Deepavali dates span two civil days, Naraka Caturdaśī at sunrise and the Amāvāsyā night that follows it. Dīpāvali, 'a row of lamps', is the festival of light kept on that darkest night of the lunar year. Kṛṣṇa, with Satyabhāmā, slew Narakāsura on the Caturdaśī before it, and Lakṣmī is said to have risen from the Samudra Manthan on the Amāvāsyā night itself. North India also remembers Rāma's return to Ayodhyā, and Jain tradition keeps the night as Mahāvīra's nirvāṇa. Lamps are lit in clean, open homes so that Lakṣmī may enter and prosperity stay through the year. How the day is fixed: Deepavali spans two civil days of the dark fortnight, each counted from local sunrise. The Amāvāsyā day is Lakṣmī Pūjā night, and the day before it, with Caturdaśī at sunrise, is Naraka Caturdaśī, which South Indian homes keep as the main festival. Time for Lakṣmī Pūjā: The evening pūjā is done in Sāyāhṇa and on through dusk. Leave out Rāhu kālam, Yamagaṇḍam and Guḷikai within that window. Keep in mind: The dark fortnight is Āśvina under amānta reckoning and Kārtika under pūrṇimānta, so the same night is printed under both names. Because tithis turn by local sunrise, and regions differ over which of the two days comes first, Deepavali can show two dates. 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. Before dawn and at dusk: In the south the festival opens before sunrise on Naraka Caturdaśī with an oil bath, new clothes and firecrackers. On the Amāvāsyā evening homes are cleaned, doors left open and rows of lamps lit, and Lakṣmī Pūjā is done with Gaṇeśa, often with Kubera or Sarasvatī beside them. Sweets, lamps and new accounts: New clothes, sweets shared with family and neighbours, and firecrackers fill the evening. For many trading communities the night opens the commercial new year with the account books, and Gujarati homes keep the next day as Bestu Varas. Across the regions: North India lights the night for Rāma's return to Ayodhyā, while West Bengal and Odisha keep it as Kālī Pūjā. Tamil Nadu treats the Naraka Caturdaśī dawn as the main festival, which is why one Deepavali can carry two dates. Worth remembering: Dhanteras, Naraka Caturdaśī, Kālī Pūjā, Govardhan Pūjā and Bhai Dooj fall around this night, but each is an observance of its own. Deepavali proper is the night of lamps and Lakṣmī Pūjā, or the Naraka Caturdaśī dawn where the region gives that first place. Each house keeps Deepavali by its own kulācāra and deśācāra. For one family the dawn oil bath is the heart of the day, for another it is Lakṣmī Pūjā and the new account books, for another Kālī Pūjā or the call to the ancestors. Which night comes first, which deities sit beside Lakṣmī and what is offered all differ. Know what the pañcāṅga says, and keep the day as the elders of your own house have kept it.
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