Diwali 2026 Vastu Calendar: What to Do Each Day, Dhanteras to Bhai Dooj

According to most panchangs, Diwali 2026 runs across five days from Friday 6 November to Tuesday 10 or Wednesday 11 November, with Lakshmi Puja on the evening of Sunday 8 November.

This year panchangs differ by a day on the last two: Govardhan Puja falls on Monday 9 or Tuesday 10 November, and Bhai Dooj on Tuesday 10 or Wednesday 11 November, because lunar tithis do not line up neatly with calendar days. Muhurat timings also change from city to city, so confirm exact timings for your city with a local panchang or your family priest.

Finish the repairs first and the deep cleaning second, and aim to have both done by Thursday 5 November. Repairs make dust, and cleaning a room before the plumber or electrician has been means cleaning it twice.

The order of the cleaning itself, from the north-east clockwise to the south-west, is explained in Diwali cleaning the Vastu way. What follows is the calendar around it.

Dhanteras is the day to bring something durable into the home and put it where it will stay. Traditionally that is metal, a vessel, a coin or a piece of jewellery, kept in a cupboard in the south-west that opens towards the north; the reasoning is in our article on what to buy on Dhanteras and where to keep it.

The evening has one notable exception to the usual preference for north and east. In many homes a single lamp is set outside the main door facing south, an offering to Yama, the deity of the south, known as यम दीपदान (Yama Deepdaan, a lamp offered to Yama). Some families do this on Naraka Chaturdashi instead; follow your own family's practice.

Choti Diwali is a day of personal cleansing and final preparation. In Maharashtra and many other regions it begins with अभ्यंग स्नान (Abhyanga Snan, the ritual oil bath) before sunrise, with oil and ubtan, and the day remembers Krishna's victory over the demon Narakasura. This year the Chaturdashi tithi is current at sunrise on Sunday 8 November, so several panchangs, including Drik Panchang, place the oil bath on the morning of Lakshmi Puja day; follow your family's panchang.

For the home, this is the day to finish everything Lakshmi Puja will need. Set up the chowki in the north-east, hang the toran and make the entrance rangoli; our guide to rangoli at the entrance covers placement, colours and flats with a shared lobby. Keep the bathroom especially fresh.

Plan Lakshmi Puja day so that it stays calm and the evening is saved for the puja itself, which is performed after sunset during pradosh kaal. Confirm the muhurat for your city with a local panchang or priest.

Where to set the chowki, which way to face and where the diyas traditionally go are covered in detail in Lakshmi Puja direction and where to place diyas. In brief: the chowki in the north-east, and the family facing north or east.

The fourth day centres on the kitchen and, in Maharashtra, on couples. Govardhan Puja is marked in many homes with Annakut, an offering of many dishes, and Diwali Padwa, also called Bali Pratipada, is when wives traditionally perform aarti for their husbands and gifts are exchanged. For many Gujarati families the new year, Bestu Varas, is marked on or around this day.

In Vastu terms it is a good moment to attend to the kitchen in the south-east, the fire zone: clear the counter, clean the stove and keep a lamp there in the evening, well away from the gas pipe. If the day is about the couple, the master bedroom in the south-west is the room to keep restful and uncluttered.

Seat the brother facing east or north for the tilak and aarti, the directions generally preferred for any ritual in Vastu. A clean, well-lit spot near the puja area or in the living room works well; a doorway or a passage does not.

Bhai Dooj is also the natural point to wind the festival down. Clear burnt-out diyas, sweep away smudged rangoli rather than leaving it trampled, and replace a dried toran. If you would like to keep some light going through the Kartik season, where light belongs in a home explains which places deserve it most, and Dev Deepawali at home covers the lamp-lit full moon that closes the season on 24 November.

Consult a Vastu expert if Diwali preparation keeps exposing the same problem: a puja corner that never feels settled, a cupboard that will not stay organised, an entrance that stays dark whatever you do. These are often layout questions rather than cleaning ones.

Dr. Kimaya Parikh-Ambekar of VastuKimaya advises homes on-site across Mumbai from her Andheri East office, and through distant consultations using floor plans and photographs. Remedies are non-structural, so they suit rented flats too, and the quieter weeks after Diwali are a good time to look at the home properly.