Gandhinagar: The festival of Labh Pancham will be on Tuesday- 9th November this year.  Labh Pancham is observed on the fifth day of Kartak month, or Kartak sud pancham of Hindu Gujarati Vikram samvat calendar year, currently 2078. On labh pancham in Gujarat, the shopkeepers reopen their shops closed in the Diwali festival in Gujarat. The Diwali festivals end on the Labh Pancham in Gujarat. The markets and shops are reopened in shubh muhurat on this day.

The muhurats for reopening the businesses on Labh Pancham this year are 6.48 am to 10.57 am (Chal, Labh, Amrit) in the morning and 12.23 pm to 13.48 pm (Shubh) in the noon. The shubh muhurat is from 9.30 am to 13.46 pm on Labh Pancham.

It is believed that starting any trade or performing muhurat on the day of Labh Pancham results in good rewards in business. The merchants perform pooja of their account book and bhagvan Ganesha on this day with kanku. People paint a swastika and write Shubh and Labh on the threshold of their houses or workplaces on this day. The merchants write Shri Sava in their account book of the new year on this day. The day is also known as Shri Panchami as it is associated with attaining Lakshmi. The chanting of Shri sukta is popular on this day. The merchants perform account book pujan and kanta pujan on this day.

In Jainism, along with the above said practices, the goddess Sarasvati is also worshipped on Labh Pancham. They consider this day also as Gyan Panchami. Gyan Panchami is considered as a festival of worshipping, nurturing and donating the gyan or knowledge in Jainism. Exhibitions of gyan upkaran (tools that are used in writing, knowledge generation and knowledge spread) are  arranged at Jain Path Shalas and Upashrayas on this day every year. The pratikraman, dev vandan, chanting the prayers of devi Sarasvati and vyakhyan also take place in the Upashray across the city. DeshGujarat