The first day of Diwali: worship of wealth, health and well-being.
Friday, 6 November 2026·Kartik Krishna Trayodashi, at Pradosh Kala (evening)·Mumbai, Maharashtra
Main evening worship of Lakshmi and Kubera for wealth and prosperity.
Evening puja, lamp-lighting and Dhanvantari worship.
Sthir-lagna window for stability in wealth.
Light a lamp facing south at the doorway to ward off untimely death.
Buying gold, silver, utensils, vehicles or property; investments.
Dhanteras opens the five-day Diwali festival. It is the most auspicious day of the year to invite prosperity - for buying gold, silver and new utensils, for opening account books, and for the evening worship of Lakshmi and Kubera. Lamps lit tonight are believed to guard the household through the coming year.
The day joins three streams: Dhanvantari for health, Lakshmi–Kubera for wealth, and Yama for protection from untimely death. True dhan (wealth) is understood to include health, wisdom and a clear conscience - not gold alone.
To welcome Lakshmi into a clean, lamp-lit home, to seek Kubera's blessing on the year's finances, to honour Dhanvantari for health, and to light the Yama Deepam that wards off misfortune.
Dhanteras marks the day Lord Dhanvantari - physician of the gods and an incarnation of Vishnu - arose from the churning of the cosmic ocean (Samudra Manthana), bearing the pot of amrita (nectar of immortality). A second, tender legend tells of a young prince fated to die on the fourth day of his marriage; his bride kept him awake through the night with songs and stories, and heaped her gold ornaments and lamps at the doorway. When Yama arrived as a serpent, the blaze of lamps blinded him and he turned away - and so lamps and the purchase of metal became the day's protective customs.
The Dhanteras Puja Muhurat - Vrishabha lagna within Pradosh Kala, shown above for your location. If they don't overlap, use Pradosh Kala.
Gold, silver, brass or steel utensils, or new business assets. Metal is considered a form of Lakshmi entering the home.
Place the lamp at the doorway facing south (Yama's direction), after sunset.
Usually yes - Dhanteras (Trayodashi), Naraka Chaturdashi (Chaturdashi), then Diwali (Amavasya) - but tithi shortenings can compress or shift the sequence.