Before Dawn on the Sabarmati: An Oil Bath and a City Waking Up
It is somewhere between five and six in the morning on the fourteenth lunar day of Kartik's dark fortnight, and Ahmedabad is already awake. In flats along the river and havelis in the old city, the day begins with abhyanga snan — a pre-dawn bath in sesame or coconut oil, worked into the skin with ubtan paste before the water is poured. In 2026 this falls on Saturday, 7 November, the second day of the five-day Diwali cycle and the eve of Lakshmi Puja on 8 November. The ritual is a cleansing, and it sets the tone for everything that follows: lamps lit, a south-facing Yama deepa placed to honour the day's association with Yama, prayers offered to Krishna — and, as is the Gujarati custom on Kali Chaudas, to Kali and Hanuman as well. If you are staying anywhere with a courtyard, you will hear the buckets before you see the light.
Kali Chaudas: The Gujarati Shape of the Day
In Gujarat, Naraka Chaturdashi is observed as Kali Chaudas, and the emphasis is particular. Where Bengal marks Bhoot Chaturdashi with fourteen lamps for the ancestors and Kali worship at night, and where Goa's neighbourhood groups burn effigies of Narakasura before dawn, Ahmedabad's version is a night understood as protection — a warding-off of evil ahead of the Diwali new year. The story underneath it is shared: Krishna's killing of the demon king Narakasura, with his wife Satyabhama at his side, and the freeing of the sixteen thousand captive women. Narakasura's dying wish was that his death be marked with lamps and colour, which is why a day that begins with oil and water ends in light. Plan your evening around the lamps and the prayers rather than around any single ticketed event; the observance here is domestic, neighbourhood-scale and spread across the city.
- Rise early enough to be outside during the Chaturdashi tithi — roughly 5 to 6 am — when the oil bath is taken.
- Look for the south-facing Yama deepa, lit as part of the day's ritual.
- Expect Krishna prayers, and Kali and Hanuman worship, in keeping with the Gujarati observance.
- Note that the day is also called Roop Chaudas and Choti Diwali, so you will see all three names in use.
Markets, Mithai and the Food of the Fourteenth
Pan-India Diwali mithai is the through-line of the day's eating, and Ahmedabad's sweet shops and markets carry it in quantity in the run-up to 7 November. Beyond the mithai, the regional table shifts: Maharashtra and the south put out chakli and murukku, Goa eats fov or poha with sweets after the pre-dawn bath, and Tamil Nadu takes Deepavali lehiyam, a medicinal digestive paste, to settle the stomach after the feasting. You will find the fried savouries and the sweets in the same circuits — the old city's commercial lanes and the city's mithai shops — and the sensible approach is to buy early in the day and carry cash. Where the sources do not name a specific Ahmedabad vendor or market for 2026, treat the trade as seasonal and citywide rather than tied to one address.
- Diwali mithai — the reliable purchase, available across the city's sweet shops.
- Chakli and murukku — the Maharashtra and South Indian savouries that appear alongside the sweets.
- Fov or poha — the Goan post-bath breakfast, if you want to eat the way the day is eaten on the coast.
- Lehiyam — the Tamil digestive paste, for those who have overdone the mithai.
Firecrackers, Lamps and the Night Before Lakshmi Puja
Firecrackers at daybreak belong to South India and Goa in the sources, not to Gujarat, so do not expect Ahmedabad's Kali Chaudas to announce itself with a dawn barrage. What the city does reliably is light lamps — for the day's significance, for the household, and for the protection the night is meant to bring. The 2026 date is fixed: Saturday, 7 November, with Lakshmi Puja the following day, 8 November. Because the Diwali cycle moves each year — 28 October in 2027, 16 October in 2028 — the city's rhythm of markets, lamps and gatherings shifts with it, but the shape of the observance does not. Walk the old city in the evening, when the lamps are out and the streets are full, and you will see the day as it is actually kept.
Timing Your Trip Around the Five Days
Naraka Chaturdashi is the second of five days, which makes it a good hinge for a longer stay. Arrive before 7 November to catch the markets at full pitch, stay through 8 November for Lakshmi Puja, and you will have seen the cycle from the inside rather than as a single date. The day itself rewards an early start and a slow evening: oil bath before six, mithai and savouries through the middle of the day, lamps after dark. Keep the Gujarati framing in mind throughout — Kali Chaudas, a night to ward off evil before the new year — and let the city's own observance, rather than any imported itinerary, set your pace.
Book your travel for the first week of November 2026, plan to be in Ahmedabad by the morning of Saturday the 7th, and give yourself the 8th as well. The lamps are lit whether or not you are there; the only decision left is whether you will be standing in the street to see them.