Hindu observance
Diwali
Five days of lamps at the turn of Kartik, from Dhanteras to Bhai Dooj, with the new-moon night in the middle kept for Lakshmi. A row of lamps is set at the door so she finds the house, and the mantra is counted beside them.
Also known as Divali, Deepavali, Dipavali, Deepawali, Lakshmi Puja.
These are optional practice suggestions. Adjust the goals and follow your own tradition. Dates and customs may differ by community.
When it falls
Whose reckoning these dates follow
From Dhanteras on the thirteenth tithi of the dark fortnight of Kārtika to Bhāī Dūja on the second of the bright. The middle day is the amāvasyā kept as Lakṣmī Pūjā.
Why communities differ
The festival runs four days or five depending on how the tithis fall against the civil days, and the window here is the longer of the two. South Indian reckoning keeps Naraka Caturdaśī as the principal day; Gujarat begins its new year on the day after the new moon; Jains keep the same night as Mahāvīra’s nirvāṇa. A pañcāṅga computed for your own city may move either end.
Japa has not independently verified these dates against a published calendar. Check them against the authority your own community keeps.
The practices Japa keeps through it
- Lakshmi Mantra 108 a day
- Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha 108 a day
Adding an observance in Japa brings these to Today at their traditional counts for as long as it runs, and withdraws them when it ends. Your own history is never touched.
Keep the days you keep.
Japa's calendar reads as one list: what is running now, then everything starting in the next ninety days, narrowed to the traditions you follow. Browsing every observance is free; adding one to Today is part of Japa Lifetime.
Get Japa on the App Store