Labh Pancham 2026

Puja Vidhi: Gujarat (Labh Pancham)

Who Should Perform This Puja?

• Traders and Shopkeepers: Traders reopen their shops and offices after the Diwali break with a morning puja and the opening of the new account books, seeking profit (Labh) in the year ahead.
• Families: Families worship Ganesha, Shiva and Lakshmi at home, and many worship Shiva and Parvati together for good fortune (Saubhagya).
• Students: In some places Saraswati is worshipped on this day and people worship their books, seeking knowledge (Gyan).

When Should This Be Performed?

• Morning Preparation: Rise early, bathe and offer Arghya to the Sun before the puja.
• Puja Muhurat: The puja is done in the morning muhurat, in a Shubh Choghadiya (an auspicious division of the day; some families also use Labh, Amrit or Chal). Check the puja muhurat for your city on this page.
• Opening the Books and the Shop: The new account book is opened and the shop or office is reopened after the puja, on the same morning.
• Regular Work: Many Gujarati families do the muhurat today but begin regular work from the Ashtami (eighth day) or later.

About the Festival

Labh Pancham, also called Saubhagya Panchami, is a much-loved Gujarati observance that marks the close of Diwali and the first working day of the new year, when traders reopen their businesses and families pray for profit (Labh) and good fortune (Saubhagya). It takes place on the Panchami (fifth day) of the Shukla Paksha in the month of Kartik.

Samagri List (Items Needed)

Gather these items before starting the morning puja:

• Morning & Kalash: A vessel of water for Arghya, red clothes, rangoli colours, a copper or clay Kalash filled with water, Supari (betel nut), a coin, and mango leaves
• Tilak & Lamps: Chandan, Kumkum, Akshat (unbroken rice grains), flowers, Dhoop (incense), and a Diya with Ghee
• For Ganesha: Image of Ganesha, a Supari, Kalava (sacred thread) and rice for the Supari Ganesha, Sindoor, Durva grass, and Modak
• For Shiva: Image of Shiva, Bhasma (sacred ash), Bilva leaves, Dhatura flowers, a white cloth, and a sweet made with milk
• For Lakshmi: Image of Lakshmi, scent or Agar, a lotus flower, a white sweet, and Halwa and Puri
• Books & Prasad: The new account book (Chopda), Chandan and Kumkum for the Swastika, and sweets such as Laddoo and Peda, fruit, and Khil-Batashe (puffed rice and sugar drops)

Puja Vidhi (Step-by-Step Guide)

Follow these step-by-step instructions carefully to perform the ritual correctly:

Step 1: Morning Preparation and Arghya (Early Morning)

1. Rise early in the morning and bathe.
2. Wear red clothes, as many families do.
3. Offer Arghya (water poured as an offering) to the Sun.
4. Some devotees also keep a vrat on this day.

Step 2: Preparing the Puja Place and Setting Up the Deities (Morning Muhurat)

1. Clean the shrine of your home or workplace, make a rangoli, draw a Swastika and light a lamp.
2. Place the Kalash filled with water, with the Supari, the coin and the mango leaves.
3. In a Shubh Choghadiya, set up Ganesha, Shiva and Lakshmi.
4. Wrap a Supari in Kalava, set it on a round heap of rice as Ganesha, and place the image of Ganesha on it if you can.

Step 3: Offering the Puja

1. Offering Tilak and Dhoop: Offer Chandan, Kumkum, Akshat, flowers and Dhoop to the deities, with a Ghee Diya lit before them.
2. Worshipping Ganesha: Offer Chandan, Sindoor, flowers, Durva and Modak to Ganesha.
3. Worshipping Shiva: Offer Bhasma, Bilva leaves, Dhatura flowers and a white cloth to Shiva, and prepare a prasad with milk.
4. Worshipping Lakshmi: Offer scent or Agar, a lotus and a white sweet to Lakshmi, with Halwa and Puri as her bhog.

Step 4: Reciting the Mantras

1. Chant "ॐ गं गणपतये नमः" 108 times.
2. Chant "ॐ श्रीं ह्रीं क्लीं महालक्ष्म्यै नमः" 108 times.
3. Pray to Lakshmi for good fortune with "ॐ श्रीं श्रीं लक्ष्मी महालक्ष्मी एह्येहि सर्व सौभाग्यं देहि मे स्वाहा".

Step 5: Opening the New Account Book

1. Traders open the new account book. Write "Shubh" on the left of the first page and "Labh" on the right, and draw a Swastika in the centre.
2. Use Chandan and Kumkum for the Swastika and for Shri.
3. If you could not do the Lakshmi puja or the account-book worship on Diwali, do it today (see the Chopda Pujan guide for the full ritual).
4. After the puja, open your shop or office and begin work.

Step 6: Aarti and Prasad

1. Perform the Lakshmi Aarti and the Ganesha Aarti.
2. Offer sweets such as Laddoo and Peda, fruit and Khil-Batashe as prasad.
3. Distribute the prasad.

Step 7: Charity and Visits

1. Give food, clothes or money to those in need.
2. Visit friends and relatives, taking sweets and gifts.

Puja Vidhi: Jain (Jnana Panchami)

Who Should Perform This Puja?

• Svetambara Jain Families: Svetambara Jain families, chiefly in Gujarat, keep this day to honour knowledge (Jnana) by worshipping the scriptures and old manuscripts.
• Those Who Keep the Vow: Devotees who have taken the vow keep an upvas (fast) or an ayambil (one meal of tasteless food) on every Shukla Panchami for five years and five months, or at least on this day each year.
• Children and Students: Children place paper and pen before the books and begin their study (Vidyarambh).

About the Festival

Jnana Panchami (Gyan Pancham), also known among Jains as Labh Pancham, is the Svetambara Jain festival of knowledge, on which the scriptures and old manuscripts are worshipped. It takes place on the Panchami (fifth day) of the Shukla Paksha in the month of Kartik. The Digambara Jains keep the similar Shruta Panchami in the month of Jyeshtha.

The Katha (Story of Varadatta and Gunamanjari)

Once upon a time, a king named Ajit Singh had a son, Varadatta, who could not remember a single lesson however well he was taught. In a nearby town lived a rich merchant, Singh Das, whose daughter could not speak and suffered from many diseases.

Then the prince's body was covered by a skin disease, and no one was willing to marry the merchant's daughter.

A respected guru came to the town and taught the people: "Those who disrespect knowledge in thought lose their judgment, in word lose their speech, and in deed fall ill. Observe the aradhana (devout observance) of Jnana Panchami." He told the merchant that in her past life his daughter had been a mother who sided with her sons against their teacher and, in a rage, burnt their books, so that the children grew up uneducated. He told the king that his son had been a learned monk, Vasudev, who grew tired of answering his disciples' doubts, resolved never to learn or teach again, and kept silence for twelve years.

Both recalled their past births and observed the aradhana of Jnana Panchami. They were cured, took diksha (initiation as monk or nun), were reborn as celestial beings and in time reached moksha. Since that day, Jain families have kept Jnana Panchami with reverence for knowledge.

Samagri List (Items Needed)

Gather these items before starting the puja:

• Scriptures: Scriptures or a religious book
• Vasakshep: Sandalwood powder (vasakshep), to sprinkle on the scriptures
• For the Swastikas: Rice, for the 51 swastikas
• For the Jap: A Navkarvali (rosary)
• Paper and Pen: Blank paper, a pen or unsharpened pencils, and notebooks

Puja Vidhi (Step-by-Step Guide)

Follow these step-by-step instructions carefully to perform the ritual correctly:

Step 1: Cleaning the Home and Keeping the Fast

1. Clean the home and prepare for the puja and the jap.
2. If you keep the vow, observe an upvas, or an ayambil (one meal of tasteless food).
3. Some devotees keep the fast in silence.
4. The vow is kept on every Shukla Panchami for five years and five months, or at least on this day each year.

Step 2: Worship of the Scriptures at the Derasar, Upashray or Bhandar

1. At the derasar (Jain temple), upashray or bhandar (manuscript library), scriptures and old manuscripts are laid out on tables.
2. Sprinkle them with vasakshep (sandalwood powder), as the images of the Jinas are sprinkled.
3. Take darshan of the old manuscripts kept in the bhandars.
4. Where a bhandar is kept, its books are cleaned and its catalogues updated on this day.

Step 3: Paper, Pen and the Beginning of Study

1. Worship also the blank paper and unsharpened pencils.
2. Let children place paper and pen before the books and begin their study.
3. Children buy pencils and notebooks and copy out hymns or mantras.

Step 4: Swastikas, Khamasamanas and Jap

1. Make 51 swastikas.
2. Offer 51 khamasamanas.
3. Perform a kayotsarga of 51 logassa.
4. Do the jap of "Namo Nanassa", 20 navkarvalis.

Step 5: Devavandan, Pratikraman and the Round of the Temples

1. Perform the devavandan and the pratikraman.
2. Some devotees make a round of the nearby temples, honouring at each one of the five knowledges: mati, shruta, avadhi, manahparyaya and kevala.

Step 6: The Sermon, the Gurus and the Stavan

1. Listen to the sermon of the monks or nuns on the vow, and honour them, for the day is also called Guru Panchami.
2. Some devotees worship Saraswati as Shrutadevata (the goddess of the scriptures).
3. Sing the stavan, chaityavandan, stuti and sajjhay of the day, such as the Jnana Panchami stavan whose opening line runs: "न्यान बड़उ संसार, न्यान मुगति दातार" (Knowledge is great in the world; knowledge is the giver of liberation).

Step 7: The Resolve of the Day

1. Resolve to learn something new before the next Jnana Panchami, for example to memorise the samayik or the pratikraman.
2. Remember the aim of the observance: to shed the jnanavaraniya karma (the karma that obscures knowledge).

Puja Vidhi: Maharashtra (Pandav Panchami)

Who Should Perform This Puja?

• Married Women: Married women worship the five Pandavas on this day, praying for a virtuous, obedient and strong child (Santan Prapti).
• Families: Families in Maharashtra keep the day at home, shaping the five Pandavas from cow dung and worshipping Lord Krishna along with them.

When Should This Be Performed?

• Puja Muhurat: The Pandav Panchami puja is done in the morning, after sunrise. Check the puja muhurat for your city on this page.

About the Festival

Pandav Panchami is observed in homes across Maharashtra, where families remember the five Pandavas coming out of their year in hiding and worship Lord Krishna. It takes place on the Panchami (fifth day) of the Shukla Paksha in the month of Kartik.

The Katha (Story of the Pandavas Coming Out of Hiding)

Having lost at dice, the five Pandavas spent twelve years in the forest and then one more year in hiding (Agyatvas), living in disguise so that no one would know them.

On the Panchami of the bright half of Kartik, their term was complete and they came out of hiding. On that very day Arjuna appeared before the Kaurava army to defend the kingdom of Virata, and Bhishma reminded Duryodhana that the Pandavas had finished the twelve years in the forest and the year in disguise.

Samagri List (Items Needed)

Gather these items before starting the morning puja:

• Doorway: Rangoli colours, and a Pat or Chaurang (a low wooden stool) to set before the rangoli
• The Five Pandavas: Fresh cow dung from the morning, and five leaves
• Nivdung & Lamp: Stems of the Nivdung (cactus) plant, and a lamp for the well or the nearest water
• Food Offerings (Naivedya): Butter (Loni) and Khadisakhar (rock sugar)

Puja Vidhi (Step-by-Step Guide)

Follow these step-by-step instructions carefully to perform the ritual correctly:

Step 1: Preparing the Doorway (After Sunrise)

1. After sunrise, draw the rangoli at the door of your home.
2. Place a Pat or Chaurang in front of the rangoli.
3. Lay five leaves on it.

Step 2: Shaping the Five Pandavas

1. Take five balls of fresh cow dung from the morning and set one on each leaf, as the five Pandavas.
2. Plant a stem of the Nivdung plant in the balls, as their lamps.
3. Place one lamp by the well or the nearest water.

Step 3: Worshipping the Pandavas and Krishna

1. Worship each of the five Pandavas. Married women pray for a virtuous, obedient and strong child.
2. Worship Lord Krishna as well, and chant his name.

Step 4: Offering the Naivedya

1. Offer butter and Khadisakhar as the Naivedya.
2. If you live where cow dung is not available, worship Lord Krishna, offer the Naivedya, and remember the Pandavas in your mind as a mental worship (Manas Puja).