Dhanteras 2026

Dates around the world · 2026

Date source: drikpanchang.com (New Delhi, Edison, New Jersey, San Jose, California, London, Toronto, Sydney). Dates are taken from the cited published panchang for each region and year; regions we could not verify are left out.

How to observe

Tick the steps as you go. The ticks are saved on this device only.

1. 1During the day, clean the home, especially the entrance and the puja corner, and draw a small rangoli at the door or just inside it.
2. 2Buy something new before the evening: a steel or brass vessel, a broom, whole dhaniya, or a little gold or silver if you wish. Many families place the new item in the puja.
3. 3After your local sunset, in the muhurat for your city, set up Lakshmi, Ganesha and Kubera on a clean cloth. Pictures are fine. Put out a ghee diya, flowers, kumkum, akshat, sweets, the new item and a small bowl of dhaniya with jaggery.
4. 4Begin with Ganesha: recite Vakratunda Mahakaya.
5. 5Recite the Kuber mantra. Many families say it 11 or 108 times; a few times with full attention is also fine. Then the Mahalakshmi Ashtakam if you have time.
6. 6Pray to Dhanvantari for the family's health.
7. 7Sing Om Jai Lakshmi Mata, and the Kuber aarti if your family sings it.
8. 8Yama Deepam: at dusk, light a four-wick diya (an ordinary diya with four wicks laid across it works) and place it at the main door facing south, outside if you can. In an apartment where you can't leave a flame in the corridor, many families keep it just inside the door on a plate and stay close by. Some use an electric lamp facing south where flames are not allowed.
9. 9Some families keep the dhaniya from the puja and later sow it in a pot, or keep a little with their savings. This is a custom, not a rule.
10. 10Apartment note: keep diyas on steel plates, away from curtains and smoke detectors. Agarbatti and camphor smoke can set off alarms, so open a window and use one stick at a time. Never leave a flame alone.

Customs differ by family and region. Follow your family tradition and temple where they differ from these steps.

What you will need

• Something new: a steel or brass vessel, a broom, or a gold or silver coin. Indian grocery stores (Patel Brothers in the US, and the Indian shops in Southall, Wembley, Leicester, Brampton or Harris Park) stock steel and brass, but a steel vessel from any kitchen shop is just as good.
• Whole dhaniya (coriander seeds) with jaggery. Dhaniya is in most supermarket spice aisles; jaggery (gur) is at Indian grocers, and a little sugar is a common stand-in if you can't find it.
• Pictures or idols of Lakshmi and Ganesha. A Kubera picture or yantra if you have one; many homes simply pray to Kubera along with Lakshmi.
• Ghee diyas for the puja. Use an electric diya if flames are not allowed in your building.
• Four-wick diya for Yama Deepam. Clay diyas are sold at Indian stores in the Diwali weeks; an ordinary diya with four cotton wicks laid across it works. Many families use mustard or sesame oil for this lamp; any cooking oil will do.
• Flowers, kumkum, haldi, akshat (unbroken rice), one stick of agarbatti.
• Sweets for bhog, homemade or from the Indian sweet shop.
• A clean cloth (red or yellow) for the puja, and a few drops of Ganga jal in water to sprinkle, if you have it. Clean water alone is fine.

Texts to recite

• Vakratunda MahakayaVakratunda Mahakaya is a two-line Sanskrit shloka to Lord Ganesh and one of the most widely recited. It asks the Lord with the curved trunk, radiant as ten million suns, to keep all our work free of obstacles. Tradition says it before any puja, study, journey or new venture, and many people chant it 11, 21 or 108 times on Wednesdays and on Ganesh Chaturthi.
• Kuber MantraThe Kuber mantra "Om Yakshaya Kuberaya Vaishravanaya Dhanadhanyadhipataye" is the best-known prayer to Kuber, treasurer of the gods, asking for wealth and grain. This page also gives the Vedic "Rajadhirajaya" mantra that South Indian temples chant in Mantrapushpam, and the short "Om Kuberaya Namah". Families chant them on Dhanteras and Diwali, usually 108 times on a mala.
• Mahalakshmi AshtakamMahalakshmi Ashtakam is a short Sanskrit hymn of eight verses in which Indra praises Goddess Mahalakshmi. Every verse ends with "Mahalakshmi Namostu Te", "O Mahalakshmi, I bow to you", and three closing verses describe the merit of reciting it. Families recite it on Fridays, during Navratri and at Lakshmi puja on Diwali.
• Om Jai Lakshmi MataOm Jai Lakshmi Mata is a Hindi aarti to Goddess Lakshmi, sung while waving the lamp at the end of Lakshmi puja. It has a refrain and seven short stanzas that praise her as Mother of the world and the source of prosperity and good qualities. Families sing it at Lakshmi puja on Diwali night and on Fridays.

Questions

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