Dhanteras, or Dhanatrayodaśī, opens the five days of Dīpāvali. It marks the day Dhanvantari, physician of the devas and originator of Āyurveda, rose from the Samudra Manthan bearing a kalaśa of amṛta. For that reason it is also called Dhanvantari Trayodaśī and is observed nationally as Āyurveda Day. Because health is the first wealth, the day came to be held auspicious for medicine and, by extension, for all forms of dhana. How the day is fixed: Dhanteras is kept on the day when Kārttika Kṛṣṇa Trayodaśī prevails at local sunrise. Amānta calendars call the same fortnight Āśvina Kṛṣṇa, so the tithi is one and the same. Keep in mind: The evening Lakṣmī and dhana pūjā is done from Sāyāhṇa through dusk, avoiding Rāhu kālam, Yamagaṇḍam and Guḷikai. 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. Buying metal: Buying gold, silver or new metal vessels, even a small steel utensil, is popularly held to invite Lakṣmī to stay in the home through the coming year. Jewellery and utensil shops see their busiest trade of the year on this day. Yama Dīpam: At dusk a lamp is lit facing south, the direction of Yama. A folk legend tells of a prince fated to die of snakebite on the fourth night of his marriage, whose wife kept him awake with lamps and stories and heaped gold and silver at the door until Yama, arriving as a serpent, was dazzled and turned back. Evening worship: Household worship this evening is usually offered to Lakṣmī and Kubera alongside Dhanvantari. Āyurvedic physicians and their families honour Dhanvantari as the patron of their craft. Worth remembering: Dhanteras is followed by Naraka Caturdaśī, Dīpāvali, Govardhana Pūjā and Bhāi Dūj, each a day of its own. The metal bought today sits alongside the main Lakṣmī Pūjā on the Amāvāsyā of Dīpāvali and does not replace it. How Dhanteras is kept differs from region to region and house to house. Gujarati and Marathi homes make much of the dhana pūjā and the lamp for Yama, Kannada homes fill the water vessels that evening, Tamil and Kerala homes think first of Dhanvantari and the Dīpāvali kitchen, and in Bengal and Odisha the day is newer. Keep the general rule in mind and follow the practice of the elders of your own house.
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