Dhanteras धनतेरस

Dhanteras opens the Diwali season on the thirteenth day of the dark half of Kartika, and the name joins dhana, wealth, with teras, the thirteenth. Older sources give the day a medical emphasis as well. It is celebrated as the day Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods, emerged from the churning of the ocean carrying a pot of amrita, and this is why Ayurveda practitioners mark it as Dhanvantari Jayanti.

There is also a well-known folk tale about the sixteen-year-old son of King Hima, who was fated to die of snakebite on the fourth night of his marriage. His young wife heaped her ornaments and coins at the door and sang through the night, and the dazzle and the music kept Yama, who came as a serpent, from entering. That is the reason lamps are lit toward the south in the evening in many homes, as a Yama deepam, to offer light for the lord of death. The custom is described in regional sources, not in a single scripture.

Buying a new utensil, a coin or a small piece of jewellery is the best-known custom, as it is thought to bring good fortune to the year ahead, but the intent of the day is also to clean the home and take stock. Businesses clean their accounts and tools. Brooms, which sweep out the old, are sold in markets in many northern towns. Gold is a modern emphasis, and any purchase within one's budget serves the purpose. The evening puja to Lakshmi, Kubera and Dhanvantari is simple and brief.