Diwali — five days

Not one festival but five consecutive ones — wealth, light, homecoming, mountain, and siblings — kept across the darkest new moon.

Kartika amavasya is the darkest night of the clearest season, immediately after the harvest and at the start of the trading year. Lamps, accounts, cleaning, gifts, and family visits are all placed here because this is the moment the year's material position is actually settled.

• Anyone who wishes to honour Lakshmi, Ganesha, Rama, Yama may observe it; there is no requirement of initiation or priesthood for the home version.
• Families often keep the fast together, while children, elders, pregnant or unwell people take a lighter form — fruit, milk, or simply the puja without fasting.
• In many families the observance passes down through the women of the house or through a family tradition tied to Lakshmi, Ganesha, Rama, Yama; follow your family's custom where it differs from the general description here.

1. 1Bathe, wear clean clothes and clear a small space for the deity.
2. 2Light a lamp and an incense stick, and offer water, flowers and a simple sweet from the samagri list below.
3. 3Say Lakshmi, Ganesha, Rama, Yama's name or the mantra on this page eleven times, with your intention for the day.
4. 4Read the short katha on this page aloud, offer the bhog, and share the prasad.
5. 5Keep the day's food rule as far as your health allows, and end it gently the next morning.

A fast until the evening Lakshmi Puja is common on amavasya; Dhanteras is kept by some for Dhanvantari.

• ×Fixing the puja by the clock instead of the tithi. Trayodashi to Dwitiya can begin or end part-way through the day in your city, so check your Panchang the evening before.
• ×Gathering samagri on the morning itself. Items such as clay diyas, wicks, mustard or til oil and lakshmi and Ganesha images, seated together are often unavailable at the last minute.
• ×Breaking the fast heavily or at the wrong moment. Parana is meant to be gentle — water, fruit or prasad first — and is kept within the window your tradition follows.
• ×Taking one region's practice as the only correct one. Bengal and Assam keep Kali Puja on the same night; Jains keep the day as Mahavira's nirvana; Sikhs keep Bandi Chhor Divas; Gujarat begins its new year on Govardhan Puja; the south centres Naraka Chaturdashi rather than Lakshmi Puja.
• ×Rushing the steps without knowing why each one is done, which makes the observance hard to repeat next year.

Bengal and Assam keep Kali Puja on the same night; Jains keep the day as Mahavira's nirvana; Sikhs keep Bandi Chhor Divas; Gujarat begins its new year on Govardhan Puja; the south centres Naraka Chaturdashi rather than Lakshmi Puja.

Regional scope

Pan-Indian practice, with regional notes given above

Last reviewed

September 2026

Reviewed by

DharmaPath editorial team, from traditional texts and household practice

Explanations here are written in our own words from traditional sources; timings, muhurta and local custom should be confirmed with your Panchang or family priest.