Bestu Varas, also called Nūtan Varṣ, opens the Kārtikādi Vikrama Saṃvat that Gujarat follows. It comes the morning after the lamps of Dīpāvalī Amāvāsyā, so the old year closes in light and the new one begins with worship. Families greet elders with the first namaskāra of the year, and merchant houses begin a fresh ledger in the hope that the year's accounts will be auspicious from the first line. Beginning the year this way is believed to bring Lakṣmī's blessing on the home and the trade. How the day is fixed: The new year is the day on which Kārttika Śukla Pratipadā prevails at Madhyāhna, as Gujarati pañcāṅgas commonly reckon it. In most years that is the day after Dīpāvalī Amāvāsyā. Keep in mind: Gujarat counts the Vikrama year from Kārttika, while North India often begins it on Caitra Śukla Pratipadā. Madhyāhna depends on local sunrise, so the day can shift by one with place. This year: The 2026 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. New year morning at home: Families wear new clothes, draw rangoli with the svastika and Lakṣmī's footprints, and offer the first namaskāra of the year to the elders. Some visit the temple before the first meal of the year. The new account book: Merchant families open a new account book, the chopḍā, and start the year's ledger afresh. The first entries are made with prayer so that the year's trade begins auspiciously. Worth remembering: Bestu Varas is not Ugādi, Yugādi or Guḍhī Pāḍvā, the spring new years of Caitra Śukla Pratipadā. Govardhana Pūjā falls on this same tithi but is kept as a separate observance. Each Gujarati family and trading community has its own way of welcoming the year, from which deity is visited first to how the new chopḍā is opened. Outside Gujarat, Gujarati households carry the same customs with them wherever they live. Knowing the general rule is good, but the fullest observance is the one the elders of your own house have handed down.
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