Shiva Tripurari & Ganga
Dev Deepawali
Fifteen days after ours, the gods keep Diwali, and Kashi lends them her ghats.
Tithi: Kartik Purnima
In the simplest words
Fifteen days after Diwali, Kashi lights a million lamps on its ghats; they say the gods themselves come down to bathe in the Ganga that night.
The story & purpose
On Kartik Purnima Shiva destroyed Tripura, the triple city of the asuras that could fall only to a single arrow when the three aligned. The devas, delivered, lit lamps across the heavens; and Kashi answers them: on this night her eighty-plus ghats hold over a million diyas, earth lit like the rejoicing sky.
The rest of the story
The night gathers all that Kartik has ripened: the month's snan and deepdan complete, Tulsi married, Vishnu awake, and the Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh swells to its grandest form of the year.
What is done
Deepdan at the water
Lamps set at river, tank, or home threshold; every flame joins Kashi's million.
Kartik snan completion
The month-long dawn baths conclude with today's purnima snan.
Tripurari smaran
Shiva worshipped as Tripurantaka; the brahma-murari shloka of the day.
Best timings
Deepdan at pradosh, as the full moon rises over the water.
Exact muhurat varies by city and tradition; for the precise hour, consult a local panchang for your location.
Worth knowing
The ghats are lit largely by volunteers, with lakhs of diyas placed by hand in a single evening.
Guru Nanak Jayanti shares this purnima, so Kashi and Amritsar are illuminated the same night.
Boats on the Ganga tonight glide between two skies of lamps.
Mantras of this festival
ब्रह्मा मुरारिस्त्रिपुरान्तकारी भानुः शशी भूमिसुतो बुधश्च । गुरुश्च शुक्रः शनिराहुकेतवः कुर्वन्तु सर्वे मम सुप्रभातम् ॥
Brahma Murari — the morning graha verse
Begin jaap →ॐ नमः शिवाय
Panchakshara — Om Namah Shivaya
Begin jaap →गङ्गे च यमुने चैव गोदावरि सरस्वति । नर्मदे सिन्धु कावेरि जलेऽस्मिन् सन्निधिं कुरु ॥
Gange Cha Yamune — the seven rivers
Begin jaap →दीपज्योतिः परब्रह्म दीपज्योतिर्जनार्दनः । दीपो हरतु मे पापं दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तु ते ॥
Deepa Jyotih Parabrahma
Begin jaap →