Dhanteras

Dhanteras opens the main Diwali sequence and is observed on the thirteenth lunar day of the dark fortnight before Diwali. Its name combines 'dhan', meaning wealth, with 'teras', the thirteenth day. A major Puranic association is with Dhanvantari, the divine physician, who is said to have emerged from the churning of the cosmic ocean carrying the vessel of amrita; for this reason the day is also remembered as Dhanvantari Jayanti and is linked with health as well as prosperity. Another popular household tradition tells of a prince whose predicted death was averted when his wife placed lamps, ornaments and coins near the entrance and kept vigil, preventing Yama from taking him. This story underlies the custom of Yama Deepa in many regions. People clean homes and businesses, worship Lakshmi and Dhanvantari, light lamps and often purchase metal utensils, gold or silver as symbols of auspicious renewal rather than mere display of wealth.

Dhanteras is valued for devotion, family tradition and the spiritual or seasonal meaning attached to the day.

Something metal is bought - a steel vessel will do as well as gold - and brought into the house at dusk. A lamp is lit at the threshold and left burning through the night, and in many houses one is set outside facing south. It is the first day of the five that end with Bhai Bij.

Gold and silver in the west, brass and steel vessels across much of the north, and in Kerala and Tamil Nadu the day passes with far less commerce and more of Dhanvantari. Ayurvedic practitioners keep it as National Ayurveda Day in India.