Dhanteras 2026

Why the 6th and not the 7th

Trayodashi in 2026 starts mid-morning on 6 November and does not end until mid-morning on the 7th, so it touches two calendar days. The rule that settles which day carries the festival is pradosh kaal: the roughly two-hour window beginning at sunset, when the Lakshmi and Kuber puja is done.

On the evening of the 6th, Trayodashi is running. On the evening of the 7th it has been over since 10:47 that morning and Chaturdashi has taken its place. So the 6th it is. This is worth understanding rather than memorising, because the same reasoning decides the date every year and is the usual reason two calendars print different answers.

The two timings, and which one you want

Search for Dhanteras timings and you will mostly find one number for the evening puja, and you will find a different number on every site. For Delhi in 2026, two of the better-known panchang publishers give 6:02 PM to 7:57 PM and 6:17 PM to 8:15 PM. Neither is carelessly wrong. They are answering slightly different questions.

The broad window is Pradosh Kaal, which begins at sunset and runs for three night-muhurtas. A night-muhurta is a fifteenth of the night, so the span is the night divided by five — longer in winter, shorter in summer, and never the flat “two and a half hours” often quoted. That is the column in the table above, computed for each city. The narrower figures published elsewhere are usually Vrishabha Kaal, the stretch when Taurus is rising, chosen because a fixed sign is considered steady for inviting wealth. It sits inside Pradosh Kaal.

That is not the answer to “when should I go and buy the gold”. Buying is a daytime activity, and the daytime windows are the Choghadiya periods in the table above. The two answer different questions and a page that gives only the first has left out the one most people came for.

What the day is for

Dhan is wealth and teras is thirteenth. The day belongs to Dhanvantari, physician of the gods, who rose from the churning of the ocean holding a pot of amrita. The pot matters more than it first appears: it is why the oldest form of the observance is buying metal vessels, long before gold entered the picture.

Gold and silver are the modern answer. Brass, copper and steel utensils are the older one and still entirely valid. Many households buy a broom, a plain symbolic sweeping out of poverty. Tradition avoids iron, glass and sharp objects on the day.

The evening also carries Yama Deepam, a lamp placed facing south for Yama and kept for long life in the household. It is separate from both the puja and the buying, and it belongs to the same night.

The Dhanvantari mantra

The mantra chanted for Dhanvantari on this day is a long one, and it names him rather than merely invoking him: the one holding the pot of nectar, destroyer of all disease, lord of the three worlds.

One detail worth knowing, because sources differ and rarely say so. Some traditions end the mantra नमः (namaḥ, “salutation”) and others स्वाहा (svāhā, the offering-into-fire ending). Both are in print. The svāhā form belongs to homa and ritual-offering contexts; namaḥ is the ordinary form for recitation. Neither is a mistake — use whichever your family or teacher uses.

Two shorter forms exist for daily use:

Puja vidhi, step by step

Two pujas share the evening and they are not the same thing. Lakshmi and Kuber are worshipped for prosperity; Dhanvantari for health. Households do one, the other or both, and Ayurvedic practitioners in particular keep the Dhanvantari puja. What follows is the common domestic form. Families differ, and a family practice is not wrong for differing.

What is usually gathered: a low wooden seat or plate for the idols, red cloth, images or idols of Lakshmi, Ganesha and Kuber, roli and rice for the tilak, fresh flowers and a garland, incense, a ghee lamp with cotton wicks, panchamrit or plain milk, sweets — kheer or anything with milk is traditional — coins or the metal bought that day, and coriander seeds.

1. Clean the house through the day and finish before sunset. The cleaning is part of the observance rather than preparation for it.
2. Draw a rangoli at the entrance and small footprints leading inward, marking the way Lakshmi is invited to come.
3. After sunset, in Pradosh Kaal, set the idols on the red cloth facing east or north-east and light the ghee lamp.
4. Begin with Ganesha, as every puja does, then Lakshmi, then Kuber. Offer the tilak, flowers, incense and sweets to each in turn.
5. Place the gold, silver or new utensils bought that day before the idols so the purchase is included in the puja rather than being separate from it.
6. Chant the Dhanvantari mantra above, and the Lakshmi and Kuber mantras if your family keeps them. Recite the Dhanteras katha if it is your custom.
7. Close with the aarti, then distribute prasad. The lamp is left burning through the night where it can be done safely.
8. Separately, at the doorway and facing south, light the Yama Deepam — a single lamp for Yama, described below. It is not part of the Lakshmi puja and is not offered in celebration.

The three stories

The churning of the ocean. Gods and asuras churned the sea for amrita, the nectar of immortality, and among those who rose from it was Dhanvantari, holding the pot. He is counted an avatar of Vishnu and the origin of Ayurveda, which is why the day belongs as much to health as to money, and why the oldest form of the observance is buying a vessel rather than gold.

King Hima's bride. A horoscope foretold that the young king would die of snakebite on the fourth night after his wedding. His wife refused it. She heaped her gold ornaments and silver coins at the threshold, lit lamps through the house, and kept him awake all night with songs and stories. When Yama arrived in the form of a serpent, the glare off the metal and the lamps blinded him, and he left without entering. This is the story behind the lamps, and behind Yama Deepam specifically.

The farmer's wife. A poor farmer's wife swept her small house, drew rangoli and lit rows of lamps to welcome Lakshmi, having nothing else to offer. The goddess, moved less by the offering than by the care taken over it, blessed the household for generations. The point of the story is plain and worth keeping: on this day the cleaning and the rangoli are not preparation for the puja, they are the puja.

What to buy, and what to leave

Gold and silver are the modern answer, in any form — coins, jewellery, or a Lakshmi- Ganesha stamped coin. A small amount bought deliberately counts the same as a large one; the tradition is about bringing something new into the house, not about the sum.

New utensils in brass, copper or steel are the older custom and the one closest to the day's origin. A broom is bought in many households as a plain symbolic sweeping out of poverty. Coriander seeds are bought and sometimes sown, because dhaniya shares its root with dhan, wealth, and a seed is a thing that multiplies. Electronics, vehicles and property are all bought on the day now, and nothing in the tradition argues against it.

What is customarily avoided: iron and steel-as-iron, associated with Saturn and with hardship; sharp objects — knives, scissors, anything that cuts; glass, linked to Rahu and to breakage; black clothing; and oil. Buying on credit is discouraged on a day about wealth arriving rather than obligation. These are customs rather than rules, and they vary by region — steel utensils are avoided in some households and bought in others.

Dhanteras in the coming years

Common questions