kept out of a house that is waiting for the goddess.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The north keeps five days from Dhanteras to Bhai Dooj; Tamil Nadu keeps the Naraka Chaturdasi morning as Deepavali and the Lakshmi puja the next evening; Bengal keeps the same night as Kali Puja; Gujarat begins its Vikram Samvat year the day after.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- Tamil Nadu keeps its Deepavali on the morning before, and on this Amavasya evening many homes do the Lakshmi Kubera puja.
- Telugu
- The Telugu country keeps Deepavali on this evening with the Lakshmi puja and the lamps, the Naraka Chaturdasi bath having come the morning before.
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps the Lakshmi puja this evening and the shops open their new books, with Bali Padyami the next day.
- North India (the dates above)
- The Hindi belt keeps the five days from Dhanteras to Bhai Dooj, Ayodhya lights the banks of the Sarayu for Rama's return, and the Jain homes keep the night for Mahavira's nirvana.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra keeps the evening as Lakshmi Pujan, with the chopda pujan of the traders' books and the new broom worshipped beside the goddess.
- Bengal
- Bengal keeps the same night as Kali Puja, with rows of lamps and candles on every parapet.
- Punjab
- The Punjab keeps the night with Bandi Chhor Divas: the Hindu homes do the Lakshmi puja, the Sikh homes light the gurdwara and their own doors, and the Harmandir Sahib lit over its sarovar is the sight of the night.
- Assam
- Assam keeps the night with Kali Puja and lamps on every doorstep, and the trading homes do the Lakshmi puja.
- Nepal
- Nepal keeps the day as Laxmi Puja, the third day of Tihar, with the cow worshipped in the morning and the goddess at night.
- Gujarat
- Gujarat keeps the evening as Lakshmi Pujan and Sharda Pujan with the chopda pujan of the account books, and it is the LAST night of the Gujarati year, which turns the next morning at Bestu Varas.
- Odisha
- Odisha lights the kaunriya kathi, a bundle of jute stems burnt in the courtyard, and calls the ancestors down with the bada badua daka while the lamps are set out; Kali Puja is kept the same night.
The dates above are the North India 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
दीपावली की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएंDeepavali ki hardik shubhkamnayein
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple, Ayodhya 1,539 kmUttar Pradesh
The entry for this day names Ayodhya, and it is a temple of Rama. The new moon of the dark fortnight of Kartika, the night Rama came back to Ayodhya and the night Lakshmi is welcomed into a lit house.
- Tripura Sundari Temple, Udaipur 1,658 kmGomati, Tripura
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Diwali brings a mela of lakhs.
- Tungnath Temple 1,939 kmChopta, Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand
The gazetteer line names the day as the edge of this temple’s open season. Open about Akshaya Tritiya to Diwali.
- Gangotri Temple 1,996 kmUttarkashi, Uttarakhand
The gazetteer line names the day as the edge of this temple’s open season. Open Akshaya Tritiya to Diwali.
13 more temples in this gazetteer are recorded for the day. Find temples near you.
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
Read more Show less
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
Diwali · 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.
Read more Show less
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.