Dev Deepawali
The evening of Kartik Purnima, the ghats lit from the water up.
When it falls
Sunday, 14 November 2027
By the sunrise at Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar
- The rule
- Kartika Shukla Purnima, the evening
- Which day
- Sunrise (udaya-vyapini)
- The day on which the tithi is running at sunrise at the ghat, with the usual fallback when a tithi touches no sunrise.
- Weight
- One of the year's great days
- Returns
- Once a year
What it is
Dev Deepawali is the Diwali of the gods, kept on the evening of Kartik Purnima, fifteen days after Diwali. The ghats are set with lamps from the water's edge to the top step. Varanasi made it famous, and Haridwar, Prayagraj and Mathura keep it too. The morning of the same day is the Kartik Purnima snan, the close of the Kartika bathing month, so a family can bathe at dawn and light lamps at dusk on one date. The page for the morning is Kartik Purnima; this one is for the evening, and the two share a tithi.
Where it is kept
Three of the six waters, at dusk.
Ganga
Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar
Purnimanta reckoning
Every step of Har Ki Pauri under lamps, and the aarti at dusk to a full moon.
Triveni Sangam
Sangam, Prayagraj
Purnimanta reckoning
The Sangam's lamps float; the current takes them past the fort.
Yamuna
Vishram Ghat, Mathura
Purnimanta reckoning
Vishram Ghat's last lamp evening of Kartika.
The windows
Godhuli Muhurat
about 24 minutes
From sunset
- Definition
- Sunset, until half a muhurta of the night after it: about 24 minutes, a little longer in winter.
Godhuli is better known as a wedding muhurta. The evening snan rests on the sandhya rather than on that use.
Every time is given at the ghat first, and in your own zone beside it. How the clock is read
Where the timing comes from
- Source
- Computed here, checked against Drik Panchang
- Ayanamsa
- Lahiri (Chitrapaksha)
- Ghat coordinates
- Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar: 29.9457, 78.1642
Textual basis
The living usage of the ghats named below, and the puranic and dharmashastra literature on the day. A citable edition and passage is still to be added.
Every date here is computed: the tithi at the ghat's sunrise, the month named by the sankranti it holds, and the sun's entry into each sign under the Lahiri ayanamsa. Tithi, nakshatra, sunrise and windows were checked against Drik Panchang for Haridwar on eight days between September 2026 and March 2027, to the minute. The dates roll forward each morning.