🕯️ Kartik Purnima (Dev Deepawali) Puja Vidhi — step by step
This is the household vidhi — a dawn bath, fasting and charity in the day, lamps and Tulsi-moon puja in the evening.
How to do Kartik Purnima (Dev Deepawali) — the steps
- Bathe in Brahma Muhurat (time above) in a river/pond or at home with Gangajal added; chant 'Om Namo Narayanaya' while bathing; offer arghya to the sun.
- Sankalp — 'I keep the Kartik Purnima vrat, bath and lamp-offering for the family's welfare.' Fruit or one sattvik meal during the day.
- Morning worship of Vishnu-Lakshmi and Shiva at home — yellow flowers, Tulsi, bel leaves, panchamrit; the Satyanarayan katha is considered specially fruitful on this day (many homes call a priest).
- Charity: grain, clothes, blankets (winter begins), ghee, jaggery, sesame — to the needy/a Brahmin; fodder to cows at a gaushala.
- In the evening after sunset (Pradosh) 11/21 lamps at the Tulsi platform and a circumambulation of Tulsi; lamps in every corner, at the door and on the terrace — this is 'Dev Deepawali'.
- Deepdaan: make dough (or clay) lamps, fill with ghee/oil and float them on a river or pond; if there is no river, fill a large vessel with water at home and float the lamps in it — 5, 11, 21 or 365 in number.
- At moonrise (time above) offer arghya of milk and water to the moon; break the Purnima fast after that.
- At night remember Shiva — 'Tripurari ki jai'; if you can go to Kashi, Prayag or Haridwar join the ghat aarti, otherwise the aarti 'Om Jai Jagdish Hare' at home.
Puja samagri checklist
Make the dough lamps for deepdaan a day earlier at home — 21 or 51 are easily made.
- Gangajal, copper lota (for the bath and arghya)
- Dough/clay lamps (21/51/365), ghee-mustard oil, cotton wicks, leaf plates/bowls to float the lamps
- Tulsi plant, red chunari for the Tulsi puja, roli, akshat, flowers
- Picture of Vishnu-Lakshmi and Shiva, bel leaves, yellow flowers, panchamrit
- Satyanarayan katha items (if held): banana leaves, panchamrit, panjiri (wheat/semolina), banana, betel nut
- Items for charity — grain, blankets, clothes, sesame, jaggery, ghee
- Incense, camphor, agarbatti, aarti thali, conch and bell
- Milk and water for the moon arghya, kheer (bhog)
Fasting food, Satyanarayan prasad and kheer
The Purnima fast is fruit all day or one sattvik meal; kheer in the evening after the moon arghya. If the Satyanarayan katha is held, prasad of panjiri, panchamrit and banana.
- Day: fruit, milk, sabudana or singhara halwa; rock salt
- Satyanarayan prasad: semolina/wheat panjiri (ghee-sugar-makhana), panchamrit, banana, Tulsi leaf
- Evening: rice-milk kheer (bhog to the moon), poori-sabzi, halwa
- Bengal-Odisha: khichuri-labra and payesh on 'Raas Purnima'; in Odisha the last meal of the Kartik habisha
- Set the grain, jaggery and sesame for charity aside before the meal
Rules — do's and don'ts
✅ Do
- Bathe in Brahma Muhurat with Gangajal added; arghya to the sun
- Lamps in the evening — in a water vessel at home if there is no river
- Winter begins — blanket/cloth donation is special on this day
- Tulsi puja and circumambulation; if Tulsi Vivah is still pending, today is the last day
- Arghya at moonrise, then break the fast
❌ Don't
- No lamps in plastic/thermocol boats — leaf plates/bowls/dough lamps (keep the river clean)
- Cutting hair and nails, meat, alcohol, quarrels — avoided on Purnima
- No lamp-floating in deep water at the ghat; never leave children alone
- Do not pluck Tulsi leaves in the evening
- No tamasic food during the fast
Vrat katha
The three sons of Tarakasura — Tarakaksha, Kamalaksha and Vidyunmali — won from Brahma by penance three flying cities (Tripura) that could be destroyed only when all three came into one line and were pierced by a single … Read the full katha →
Frequently asked questions
When is Kartik Purnima in {Y}?
The date at the top is this year's Kartik Purnima — from panchang calculations; the Delhi times for moonrise, Brahma Muhurat (bath) and Pradosh (lamps) are shown too.
What is the difference between Dev Deepawali and Diwali?
Diwali is the Lakshmi puja of humans on Kartik Amavasya; Dev Deepawali fifteen days later on Kartik Purnima is the festival of lamps of the gods — celebrating the slaying of Tripurasura, grandest on the ghats of Kashi.
How to do deepdaan if there is no river nearby?
Fill a large vessel (tub/paraat) with water in the courtyard/terrace and float dough or clay lamps in it, light lamps at the Tulsi platform — the merit is held to be the same. Do not make plastic boats.
Should the Satyanarayan katha be held on this day?
Kartik Purnima is considered the most auspicious Purnima of the year for the Satyanarayan katha; at home with a priest or from the book yourself — prasad of panjiri, panchamrit and banana.
What is the Kartik bath?
The rule of bathing at dawn, worshipping Tulsi and offering lamps every day through Kartik (Sharad Purnima to Kartik Purnima); it concludes on Kartik Purnima. If the whole month is not possible, the five days from Ekadashi to Purnima (Bhishma Panchak) suffice.
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