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Dhanteras · puja vidhi

How to do the Dhanteras puja at home

The Yama diya at the door at dusk, and Lakshmi Maa, Kuber ji and Dhanvantari ji given puja in pradosh kaal. About 60 minutes.

Every step is named here and the first 3 are given whole. The whole puja, every mantra with its meaning, is in the Kalava app.

Form
North IndiaMaharashtraGujaratAndhra and TelanganaKarnataka
Puja
CompleteEssential

The Yama diya with its puja and water, then the puja offering by offering — Ganesh ji, Dhanvantari ji, Lakshmi Maa, Kuber ji — the katha, the thirteen diyas and the diya kept burning at the door. About an hour and a half.

Dhanteras

The day

7:07 AM · Columbus

The house finished and the doorway made ready, and the diya for Yamraj shaped before dusk.

  1. The day

    Make the door ready

    1. Finish the cleaning of the house, and wash the main doorway and its threshold.
    2. Draw a rangoli before the door, in colours or in rice flour.
    3. Draw a pair of small footprints of Lakshmi Maa stepping into the house.
    4. Hang a toran of mango leaves or marigold over the door.

    The Diwali days begin at the door: it is where Lakshmi Maa is welcomed, and tonight it is also where the diya for Yamraj stands.

    Make the door ready

  2. The day

    Shape the Yama diya

    1. Knead a handful of wheat flour with a little water into a stiff dough.
    2. Shape a diya with four lips, one for each wick — or take an old clay diya and lay four wicks in it.
    3. Twist four wicks of new cotton.
    4. Keep it ready with til oil, or mustard oil, for the evening.

    In the north it is called the jamdiva, Yamraj's diya: the women of the house make it, and its flame is set to the south.

    Shape the Yama diya

Nightfall · the Yama diya

5:24 PM · Columbus

At sunset the diya for Yamraj is lit, given its puja, and set at the main door with its flame to the south.

  1. Nightfall

    Light the Yama diya

    1. At sunset, once the family is home, fill the diya with oil and set the wicks in it.
    2. Light every wick, inside the house.
    3. Set the diya on a plate to carry it.
    Light the Yama diya
    1. The puja of the diya
    2. Set it at the door, facing south
    3. Water for the deepdan

    These 3 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

Pradosh kaal · the puja

5:24 PM–8:09 PM · Columbus

Ganesh ji, Dhanvantari ji, Lakshmi Maa and Kuber ji, while the Trayodashi holds after sunset.

    1. Set the chowki
    2. Achaman
    3. The diya
    4. Sankalp
    5. Ganesh ji first
    6. Dhanvantari ji
    7. Invite Lakshmi Maa
    8. A seat and water
    9. Snan
    10. Vastra
    11. Chandan, haldi and kumkum
    12. Flowers
    13. Dhoop and deep
    14. Kuber ji on the tijori
    15. The new vessel before Lakshmi Maa
    16. Naivedya
    17. Paan, fruit and dakshina
    18. Thirteen diyas
    19. The aarti
    20. The camphor verse
    21. Kshama prarthana
    22. Read the katha
    23. A diya on grain at the door

    These 23 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

The samagri list