Dhanteras 2018: Do you know why is Dhanteras celebrated?
Dhanteras, which is also known as Dhantrayodashi, is celebrated a couple of days before the festival of Diwali. This year Diwali 2018 is falling on November 7th. Dhanteras is being celebrated on November 5th 2018. Dhanteras is celebrated on the 13th lunar day of Krishna Paksha (dark fortnight) in the Vikram Samvat Hindu Calendar month of Karthik. On the festival, Dhanvantari, who is known as the God of Ayurveda, is worshipped. Lord Dhanvantari is worshipped to acquire the knowledge and wisdom of Ayurveda.
Dhanteras as National Ayurveda Day
Since Dhanteras is marked as a day to worship Dhanvantrari, the pioneer of Ayurveda, Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy decided to observe Dhanteras as the National Ayurveda Day. Ever since then, Dhanteras is also celebrated as National Ayurveda Day. The first National Ayurveda Day was celebrated on 28th October, 2016.
Dhanteras 2018 Significance, Story Behind It; Why is it celebrated?
It is believed that on the day of Dhantrayodashi, Goddess Lakshmi emerged out of ocean of milk during the churning of sea (Samundra Manthan). Hence, Goddess Lakshmi, along with God of Money Kuber, is worshiped on the day of Dhanteras or Dhantrayodashi. According to a popular legend, when the Devas and Asuras joined hand to conduct Samudra Manthan for Amrit, Dhanvantari, emerged carrying a jar of elixir on the day of Dhanteras.
Dhanteras 2018 Story
An ancient legend also narrates the story of a 16-year-old son of King Hina. His horoscope predicted that the young boy would die of a snake bite on the fourth day of his marriage. When he was married, his wife didn’t let him sleep on the fourth day to save him from snake. She arranged the ornaments and gold in a heap at the entrance of the sleeping chamber and lit lamps to illuminate the place. She sang songs to her husband to keep him from sleeping. The next day, when Lord of Death, Yama arrived at his chamber in the form of snake, he was blinded by the gold and shine of lamps. He couldn’t enter the prince’s sleeping chamber, so he sat on the heap of gold and listened to the prince's wife singing songs. In the morning, he went away. Thus, the young prince was saved from his untimely death.
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