Dhanwantari Jayanti & Ayurveda Day in Nepal: An Explainer

Dhanwantari Jayanti (also spelled Dhanvantari Jayanti) is the annual birth anniversary of Dhanwantari, the deity worshipped in Hindu tradition as the divine physician and the originator of Ayurveda, the classical South Asian system of natural medicine. In Nepal the day is observed on Kartik Krishna Trayodashi, the thirteenth day of the waning moon in the month of Kartik (roughly late October to mid-November). This is the same lunar day known across South Asia as Dhanteras, which opens the Tihar (Deepawali) festival season.

For the Ayurveda community in Nepal, the occasion carries a dual meaning. It is a religious commemoration of Dhanwantari, and since 2056 BS (1999 AD) it has additionally been observed as Arogyata Diwas, translated as Health Day or Wellness Day, at the initiative of professionals working in the Ayurveda sector. The theme of the day is the promotion of preventive health, healthy living and traditional Nepali medicine.

Because the date is fixed to the lunar calendar rather than the Gregorian one, the exact day shifts each year. In 2083 BS it falls on Kartik 21 (Saturday, 7 November 2026), coinciding with Kaag Tihar, the first day of Tihar. Anyone searching for the Nepali date should check the year's official patro (almanac), because the Bikram Sambat (BS) and Anno Domini (AD) dates move together each year.

In Hindu mythology Dhanwantari is regarded as an aspect or avatar of Lord Vishnu and as the physician of the gods. According to the Puranas, he emerged during the Samudra Manthan, the churning of the cosmic ocean by the gods (devas) and demons (asuras) in their quest for the nectar of immortality. Dhanwantari is said to have risen from the churning ocean carrying an urn (kalash) of amrit, the nectar of immortality, along with medicinal plants and the knowledge of Ayurveda.

This mythological origin is why Dhanwantari is invoked as the founding figure of Ayurveda, a body of medical knowledge that Hindu tradition counts among the upavedas (secondary Vedas). He is popularly credited with systematising healing through herbs, diet and lifestyle, and later traditions associate him with the roots of surgery and other medical arts. Statues and images typically show him four-armed, holding the nectar pot, a conch (shankha), a discus (chakra) and healing herbs.

In Nepal, where a large majority of the population is Hindu and Ayurveda has deep historical roots, Dhanwantari is worshipped chiefly by Ayurvedic practitioners, traditional healers and vaidyas (baidyas), as well as by devotees observing Dhanteras. The reverence is both devotional and professional: for the medical community, honouring Dhanwantari is a way of affirming the value of Ayurveda as living healthcare rather than only heritage.

Dhanwantari Jayanti falls on Kartik Krishna Trayodashi, which is Dhanteras (also called Dhan Trayodashi). In the Bikram Sambat calendar used in Nepal this occurs in the month of Kartik; it marks the traditional start of the Tihar festival period and, on the same or adjacent day, Kaag Tihar (the worship of crows). Because the festival is defined by the lunar tithi, the Gregorian date changes annually and can land anywhere from mid-October to mid-November.

For reference, recent observances fell on 21 October 2022 and, in the 2083 BS calendar, on Kartik 21, 2083 BS (7 November 2026). Devotees marking Dhanteras also associate the day with Lakshmi (wealth) and Kuber, which is why the wider festival emphasises prosperity; the Ayurveda-focused strand of the day, by contrast, emphasises health and long life. Both meanings sit side by side on the same tithi.

It is worth noting that although the two festivals share a lunar day, they are conceptually distinct. Dhanteras is a pan-South Asian festival of wealth and auspicious purchases at the opening of Deepawali/Tihar, while Dhanwantari Jayanti is specifically the birth anniversary of the deity of medicine. In Nepal the Ayurveda sector has deliberately used this overlap to attach a public-health message to a widely observed festival.

On Dhanwantari Jayanti, ritual worship (puja) of Dhanwantari is performed according to time-honoured tradition, alongside seminars, free health camps, herbal-medicine displays and public-awareness programmes on Ayurveda and healthy living. The observance is led by government Ayurveda institutions but is joined by universities, campuses, and private Ayurvedic hospitals and clinics, giving the day a nationwide footprint.

Programmes are regularly held at institutions such as the Naradevi Ayurveda Hospital in Kathmandu, the Ayurveda Campus (formerly at Naradevi, now in Kirtipur) under Tribhuvan University, the Singha Durbar Vaidyakhana Development Committee (Nepal's historic state pharmacy of Ayurvedic medicines), the Ayurveda Campus of Nepal Sanskrit University in Dang, and the Herbs Production and Processing Company Limited (HPPCL) at Koteshwor. Private-sector Ayurveda hospitals across the country hold their own events on the same day.

The formal history of the observance in Nepal is tied to the growth of institutional Ayurvedic education: official celebration developed after the establishment of the Ayurveda Campus in Kathmandu (Naradevi) in the early-to-mid twentieth century, and the day was designated Arogyata Diwas / Health Day from 2056 BS (1999 AD) at the initiative of the Ayurveda profession. Since then it has become a fixture on the calendar of Nepal's traditional-medicine community.

In Nepal, government Ayurvedic services are coordinated by the Department of Ayurveda and Alternative Medicine (DoAA), headquartered in Teku, Kathmandu, and functioning under the health ministry (the Ministry of Health and Population; the ministry's official title has recently been styled as the Ministry of Health and Food Safety). The department oversees Ayurveda treatment services, herbal-medicine research, and the regulation of Ayurvedic and other alternative-medicine practice nationwide.

Dhanwantari Jayanti / Health Day dovetails with the department's year-round promotion of Ayurveda. Government initiatives channelled through the Ayurveda system include the free distribution of a defined list of essential Ayurvedic medicines through public facilities, the Swarna Bindu Prashan immunity programme for children, citizen health service centres, and the regulation of therapies such as Ksharasutra. The festival provides a high-visibility moment to publicise these services and to encourage the public to use traditional medicine responsibly.

It is important to state facts precisely: the department's official web presence promotes Ayurvedic services generally rather than issuing a single dedicated national proclamation for the festival, and the yearly programmes are organised jointly by government institutions, universities and professional bodies. Nepal has not adopted a separate fixed-date national Ayurveda day; the observance remains attached to the lunar Dhanwantari Jayanti / Dhanteras.

The occasion is closely linked to National Ayurveda Day, which the Government of India's Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) first declared and observed on Dhanwantari Jayanti (Dhanteras) on 28 October 2016. On that first Ayurveda Day, India inaugurated the All India Institute of Ayurveda in New Delhi. For its first several years India's Ayurveda Day therefore moved with the lunar calendar, exactly like Nepal's Dhanwantari Jayanti.

In a significant change, India shifted Ayurveda Day to a fixed Gregorian date of 23 September, effective from 2025, via a government notification, to give the day a stable international identity; the 2025 theme was 'Ayurveda for People and Planet'. This means that from 2025 onward India's official Ayurveda Day and Nepal's lunar Dhanwantari Jayanti no longer necessarily fall on the same day, even though both honour the same deity and tradition.

For readers in Nepal, the practical takeaway is simple: in Nepal the day to watch is Kartik Krishna Trayodashi (Dhanteras), observed as Dhanwantari Jayanti and Arogyata Diwas / Wellness Day, whereas 'Ayurveda Day' as a fixed 23 September event is an Indian government designation. Both reflect a shared regional effort to promote Ayurveda as accessible, preventive, plant-based healthcare.