Story Of Dhanteras

About Dhanteras

Dhanteras is a first day festival of the great and famous Hindu festival, Diwali which is the five-days long festival and celebrated in Varanasi and traditionally all over the India. Dhanteras festival is celebrated on triodasi of the Krishna Paksha (the dark fortnight).

The meaning of Dhanteras is wealth; at this day people make pray to the Goddess Lakshmi to get prosperous life and well being. They worship Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha together. There is a custom of purchasing new things and bring it at home which makes the meaning that Lakshmi came home. And the whole year Lakshmi will come to the home like today. Dhanteras embraces a unique worth for the business communities as they make customary purchases of the valuable metals on this day.

Many people keep a day long fast on the day of Dhantrayodashi. The day long fast is broken after doing Lakshmi-Kubera Puja in the evening. Hence, this Dhanteras story is also known as Dhanteras Vrat Katha.

Dhanteras Vrat Katha - story of Goddess Lakshmi and the Farmer

Once, Goddess Lakshmi insisted Lord Vishnu to accompany Him during one of His visits to the earth. Lord Vishnu agreed but on the condition that She would not fall for earthly temptations and would not look in the south direction. Goddess Lakshmi agreed to this condition of Lord Vishnu.

However during their visit to the earth, due to Her Chanchal (चञ्चल) nature Goddess Lakshmi got tempted to look in the south direction. When Goddess Lakshmi was not able to resist her urge to look in the south direction, She broke her pledge and started moving towards south. As soon as Goddess Lakshmi started moving in southern direction, She was mesmerized with the beauty of yellow mustard flowers and sugarcane fields on the earth. Finally, the Goddess Lakshmi fell for the earthly temptations and decorated herself with the mustard flowers and started enjoying sugarcane juice.

When Lord Vishnu saw that Goddess Lakshmi has broken her pledge, He got annoyed and asked Her to spend the next twelve years on the earth as a penance, serving at the field of the poor farmer who has cultivated mustard and sugarcane in the field.

With the arrival of Goddess Lakshmi, the poor farmer became prosperous and wealthy overnight. Gradually, twelve years passed and the time for Goddess Lakshmi to return back to Vaikuntha had come. When Lord Vishnu came to the earth in disguise of an ordinary man to take Goddess Lakshmi back, the farmer refused to relieve Goddess Lakshmi from his services.

When all attempts to by Lord Vishnu failed and the farmer didn't agree to relieve Goddess Lakshmi from his services, Goddess Lakshmi revealed her true identity to the farmer and told him that She could not stay any longer on the earth and need to go back to Vaikuntha. However, Goddess Lakshmi promised the farmer that She would visit him every year during the night of Krishna Trayodashi before Diwali.

As the legend goes, the farmer started cleaning his home every year to welcome Goddess Lakshmi on the day of Krishna Trayodashi before Diwali. He also started lighting an earthen lamp full of Ghee throughout the night to welcome Goddess Lakshmi. These rituals to appease Goddess Lakshmi made the farmer rich and prosperous year after year.

People who came to know about this incident also started worshipping Goddess Lakshmi on the night of Krishna Trayodashi before Diwali. This is how devotees started worshipping Goddess Lakshmi along with Lord Kubera on the day of Dhanteras which is also known as Dhantrayodashi. Read more

Another legend has it that

Story of King Hima - The story of Dhanteras goes back to an ancient legend where the son of King Hima was predicted to die due to snakebite on his sixteenth birthday, according to his horoscope. In order to protect the prince, his newlywed wife did not let him sleep, and placed all her ornaments in a heap at the entrance of the sleeping chamber. She placed all available treasuries of gold and silver coins too along with those jewelleries. She lighted up the entire place with lamps so that every nook and corner was visible and there was no darkness anywhere. She then began to sing songs and recite poems in order to keep her husband from falling asleep. She feared that he may die if he falls asleep.

The god of Death, Lord Yama arrived in the guise of a serpent as predicted by the prince’s horoscope. But his eyes got blinded by the radiance of the numerous lamps and the brilliance of the jewels and gold. Yama failed to enter the chamber and he climbed atop the heap of ornaments and coins and began to listen to the songs and recitations of the prince’s wife. The night was spent in this manner and it dawned, the serpent had no other option but to leave, as according to the horoscope, the serpent was to bite the prince on that very night only. Since then the day has been celebrated whereby the young prince was saved due to the love and intelligence of his wife.

Story of Goddess Parvati - Yet another legend has it that Goddess Parvati, the wife of Lord Shiva played dice with her husband on this day and won. And so, it is also a custom followed by some Hindus, where businessmen play dice or gamble so that wealth and prosperity is ensured for the entire year. Read more