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Dhanteras

The day for buying new vessels, when coriander seed and jaggery are offered to Lakshmi in many homes.

A detail from a miniature painting in the Rajastani style, made by the artist LaLa in Udipur, ordered pecially by en:user:F16 . Painted in September 2004. shows the Hindu god Dhanvantari.
Photo: The original uploader was F16 at Hebrew Wikipedia ., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Spices for Dhanteras

Dhanteras opens the Diwali days and is the traditional time to buy something new for the house, often metal vessels, gold or silver. In Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat a simple offering of whole coriander seeds (dhania) pounded with jaggery is made to Lakshmi and Kubera, and the seeds are then kept as a token of prosperity. Coriander is cheap, sacred in its smallness and associated with abundance, so the spice becomes a household blessing rather than a flavouring. Cooks also begin the first batches of festival sweets, scenting them with cardamom.

The spices

CorianderWhole seeds pounded with jaggery as a household offering.CardamomUsed in the first sweets made for the festival days.
About this page

Written by the EveryMasala desk with AI assistance. Background: "Dhanteras" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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