2030
Friday, 25 October 2030
In 2030 the tithi runs from 7:10 am on 25 Oct to 4:41 am on 26 Oct, and it never reaches moonrise, so the day on which it begins is taken: Friday, 25 October 2030.
2031
Thursday, 13 November 2031
In 2031 the tithi runs from 5:36 am on 13 Nov to 4:24 am on 14 Nov, and it never reaches moonrise, so the day on which it begins is taken: Thursday, 13 November 2031.
How the date is fixed
Naraka Chaturdashi falls on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the lunar month Ashwina (Krishna Chaturdashi). The date is the day on which that tithi is running at moonrise. In the North Indian (purnimanta) calendar the same fortnight is counted in Kartika.
About
Naraka Chaturdashi is the fourteenth tithi of the dark half of Ashwina in amanta reckoning, the day between Dhanteras and Diwali, in October or November. The abhyanga snan (oil bath) is taken in the last part of the night, after the waning Moon has risen and before sunrise, so the day on which Chaturdashi is present at that pre-dawn moonrise is chosen. In some years this makes Naraka Chaturdashi and Diwali fall on the same civil day. Gujarat keeps it as Kali Chaudas, Bengal as Bhoot Chaturdashi with fourteen lamps, and Goa with effigies of Narakasura.
How it is observed
An oil bath before dawn, lamps lit in the evening, and in Bengal fourteen lamps for fourteen generations of ancestors.