Diwali Lakshmi puja at home

Lakshmi puja is performed on the evening of Amavasya, during pradosh kala — the roughly two-and-a-half hours after sunset. The exact window shifts with your city; check the local timing rather than a national one.

The day before

• Clean the house completely, the entrance especially. This is the ritual half of the cleaning, not merely the practical half.
• Set the rangoli at the threshold.
• Buy ghee, wicks, flowers, and prasad ingredients. Flowers on the day itself, if you can.

Setting the place

Lay a red cloth on a low platform to the north-east. Place Lakshmi to the right and Ganesha to her left, as seen by you. Set a kalash — water, a coin, betel nut, five mango leaves, and a coconut over the mouth.

Line the threshold and window ledges with diyas. Traditionally an odd number.

The order of service

1. Achamana and sankalpa — purification, then the statement of intent.
2. Ganesha puja first, always.
3. Kalash puja — invoking the waters.
4. Lakshmi avahana — inviting her to be present.
5. Shodashopachara — the sixteen offerings, or the abbreviated five if time is short.
6. Account books and keys placed before her, if you keep the custom.
7. Aarti, then prasad distributed.

What people get wrong

• Starting too early. Before sunset is not pradosh kala. The wait is the point.
• Leaving diyas unattended. Ghee lamps near a curtain in a draught are the single most common festival accident.
• Skipping Ganesha. No puja begins elsewhere.