Ayurveda Day was for several years observed on Dhanvantari Jayanti, which falls on Dhanteras in the Hindu lunar calendar and therefore shifts each year against the Gregorian calendar — an inconvenience for institutions planning events and for international partners. The Government of India subsequently fixed the observance on 23 September, a date associated with the autumnal equinox, when day and night are of nearly equal length. The symbolism was chosen deliberately: balance between opposing forces is the organising idea of Ayurveda, which treats health as equilibrium among the body, the mind and the environment rather than as the mere absence of disease. Dhanvantari, in whose honour the earlier date was set, is regarded in Hindu tradition as the deity of medicine and healing. The change is a small but exam-friendly example of a movable observance being converted into a fixed calendar date, and 2026 marks the eleventh Ayurveda Day.