Dhanteras (Dhanatrayodashi)

About Dhanteras (Dhanatrayodashi)

Significance

Dhanteras, or Dhanatrayodashi, opens the five days of Diwali on the thirteenth day of the dark fortnight. It honours Dhanvantari, physician of the gods and divine source of Ayurveda, who in the Bhagavata Purana’s account of the churning of the ocean (Canto 8, chapter 8) rose from the waters bearing the pot of amrita. The day is therefore also Dhanvantari Jayanti; the Government of India marked Ayurveda Day on it from 2016 until it fixed 23 September as Ayurveda Day in 2025.

The same evening is linked with Lakshmi and Kubera, the treasurer of wealth, and with Yama, the lord of death. A verse quoted in the Dharmashastra digests directs a lamp for Yama to be set outside the house at nightfall on this Trayodashi, and a popular story tells of a prince fated to die on the fourth night after his wedding, whose bride kept him awake with lamps, songs and a heap of ornaments at the door until Yama, coming as a serpent, turned away. The Yama lamp is traditionally believed to keep untimely death from the household.

How and where it is observed

Dhanteras is kept throughout North and West India and in many communities elsewhere; in Maharashtra it is Dhantrayodashi, and in the South the worship of Dhanvantari is the main emphasis, especially among practitioners of Ayurveda. Many traders and households take the day as an occasion to buy metal vessels, gold or silver, or tools for their work. This is a custom of the season; the texts that describe the day speak of worship and the offering of lamps rather than of purchases.

Rituals

Houses are cleaned and decorated with rangoli and lamps, and new utensils are set out for the coming Lakshmi Puja. At dusk Dhanvantari is worshipped, with Lakshmi and Kubera in many homes, and a lamp of flour or clay, facing south, is placed outside the door for Yama. Ayurvedic institutions hold Dhanvantari puja, and in Maharashtra many families offer coriander seed and jaggery.

How the date is fixed

Dhanteras is Kartika Krishna Trayodashi in the Purnimanta reckoning of North India and Ashvina Krishna Trayodashi in Amanta calendars. Its worship and the Yama lamp belong to the evening, so the Trayodashi must prevail at Pradosh, the period from sunset lasting a fifth of the night. If Trayodashi covers Pradosh on two evenings, the evening with the greater coverage is taken; if on neither, the day on which Trayodashi prevails longest. Because the evening decides, the date can differ from a calendar that marks the Trayodashi of the morning.

Sources

• Bhagavata Purana, Canto 8, chapter 8: the churning of the ocean and Dhanvantari
• Nirnaya Sindhu, Kartika-masa: Yama-deepa-dana on Krishna Trayodashi
• All India Radio News (Government of India): Government declares 23 September as Ayurveda Day
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Dhanteras

Customs differ between regions, communities and families; this description is background, not a prescription. The date above is calculated by the rule shown on this page.