Naraka Caturdaśī

When it falls

The fourteenth lunar day (caturdaśī) of the dark half of Kārttika, the day before the Dīpāvali new moon, in October or November. In Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Goa this is the main day of Dīpāvali itself.

The Phala almanac gives the exact day for your own city; the lunar and solar rules above are what it computes from.

The story

Narakāsura, the demon king of Prāgjyotiṣa (Assam), had taken sixteen thousand women captive and stolen the earrings of Aditi, mother of the gods. Kṛṣṇa flew to his city on Garuḍa with Satyabhāmā beside him, and in some tellings it is she who fires the killing arrow, since the demon could only die by his mother's hand and Satyabhāmā was Bhūmi, the earth, reborn.

The dying demon asked that his death be remembered with lamps and colour, not mourning. The oil bath before sunrise stands for the bath Kṛṣṇa took after the battle, and in the south the greeting of the morning is Gaṅgā snānam āccā?: have you had your Ganges bath?

In Goa the night before is given to huge effigies of Narkāsur, paraded and burned at dawn; the competitions for the biggest run across the state.

How the day is kept

• The oil bath: sesame oil is rubbed into the hair and body before dawn, then washed off with śikākāi; the whole family bathes before the sun rises.
• New clothes are worn at once, and crackers are lit in the dark before the morning.
• Fourteen lamps are set out at dusk in the north, and the day is Choṭī Dīvālī, the little Dīpāvali, with the rows of lamps begun.
• Gujarat keeps the night as Kālī Caudas, for Kālī and for the ancestors, with lamps left at crossroads.

At the table

In Tamil homes a bitter-sweet Dīpāvali legiyam (a herbal paste of dry ginger, pepper and jaggery) is taken first to settle the stomach for the sweets that follow.

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