Dhanteras 2026: Date, Muhurat and What to Buy When There Is a Wedding in the Family

In most homes Dhanteras is the first lamp of Diwali: a little gold or silver, a new steel pot, a broom by the door and a diya on the threshold for Yama. In a home with a wedding coming, it is something else entirely. It is the evening the bride's mother finally walks into the jeweller's she has been visiting in her head since the roka, the day the silver for the puja thali is chosen, and the first entry in a shopping list that will run to the vidaai.

That is not an accident of the calendar. Dhanteras falls a fortnight before the wedding season opens, so for families who follow the panchang it is the auspicious day for buying that comes just before the first muhurats of the season. Which is why buying well, not just buying, is the part worth getting right.

This is a guide to Dhanteras 2026 for families with a wedding in the season: when it is, the muhurat in your city, what the day is about, what people buy and what some avoid, and the plain rules that make gold and silver safer to buy.

Quick answer: Dhanteras 2026 is on Friday, 6 November. In New Delhi the Trayodashi tithi runs from about 10:30 am on 6 November to about 10:47 am on 7 November,¹ and the evening puja muhurat is 6:02 pm to 7:57 pm, the steady Vrishabha lagna within Pradosh Kaal;² times differ by city, so Mumbai's muhurat is 6:35 pm to 8:34 pm. By custom families buy gold or silver, brass or copper vessels and a new broom, and light a lamp for Yama in the evening. For a wedding, it is a good day to buy the bride's jewellery, silver for the rituals and shagun coins. Gold jewellery should carry a BIS hallmark with a six-digit HUID, which the BIS CARE app can verify,³ and GST on gold and silver is 3 percent,⁴ charged on the whole value of jewellery bought from a jeweller, making charges included.⁵ This is information, not financial advice.

In this article

1. Dhanteras 2026: the date and the tithi
2. The muhurat in your city
3. Why Dhanteras: Dhanvantari, Yama's lamp and the gift of metal
4. What families buy, and what some avoid
5. Dhanteras in a wedding year
6. Buying gold and silver well
7. After Dhanteras: Diwali, then the wedding season
8. Dhanteras 2026 at a glance

1. Dhanteras 2026: the date and the tithi

Dhanteras, or Dhantrayodashi, falls on the thirteenth lunar day, the Trayodashi, of the dark fortnight that ends with Diwali,⁶ this year two days before Lakshmi Puja. In 2026 that is Friday, 6 November. The tithi itself begins in the morning of the 6th and ends in the morning of the 7th: in New Delhi, from about 10:30 am on Friday to about 10:47 am on Saturday.¹

Two things follow for planning. The day of Dhanteras is the 6th, because the evening, when the puja is done and the lamp for Yama is lit, falls within the tithi on that date. And anyone who cannot shop on Friday still has Saturday morning while Trayodashi lasts, which some panchangs mark as a window of its own.²

What you can take from it: put Friday 6 November in the family calendar for the puja and the shopping, with Saturday morning as the reserve; the planning tools keep the rest of the season's dates in one place.

2. The muhurat in your city

The Dhanteras puja is done in the evening, during Pradosh Kaal, the window that begins at sunset, and the most valued part of it is when the Vrishabha lagna, a fixed sign, is rising, since a stable ascendant is considered auspicious for lasting prosperity.¹ Because sunset and the lagna depend on where you are, every city has its own muhurat. The times below are for Friday 6 November 2026, from one panchang that computes them from each city's sunset and lagna;² a second calendar gives the same 6:02 pm to 7:57 pm for New Delhi.¹

For a city not listed, or for exact times on the day, ask your family pandit or check a local panchang; minutes differ between calendars.

What you can take from it: shop in the afternoon and keep the evening for the puja; if you would like a pandit for the puja or the wedding itself, our pandits page lists them city by city.

3. Why Dhanteras: Dhanvantari, Yama's lamp and the gift of metal

The day carries two old stories, both told as legend. In the first, Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods and a form of Vishnu, rose from the churning of the ocean, the samudra manthan, holding a pot of amrita; Dhanteras is kept as his day too, Dhanvantari Trayodashi, and the Ministry of AYUSH first observed it as National Ayurveda Day in 2016,⁶ though since 2025 that day has been fixed to 23 September.⁷

The second is a wedding story, which is why it belongs here. A king's son, the legend goes, was foretold to die of a snakebite on the fourth day of his marriage. His young wife would not let him sleep. She heaped her ornaments and her gold and silver coins at the door of the room, lit lamps all around, and told stories through the night; Yama, arriving as a serpent, was so dazzled by the light and the metal that he sat on the pile listening until dawn and left without the prince.⁶ That is the reason given for the lamp lit for Yama on Dhanteras night, the Yamadeepdaan, and, in many retellings, for the gold and silver bought on the day.

What it still shapes: a new bride who outwits death with light and jewellery is not a bad patron for a wedding year; for the rituals that follow in the season, read the story of weddings.

4. What families buy, and what some avoid

By custom Dhanteras is one of the most auspicious days of the year for new purchases, gold, silver and new vessels above all.⁶ Popular explanations add the rest of a familiar list: gold or silver coins, often with Lakshmi and Ganesha on them; vessels of copper, brass or silver; a new broom, believed to sweep out the old and make room for abundance; gomti chakra, a small shell kept for protection; and, in modern homes, the new appliance or piece of furniture the family has been putting off.⁸

Some families also keep a list of things not to buy on the day, among them iron, sharp objects, glass and oil, which are believed to bring instability or loss into the house.⁸ Customs differ widely, and plenty of homes buy steel on Dhanteras without a second thought: these are beliefs, not rules, and the family elders' version is the one that counts in your house.

What you can take from it: buy what your family has always bought, and treat the lists as tradition rather than instruction; for what guests give a couple later in the season, read our guide to wedding gifts for the couple.

5. Dhanteras in a wedding year

For a family with a wedding ahead, Dhanteras is the natural day to make the season's lasting purchases, and to make them calmly, before the rush of the functions. Our suggestions, not a rule:

• The bride's jewellery. If the family buys jewellery for the bride, Dhanteras is the day many choose to buy or book it, so that it can be fitted, altered or matched to the outfits in good time. Gifts made to the bride before, at or after her marriage are her own property in Indian law, her stridhan, as the Supreme Court restated in 2024.⁹
• Silver for the rituals. The puja thali, the kalash, the bowls for haldi and kumkum, the diyas for the mandap: things the pandit will ask for and that the family will keep.
• Silver coins for shagun. Coins bought now can be given at the roka, the tilak, the sagai or the wedding, and kept in hand for the relatives who arrive unannounced.
• Vessels for the new home. Brass or copper pieces, or a good set of steel, for the couple's first kitchen.
• The broom and the lamp. Even in a wedding year, the small things are the ones the elders notice.

Write each purchase into the wedding budget the same evening. Jewellery bought on Dhanteras is part of the wedding's cost, and families who track it find the season far less of a surprise.

What you can take from it: put the day's purchases into the budget planner and the gifts the couple would like into a Shagun Registry; for the whole season's costs, read what an Indian wedding costs in 2026.

6. Buying gold and silver well

A festival is the busiest day of a jeweller's year, which is the reason to be more careful, not less. Four plain checks, none of them financial advice:

The hallmark and the HUID. In every district where hallmarking is compulsory, no gold jewellery or gold artefact may be sold without a six-digit alphanumeric HUID in its hallmark, a rule in force since 1 April 2023.¹⁰ A hallmarked piece carries three marks: the BIS logo, the purity and the HUID.³

Check it on your phone. The BIS CARE app, on Android and iOS, has a "verify HUID" option: enter the code and it shows the jeweller who had the piece hallmarked, its purity and type, and the hallmarking centre that tested it, so you can match them to what is on the counter.³

Silver. Hallmarking silver is still voluntary as of October 2026, but since September 2025 every piece of silver that is hallmarked must carry its own HUID as well, and BIS has said it is weighing whether to make silver hallmarking compulsory.¹¹ Ask whether a silver piece is hallmarked, and for its code if it is.

The bill. GST on gold and silver is 3 percent, a rate the GST Council left unchanged in September 2025,⁴ and on jewellery bought from a jeweller it is 3 percent of the whole value, making charges included, whether or not they are shown separately; the 5 percent figure often quoted is, in the official FAQ, the rate on a job worker's charges, as when a goldsmith works gold the customer supplies.⁵ If the family's old gold is being remade, ask the goldsmith how the tax will be charged; rates are as of October 2026. Ask for a bill that shows the weight, the purity, the rate, the making charges and the tax separately, and keep it with the piece.

On the price itself, this guide says nothing, deliberately: rates move every day, and whether to buy more or less this year is a decision for your family, not for a wedding website. Check the day's rate before you go, and buy for the wedding, not for the market.

What you can take from it: a hallmark, a HUID checked on the app and a clear bill make any jeweller's counter safer; find one you trust on our jewellery page.

7. After Dhanteras: Diwali, then the wedding season

Dhanteras opens Diwali: Lakshmi Puja falls on Sunday, 8 November 2026¹².¹³ Then, for families who keep the old calendar, comes the date that matters most to a wedding: Dev Uthani Ekadashi, when Vishnu is said to wake from his four months of sleep and auspicious work such as weddings, housewarmings and mundans can begin again.¹⁴ In 2026 it falls on Friday, 20 November, in the Smarta reckoning, with the Vaishnava fast a day later, in New Delhi.¹⁵ Tulsi Vivah, the ceremonial wedding of the tulsi plant, follows on the Dwadashi, the 21st, in one calendar,¹⁶ though many homes perform it on the Ekadashi itself or in the days after.¹⁵

So the fortnight between Dhanteras and Dev Uthani is, in practice, the season's last quiet stretch: time to finish the jewellery, send the save the dates and confirm the vendors before the first muhurats.

What you can take from it: if your wedding is this season, the fortnight after Dhanteras is the moment to send the save the date; an online wedding invitation can go out on WhatsApp in an evening, and the mehendi can follow the festival with our Diwali mehndi designs.

8. Dhanteras 2026 at a glance

Buy for the wedding, not the market

Dhanteras asks very little of a family with a wedding ahead: a lamp at the door, a little metal bought in the right hour, and the patience to buy it well. Shop in the afternoon, do the puja in your city's muhurat, buy gold with a hallmark you have checked and a bill you can read, and write everything into the budget the same night. The prices will do what prices do; the bangles will be worn at the wedding either way.

Shaadiwaale's planning tools keep the budget, the guest list and the checklist for every function in one place, the Shagun Registry lets the couple tell guests what they would like, and if you would like help with any of it, ask our team, free.

The legend says a bride once kept death waiting all night with nothing but lamps and jewellery. The least the rest of us can do is keep the receipts.

Frequently asked questions

When is Dhanteras in 2026?

Dhanteras 2026 is on Friday, 6 November. The Trayodashi tithi of the dark fortnight of Kartik (Ashvin in calendars that end the month at the new moon) begins at about 10:30 am on 6 November and ends at about 10:47 am on 7 November in New Delhi, so the evening puja and the lamp for Yama fall on Friday. Lakshmi Puja follows on Sunday, 8 November. Times differ slightly by city and between calendars, so check a local panchang or your family pandit for your city's exact minutes.

What is the Dhanteras puja muhurat in 2026?

In New Delhi the Dhanteras puja muhurat on Friday, 6 November 2026 is 6:02 pm to 7:57 pm, when the fixed Vrishabha lagna rises within Pradosh Kaal (5:32 pm to 8:09 pm). Other cities differ because sunset differs: Mumbai's muhurat is 6:35 pm to 8:34 pm, Kolkata's 5:28 pm to 7:26 pm, Chennai's 6:14 pm to 8:09 pm and Bengaluru's 6:25 pm to 8:20 pm. Check your own city's panchang on the day.

What should we buy on Dhanteras if there is a wedding in the family?

By custom, families buy gold or silver, copper or brass vessels and a new broom on Dhanteras. With a wedding ahead, many use the day for the lasting purchases: the bride's jewellery, silver for the rituals such as the puja thali and the kalash, silver coins to give as shagun at the roka or the wedding, and vessels for the couple's new home. Write each purchase into the wedding budget the same day.

Is it auspicious to buy wedding jewellery on Dhanteras?

Dhanteras is traditionally one of the most auspicious days of the year for buying gold, silver and new things, and the legend behind it is a wedding story, so many families choose it for the bride's jewellery. It also falls about two weeks before the wedding season opens on Dev Uthani Ekadashi (20 November in 2026), which leaves time for fittings. The auspicious day is a custom; whether and how much to buy is a family's own decision.

How do I check that gold jewellery is genuine?

Look for the BIS hallmark, which has three marks: the BIS logo, the purity and a six-digit alphanumeric HUID. Since 1 April 2023, gold jewellery may be sold only with that HUID in the districts where hallmarking is compulsory. Enter the HUID in the BIS CARE app, using its "verify HUID" option, to see the jeweller, the purity, the type of article and the hallmarking centre, and check that they match the piece and the bill.

What is the GST on gold jewellery?

GST on gold and silver is 3 percent, a rate the GST Council kept unchanged at its meeting on 3 September 2025. On jewellery bought from a jeweller, the official GST FAQ says the 3 percent is charged on the whole value, making charges included, whether or not they are shown separately; the 5 percent figure often quoted is the rate on a job worker's charges, as when a goldsmith works gold you supply. Ask the jeweller for a bill that shows the weight, purity, rate, making charges and tax separately, and keep it with the jewellery. Rates are as of October 2026. This is general information, not tax or financial advice.

What should not be bought on Dhanteras?

Some families avoid buying iron, sharp objects, glass and oil on Dhanteras, believing they bring instability or loss into the home. These are beliefs, not rules, and customs vary: many households happily buy steel vessels on the day. Follow your own family's practice, and ask the elders if you are unsure what your side of the family keeps.