Ritual Guides · Festive Pujans
DHARMA · 4/5Naraka Chaturdashi - Choti Diwali
Called the small Diwali in the North and kept as the principal day across much of the South and in Maharashtra. The oil bath before sunrise is the observance, and it has no later window.
7 November 2026 · Kartik Krishna Chaturdashi · Delhi-NCR
Scripturally sourcedRegion awareFear-free
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SOURCE OF TRUTHHow we decide ›
CORE PRACTICE
Krishna’s defeat of Narakasura and the freeing of the captive princesses.
DHARMA · 4/5Bhagavata Purana · 10.59 - verses 21 & 33
This guide: 1 core practice · 2 scriptural elements · 7 regional customs · 3 corrections
Naraka Chaturdashi 2026Delhi-NCR · Tapa panchang data - house attribution still to be set
Trayodashi begins
Fri 6 Nov
10:31 AM
Trayodashi ends
Sat 7 Nov
10:48 AM
Sunrise
Sat 7 Nov
6:37 AM
Sunset
Sat 7 Nov
5:32 PM
Abhijit muhurat
Sat 7 Nov
11:43 AM–12:27 PM
Brahma Muhurat
Sat 7 Nov
4:52–5:45 AM
Rahu Kaal
Sat 7 Nov
9:20–10:42 AM
Abhyanga snan: Before sunrise on SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER Kali Chaudas: The night of Saturday 7 November, where it is kept. First diyas: At dusk.
★ The oil bath is taken while it is still dark and there is no fallback later in the day.
“The day before”, carries through
The night before Diwali has its own name, its own katha and its own ritual, and much of North India calls it Choti Diwali, as though it were a warm-up.
It is not. In Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala, and in Maharashtra, this is the principal day of the festival. The oil bath before dawn is the defining act, and the main Diwali observance follows it rather than eclipsing it
Origin - what the chapter says, and what the tradition added
Dharma - The Bhagavata Purana gives the story at the fifty-ninth chapter of its tenth book.
Narakasura had taken the three worlds. Krishna goes to Pragjyotishapura with Satyabhama beside him on Garuda, and at the twenty-first verse severs the demon’s head with the Sudarshana. Twelve verses later he finds sixteen thousand one hundred daughters of kings held captive, and sends them to Dvaraka.
That is what the chapter carries. What follows is what the tradition carries, and the difference is worth stating rather than blurring.
Pratha - The tradition says the killing happened before dawn, and that is why the bath is taken in the dark
The observance held at the hour of the event rather than at a convenient one. The chapter does not give an hour. The tradition places the commemoration on Kartik Krishna Chaturdashi. The chapter does not name a tithi. And the tradition says that as he died the demon asked to be remembered with light rather than with mourning, which is why the lamps of the festival begin on this evening rather than the next. That request is not in the chapter either.
None of which makes any of it less true to the people who keep it. It makes it practice rather than scripture, and this article would rather say so than let a verse number stand behind something the verse does not say.
The request, in particular, is worth keeping for what it is. A tradition agreeing that the defeated party sets the terms of his own commemoration, so that a festival of lights takes its first flame from something asked for by the person who lost, is a remarkable thing for a culture to have decided. It is a decision rather than a citation, and it is better understood as one.
The name Choti Diwali describes where the day sits in a North Indian five-day sequence. It is not a statement about the day’s weight, and this guide does not treat it as one.
DHARMA · 4/5Bhagavata Purana 10.59.21 and 10.59.33
Sankalp
A sankalp is a stated intention - it names who is doing it, when, where and for what.
Say this — or your own words
Spoken with water in the right hand, then poured out
ॐ विष्णुर्विष्णुर्विष्णुः॥ ममात्मनः श्रुतिस्मृतिपुराणोक्तफलप्राप्त्यर्थं श्री कृष्ण प्रीत्यर्थं नरक चतुर्दशी अभ्यङ्ग स्नानं करिष्ये॥
oṃ viṣṇur viṣṇur viṣṇuḥ · mamātmanaḥ śruti-smṛti-purāṇokta-phala-prāptyarthaṃ, śrī kṛṣṇa prītyarthaṃ naraka-caturdaśī abhyaṅga-snānaṃ kariṣye
“I (your name) from (gotra) perform the Naraka Chaturdashi oil bath on (date) at (place), for the pleasure of Shri Krishna.”
WHO
Your name, and your gotra if your family uses one. Where the household bathes in sequence before dawn, the person leading names themselves.
WHEN AND WHERE
Kartik Krishna Chaturdashi, at home, before the abhyanga snan, while it is still dark.
FOR WHAT
The observance you are keeping - the oil bath, the evening lamps, or both. No fast is kept on this day.
Listen to the sankalp · EN
0:00 / 0:00
Say it in whatever language you think in.
Samagri
Samagri5 items
- Sesame OilFor the abhyanga snan. Warmed slightly in most households.
- Water for the bathTraditionally heated the night before, in some households in a dedicated vessel.
- Ubtan [Gram flour+turmeric]Where the family uses it. Applied after the oil, before the bath.
- Clay DiyasThe first of the festival, lit at dusk.
- A diya for the morning prayerLit after the snan, before the day begins.
VidhiShowHide
1
Take the sankalp
Take the sankalp before the abhyanga snan, while it is still dark.
2
Rise before dawn.
The bath is taken while it is still dark, and there is no later window for it.
3
Abhyanga snanam
Massage sesame oil into the scalp and body, then bathe. Ubtan of gram flour and turmeric where your family uses it.
4
Bath & pray
Light a diya and offer a short prayer to Krishna.
5
At Dusk
At dusk, light the first diyas of the festival at the doorstep, on the windowsills, along the boundary of the house.
6
Yama Deep Daan
Some families light a Yama Deepam facing south, as on Dhanteras.
Mantra
The dvadashakshara, the twelve-syllable mantra.
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
"Om, salutations to the Lord Vasudeva."
Japa count: 108 · also kept at 11, 21, 51
Said at the diya after the snan, and again as the evening lamps are lit. Where the abhyanga snan is kept formal, a short prayer is said as the oil is applied and again as the bath is taken; no fixed wording is prescribed for it. Kali Puja: In Bengal, Odisha and Assam this night is Kali Puja and carries an entirely different mantra tradition. That is a distinct observance sharing the date and it is not folded in here.
Fasting
No mandatory fast
This observance is celebratory. Nothing in the tradition asks you to go without food for it.
Fear-free note. Naraka Chaturdashi carries no fast. The day begins with an oil bath and continues normally, and in most households the pre-dawn bath is followed immediately by a proper breakfast, in Maharashtra, traditionally with faral, the festival snacks prepared in advance. No named text prescribes a fast for this tithi, and no regional tradition keeps one.
Katha
Told at the evening lamp-lighting.
Vrat Katha — the sacred story
Frame
It is told rather than formally recited - most often at the evening lamp-lighting, and most often to whoever in the house has not heard it before.
Phala-Shruti
Nothing is promised to whoever hears it. What the day holds out instead is the shape of the agreement: a captivity ended before sunrise, and a request from the losing side honoured every year since. The bath is taken in the dark because that is when the thing happened, and the lamps are lit because of something the defeated party asked for.
Recite the katha during the puja. Read it aloud or have it read while you listen.
DHARMA · 4/5Bhagavata Purana 10.59.21, 10.59.33
Dharma vs Pratha
Named in text
- Krishna’s killing of Narakasura with the Sudarshana. Satyabhama riding with him on Garuda. The finding and freeing of sixteen thousand one hundred captive daughters of kings.
DHARMA · 4/5 · PURANIC
Bhagavata Purana 10.59 — verse 2, verse 21, verse 33
Scored out of five on how directly the text states it
Cultural, not text
- The placement on Kartik Krishna Chaturdashi. The killing set before dawn. The demon’s dying request to be remembered with light. The abhyanga snan before sunrise. The first diyas at dusk. The Roop Chaturdashi framing. A Yama Deepam on this evening. And Kali Puja in Bengal, Odisha and Assam and Kali Chaudas in Gujarat - distinct observances sharing the date rather than versions of this one.
PRATHA · 1/5
Scored out of five on how widely it is attested — real and valid, and not scripture
TAPA INTELLIGENCE LAYEREvery claim on this page, classified and scoredExpand the full Dharma / Pratha / Bhranti table ›
| ELEMENT | TAG | SOURCE | SCORE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core practice (this guide) | DHARMA · 4/5 | Bhagavata Purana · 10.59 - verses 21 & 33 | 4/5 |
| Origin - what the chapter says, and what the tradition added | DHARMA · 4/5 | Bhagavata Purana 10.59.21 and 10.59.33 | 4/5 |
| Section 10 | DHARMA · 4/5 | Bhagavata Purana 10.59.21, 10.59.33 | 4/5 |
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Opens soon. This vrat needs no purohit to be valid.
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You do not need any of these. The guide is complete on its own.