Pan-India · October–November
Also known as Dhanatrayodashi · Dhanvantari Trayodashi · Yamadeepam
When it’s celebrated
The exact date shifts each year — it’s fixed from the panchang. Cast your free kundli or check the calendar for this year’s muhurat.
Significance
Dhanteras, the first day of Diwali, is dedicated to wealth, health and prosperity. Devotees worship Goddess Lakshmi and Kubera, the lord of wealth, and the day is considered highly auspicious for buying gold, silver and new utensils. It also honours Dhanvantari, the divine physician and god of Ayurveda, linking material prosperity with good health.
The story
Dhanteras is associated with the emergence of Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods and the deity of Ayurveda, who arose from the churning of the cosmic ocean (Samudra Manthan) holding the pot of amrita (nectar of immortality). Another legend tells of the sixteen-year-old son of King Hima, fated to die of a snakebite on the fourth day of his marriage; his clever wife kept him awake all night with stories and lights and piled gold and silver at the doorway, so that when Yama, the god of death, arrived as a serpent, he was dazzled and turned back — the origin of Yamadeepam and the custom of buying valuables.
Rituals
Across India
Dhanteras is observed across India as the opening of the Diwali festivities, with especially fervent gold and utensil shopping in the West and North among trading communities. The Yamadeepam lamp tradition for warding off death is widespread, while the worship of Dhanvantari is emphasised in Ayurvedic and southern traditions, where the day is also observed as National Ayurveda Day.
Questions
Dhanteras, the first day of Diwali, is celebrated for wealth, prosperity and health. Devotees worship Lakshmi and Kubera, buy gold and utensils for good fortune, and honour Dhanvantari, the god of Ayurveda, for wellbeing.
Goddess Lakshmi and Kubera, the lord of wealth, are worshipped for prosperity, along with Dhanvantari, the divine physician, and Yama, to whom a lamp is offered to ward off untimely death.
Dhanteras falls on the thirteenth tithi (Trayodashi) of the dark fortnight of Kartik, two days before Diwali, usually in October or November. The date changes each year with the Hindu lunar calendar.
Buying gold, silver or new utensils on Dhanteras is considered highly auspicious, believed to invite Goddess Lakshmi and lasting prosperity into the home as the Diwali festival begins.
Yama Deepam is a lamp lit at the doorway on Dhanteras night, offered to Yama, the god of death, to protect the household from untimely death — rooted in the legend of King Hima's son being saved from a fatal snakebite.
Book a pooja in your name, find the muhurat, or read the day’s panchang — bring the festival into your own practice.
