When is Dhanteras?
The answer
Friday, 6 November 2026
The thirteenth. Metal is bought.
Pradosh Kaal puja time
The window
5:32 PM – 7:56 PM
- Lasts
- 2h 24m
- Sunset
- 5:32 PM
- Pradosh Kaal
- 5:32 PM – 7:56 PM
Pradosh Kaal begins at the local sunset and runs six ghatikas — three muhurtas, 2h 24m — as Nirnaya Sindhu and Dharma Sindhu have it. It moves with the sunset, so it is a different clock time every year and in every city. The window above is the part of it where the tithi is genuinely still running.
Why that day
- The tithi it is
- Kartika Krishna 13
This one is kept at DUSK, not at sunrise. The tithi can be running at dawn on a day it has already left by evening — which is how a calendar computed the ordinary way lands a day late.
And after that
Wednesday, 27 October 2027
Kartika Krishna 13
5:40 PM – 8:04 PM
Monday, 16 October 2028
Kartika Krishna 13
How this date is worked out
A festival is a position, not a date. The lunar month is named by the sidereal sign the Sun stands in at the new moon that opens it, and the tithi is the Moon's distance from the Sun in twelve-degree steps. Both come from the same ephemeris this site casts birth charts with.
North India reckons a month from full moon to full moon, so the dark fortnight carries the next month's name — the same day is Shravana Krishna Tritiya in Pune and Bhadrapada Krishna Tritiya in Delhi. These dates use the northern reckoning, and the tithi is printed above so there is nothing to take on trust.
Why it is kept
Kartika Krishna Trayodashi, two days before Diwali. The real reason is not wealth: Dhanvantari rose from the churning of the ocean on this day carrying the pot of amrit, and he is the deity of Ayurveda — which is why the Indian government keeps National Ayurveda Day on it. Buying metal comes from that pot: it was metal and it was full. The single lamp set outside the house facing south in the evening is for Yama, not for Lakshmi; it is called the Yama Deepak.
The story behind it
King Hima's son
The horoscope of King Hima's son said he would die of snakebite on the fourth day after his wedding.
What his wife did
On the fourth night she would not let him sleep. She heaped all her jewellery and every gold and silver coin at the door and lit lamps all around.
Stories through the night
She told stories and sang all night to keep him awake.
Yama turns back
Yama came as a snake and was blinded by the lamps and the gold. He sat on the heap listening to the stories till morning, and left quietly.
The Yama lamp
That is why a lamp is lit in Yama's name facing south on Dhanteras evening — against untimely death.
What to keep ready
- A new metal vessel — silver, brass or steel, whatever is affordable
- Coriander seed, which is bought and sown on this day
- Images of Dhanvantari, Lakshmi and Kubera
- A four-mouthed lamp of flour and mustard oil, for the Yama Deepak
- Black sesame, to go under its wick
- A broom, bought today and treated as Lakshmi
- Marigold, roli, akshat, kalava
- Sweets and jaggery
How the puja is done
1
The buying
Buy the metal during the day. What is bought is not brought into the house empty — put something in it, or a little rice.
2
Dhanvantari puja
In the evening, in Pradosh kaal — roughly the two hours after sunset. Dhanvantari, Lakshmi and Kubera together.
3
The new vessel
Put what you bought into the puja, mark it with tilak, and fill it with a little grain or water.
4
The Yama lamp
After the puja: a four-mouthed flour lamp filled with mustard oil, black sesame under the wick, set outside the main door facing south. It is the last thing done and it does not come back inside.
5
The coriander
Keep the coriander seed in the puja and sow it in a pot the next day.
What to do
- Set the Yama lamp outside the door facing south — it is not Lakshmi's lamp and it does not come indoors.
- Do not bring bought metal home empty; put rice, water or a sweet in it.
- Do the puja in Pradosh kaal, after sunset, not during the day.
- Buy the broom today and tie a white thread on it; the tradition treats it as Lakshmi.
- Remember Dhanvantari as much as Lakshmi — the day is actually his.
What not to do
- Do not buy iron or aluminium today; silver, brass, copper or steel.
- Sharp things — knives, scissors — are not bought today.
- Do not lend money today and do not send money out.
- Do not step on the broom, and do not give one away today.
- Once the Yama lamp is lit, do not carry it inside and do not put it out — let it burn down.
- Avoid buying anything black, and black cloth.
The aarti
Shri Dhanvantari Aarti
ॐ जय धन्वंतरि देवा, स्वामी जय धन्वंतरि देवा।
जरा-रोग से पीड़ित, जन-जन सुख देवा॥
तुम समुद्र से प्रकटे, कर में अमृत लाए।
देव-दनुज सब हारे, तुमने रोग हराए॥
आयुर्वेद प्रवर्तक, तुम विष्णु अवतारी।
औषधि रूप तुम्हारा, जग की पीड़ा हारी॥
शंख चक्र कर सोहत, जलजात सुहावन।
पीत वसन तन धारे, दर्शन मन भावन॥
जो नर नित तुम ध्यावे, रोग न ताहि सतावे।
आयु बढ़े सुख पावे, यश जग में छावे॥
श्री धन्वंतरि जी की आरती, जो कोई नर गावे।
रोग-शोक मिट जावे, निरोगी हो जावे॥
The sky has a calendar. So do you.
The same engine reads your own birth moment — every house, every graha, every period with dates.