Narak Chaturdashi 2026
8 November 2026

Narak Chaturdashi falls on Kartik Krishna Chaturdashi, usually the day before Diwali and in some years the same day, and in the north it is widely called Chhoti Diwali. It remembers Krishna’s victory over Narakasura, the asura king of Pragjyotisha who had held thousands of princesses captive. Krishna, with Satyabhama beside him, killed Naraka and set them free, as the Bhagavata Purana tells in its tenth book. The diyas lit this evening are the first lights of Diwali.

The morning has its own rite, abhyang snan: an oil massage and a bath with ubtan (a paste of gram flour, turmeric and oil) before sunrise, while the Chaturdashi holds. Many families in the north call the day Roop Chaudas or Roop Chaturdashi, and the bath is kept for care of the body and good health. In the evening a diya is lit for Yama at the door, as on Dhanteras, with the prayer that the family be spared an untimely death.

• Sesame or mustard oil for the massage
• Ubtan (gram flour, haldi and oil, as the family makes it)
• Clean or new clothes
• Earthen diya and mustard oil for Yama
• Diyas, wicks and oil for the evening
• Roli, akshat and flowers
• Incense and camphor
• Rangoli colours
• Sweets for prasad

Source: Bhagavata Purana, Book 10; the link with the morning oil bath is popular tradition

Narakasura, also called Bhauma because he was the son of Bhumi, the Earth, ruled from Pragjyotisha. He had grown arrogant: he had carried off the earrings of Aditi, mother of the devas, and the umbrella of Varuna, and held thousands of princesses captive in his city. Indra came to Krishna at Dwarka and told him of these wrongs.

Krishna set out on Garuda with Satyabhama. He broke through the city’s defences, killed Mura, the five-headed asura who guarded it, and fought Naraka’s army. At last he cut off Naraka’s head with his Sudarshana chakra.

Bhumi herself then came before Krishna, returned Aditi’s earrings, and asked him to protect Naraka’s son, Bhagadatta. Krishna freed the captive princesses; at their wish he took them all as his wives and sent them to Dwarka. Tradition remembers this victory on the Chaturdashi with lamps, and popular belief holds that Krishna bathed with oil after the battle, which the morning bath recalls.

What to do

• Take the bath before sunrise while the Chaturdashi holds, since the timing is what tradition asks of this rite.
• Light the Yama diya facing south at dusk, the direction tradition gives to Yama.
• Check the date on the panchang, because in some years the morning bath and the Lakshmi Puja fall on the same day.

What to avoid

• Avoid sleeping past sunrise on this morning, since the bath belongs to the hours before dawn.
• Avoid leaving the house dark in the evening; the lamps of Chhoti Diwali are part of the day.

In the Purnimanta calendar of the north this is Kartik Krishna Chaturdashi; in the Amanta calendar of Gujarat, Maharashtra and the south the same day is Ashwin Krishna Chaturdashi. The north calls it Chhoti Diwali and Roop Chaudas. In Gujarat it is Kali Chaudas, a night of worship for protection, and because that rite looks for the Chaturdashi at night, it can fall on the evening before. In the south it is Naraka Chaturdashi, and in Tamil Nadu this very morning, with its oil bath, is Deepavali itself.

The date is decided by the Chaturdashi at dawn, at each place’s own sunrise. When the Chaturdashi holds at dawn and the Amavasya begins before sunset the same day, Narak Chaturdashi and Lakshmi Puja fall on one date: the bath is taken in the morning and the Lakshmi Puja is done that evening.