On the new-moon night of Diwali, Hindu households across North and West India clean their homes, light rows of lamps and worship Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune, beauty and prosperity, so that she will enter and stay for the coming year. Merchants worship their new account books in the same rite. The puja below follows common household practice in a simple form; families and regions differ, and those who have a family priest or tradition should follow it.

How to do it§

Clean the house. In the days before Diwali, clean thoroughly, repair what is broken and clear clutter. Lakshmi is believed to visit clean, bright and orderly homes and to avoid dark and neglected ones.
Decorate the threshold. On the day, draw a rangoli at the entrance in rice flour or coloured powder, and with kumkum or flour paste draw small footprints leading from the door inwards, as if the goddess were walking into the house.
Set up the altar. On a clean cloth on a raised stool, place Lakshmi with Ganesha on her left (Ganesha is honoured first in every puja as the remover of obstacles). Add the kalash, flowers, sweets, puffed rice, coins and the account book or a new notebook on which you have drawn the auspicious word śubh or a svastika in kumkum.
Bathe and dress. After bathing, put on clean or new clothes. The family gathers at dusk, in the pradoṣa period after sunset or at the hour given in the almanac.
Worship Ganesha. Light a lamp and incense, ring the bell and offer a flower and a sweet to Ganesha, saying Om Gaṇeśāya namaḥ ("Om, homage to Ganesha"), a widely used mantra.
Worship Lakshmi. Offer water, kumkum, turmeric, flowers, sweets and coins to the goddess. Recite Om Śrīṃ Mahālakṣmyai namaḥ (a popular mantra of homage) eleven or 108 times, or read the Śrī Sūkta if you know it. Ask in your own words for an honest livelihood, health and harmony in the home.
Worship the books. Mark the account book with kumkum, place a coin on it and offer a flower, asking that the year's business be honest and fruitful.
Arati and lamps. Wave a lit lamp in circles before the goddess while singing an arati hymn such as "Om Jai Lakṣmī Mātā". Then light the diyas and set them in every room, on windowsills, at the door and outside.
Close. Share the sweets as prasād. Many families leave a lamp burning safely through the night and keep a door or window ajar for Lakshmi. Next day, take flowers to a garden or river bank rather than the bin.

Origins and history§

Lakshmi, also called Śrī, is among the oldest named goddesses of Hinduism. The Śrī Sūkta, a hymn appended to the Ṛgveda and probably composed in the later Vedic period, praises her as golden, lotus-born and bestowing cattle, grain and wealth, and asks her to drive away Alakṣmī, misfortune. In the epics and Purāṇas she becomes the consort of Vishnu, rising from the churning of the cosmic ocean seated on a lotus (Viṣṇu Purāṇa I.9), and she accompanies him in each of his incarnations as Sita and Rukmini. Images showing her bathed by two elephants (Gaja-Lakṣmī) appear on early Buddhist monuments at Sanchi and Bharhut, from about the second century BCE.

Diwali (Dīpāvalī, "row of lamps") is a cluster of festivals with several meanings: Rama's return to Ayodhya in North India, Krishna's victory over the demon Naraka in the South, the Mahāvīra's liberation for Jains and, for Sikhs, the release of Guru Hargobind. Lamp festivals at this season are mentioned in Sanskrit literature of the first millennium, though the precise early history is uncertain. Worship of Lakshmi on the new-moon night became especially associated with traders. In Gujarat and among Marwari and Jain merchant communities the rite of Chopḍā Pūjan, worship of the new ledgers, opens the commercial year. David Kinsley's Hindu Goddesses (1986) discusses Lakshmi as the embodiment of auspiciousness (śrī) and royal and household prosperity.

Variations§

In Bengal and parts of eastern India, Kali rather than Lakshmi is worshipped on Diwali night, and Lakshmi is honoured at the full moon after Durga Puja (Kojāgarī Lakṣmī Pūjā). Many families also play dice or cards on Diwali night, a custom tied to the myth of Shiva and Parvati playing dice. Kubera, treasurer of the gods, may be worshipped with Lakshmi on Dhanteras, two days earlier, when households buy metal utensils or gold.

Safety and good sense§

Diyas are open flames: set them on non-flammable surfaces away from curtains, saris and children's reach, keep water or a fire blanket nearby, and do not leave them unattended in a closed room. Coloured powders can irritate skin and eyes. Fireworks cause many injuries each Diwali; leave them to supervised displays. Worship expresses gratitude and hope but does not replace sound financial advice.

Sources and further reading§

Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition — David Kinsley, 1986
Hinduism: Past and Present — Axel Michaels, 2004
An Introduction to Hinduism — Gavin Flood, 1996
Darśan: Seeing the Divine Image in India — Diana L. Eck, 1981
Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Purāṇas — Cornelia Dimmitt & J. A. B. van Buitenen, 1978
The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India — C. J. Fuller, 1992