Diwali Lakshmi Puja

The night of Kartik Amavasya, when Lakshmi and Ganesh are worshipped together in every home — the biggest parv of the Hindu year. The cleaning of the house in the days before is not preparation but invitation: Lakshmi is held to enter homes that are clean, lit and awake on this darkest night. The puja itself is done in pradosh kaal after sunset, ideally in a sthir lagna, so that her presence, once invited, stays. Business families open new account books before her the same evening in the chopda pujan, and rows of lamps — deepdaan — carry the welcome to every corner of the house.

Next date: 2026-11-08

vidhi

Finish the deep cleaning of the house in the days before; on the evening itself, decorate the entrance with rangoli and a toran, and light a lamp on both sides of the door — the clean, lit house is itself the invitation.,In pradosh kaal, spread a red cloth on a chowki in the north-east or facing east, seat Lakshmi with Ganesh to her left, and place a kalash of water topped with mango leaves and a coconut beside them.,Take the sankalp with the whole family present, and worship Ganesh first — sindoor tilak, durva and modak — for no puja of Lakshmi begins without him.,Bathe Lakshmi with panchamrit and clean water, wipe her dry, and offer kumkum, akshat, itra, kamalgatta and lotus or red flowers.,Offer kheel-batashe, sweets and fruit as bhog, and place a few coins at her feet; worship the cash box or safe as Kuber's seat, and pen and books as Saraswati.,For chopda pujan, place the new bahi-khata or ledger before her, draw a kumkum swastik on it, write Shubh-Labh, and begin the new year's accounts in her presence.,Chant Om Shreem Mahalakshmyai Namah one hundred and eight times, then do the Lakshmi aarti and the Ganesh aarti with the family.,After the aarti, do deepdaan — lamps at the tulsi, the door, the roof and every dark corner of the house — and leave one ghee lamp burning near Lakshmi through the night.

katha

When the devas and asuras churned the ocean of milk, Lakshmi rose from it seated on a lotus, and of all the three worlds she chose Vishnu, garlanding him herself. Tradition holds that she emerged on the amavasya of Kartik, and so the darkest night of the year became her night. On the same amavasya, by another telling, Ram returned to Ayodhya after fourteen years of exile, and the city lit rows upon rows of lamps so that no darkness remained for his homecoming — the deepmala that gives the festival its name. The two stories meet in one belief: on this night Lakshmi walks the earth, and she enters the homes that are clean, lit and awake to receive her. That is why the safai of the days before is not preparation for the puja but part of it — the scrubbed, decorated house is the invitation itself. And Ganesh sits beside her on the chowki because wealth without wisdom scatters; she is worshipped only after him, so that what she gives may also stay.

mantra

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samagri

Murtis or pictures of Lakshmi and Ganesh — clay murtis are traditionally new each year,A chowki with a red or yellow cloth, and a kalash of water with mango leaves and a coconut,Lotus or red flowers, kamalgatta, and a kamalgatta mala for the japa if available,Kumkum, sindoor, akshat, haldi, chandan and itra,Kheel-batashe, sweets and fruit for the bhog,A ghee lamp for the puja and plenty of oil diyas with cotton wicks for the deepdaan,Dhoop, camphor, and panchamrit for the abhishek,Coins or a silver coin, and the new bahi-khata with a pen for chopda pujan

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