For New Delhi
Lakshmi Puja time
Lakshmi Puja muhurta†5:43 pm – 7:39 pm · 1 hr 55 min
- Pradosh kaal†
- 5:29 pm – 8:08 pm
- Vrishabha lagna (sthira, fixed)†
- 5:43 pm – 7:39 pm
- Amavasya tithi
- 9:23 pm on 10 Nov – 11:17 pm
How this time is worked out
The night runs from sunset to the next sunrise and is cut into fifteen equal muhurtas (about 53 minutes each in New Delhi that night).
Lakshmi Puja is done in pradosh kaal, the first three muhurtas of the night†, while Amavasya runs, and within it in a sthira (fixed) lagna, which in the evening is Vrishabha†. The muhurta shown is where the three overlap. The lagna is sidereal (Lahiri), for the latitude and longitude of the chosen city.
† Practice varies between schools; our faculty is reviewing these rules.
2015
Wednesday, 11 November 2015
In 2015 the tithi runs from 9:23 pm on 10 Nov to 11:17 pm on 11 Nov; it is running at pradosh, the twilight just after sunset on Wednesday, 11 November 2015, so that is the day of Diwali.
2016
Sunday, 30 October 2016
In 2016 the tithi runs from 8:40 pm on 29 Oct to 11:08 pm on 30 Oct; it is running at pradosh, the twilight just after sunset on Sunday, 30 October 2016, so that is the day of Diwali.
How the date is fixed
Diwali falls on the new-moon day (Amavasya) that closes the lunar month Ashwina. The date is the day on which that tithi is running at pradosh, the twilight just after sunset. In the North Indian (purnimanta) calendar the same fortnight is counted in Kartika.
About
Diwali is kept on Amavasya, the new moon that ends Ashwina in amanta reckoning and Kartika in purnimanta, in October or November. The Lakshmi Puja is done in pradosh, the period after sunset, so the day whose evening carries Amavasya is chosen; when Amavasya is present at pradosh on two days, the second is taken, and when on neither, the day on which Amavasya covers most of the evening. Sthira lagna (Vrishabha rising) within pradosh is the window most almanacs print. Bengal and Assam keep Kali Puja at midnight of the same Amavasya, and the Jain tradition marks it as Mahavira's nirvana.
How it is observed
Lamps lit at dusk, Lakshmi and Ganesha worship in pradosh, new account books for traders, and sweets shared with neighbours.