For New Delhi
Lakshmi Puja time
Lakshmi Puja muhurta†5:28 pm – 7:24 pm · 1 hr 56 min
- Pradosh kaal†
- 5:27 pm – 8:06 pm
- Vrishabha lagna (sthira, fixed)†
- 5:28 pm – 7:24 pm
- Amavasya tithi
- 2:30 pm – 11:16 am on 16 Nov
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.
2039
Tuesday, 15 November 2039
In 2039 the tithi runs from 2:30 pm on 15 Nov to 11:16 am on 16 Nov; it is running at pradosh, the twilight just after sunset on Tuesday, 15 November 2039, so that is the day of Diwali.
2040
Sunday, 4 November 2040
In 2040 the tithi runs from 1:25 am on 4 Nov to 12:26 am on 5 Nov; it is running at pradosh, the twilight just after sunset on Sunday, 4 November 2040, so that is the day of Diwali.
Ashwina Amavasya, Wednesday, 16 November 2039. Amavasya is running at sunrise: the day for the Amavasya rites (shraddha, bathing and gifts). Diwali (15 Nov) is the same new moon, kept at dusk.
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.