Deepavali: The festival of light

Deepavali: The festival of light

Deepavali or Diwali is the festival of light celebrated in many parts of India. One of the most popular festivals in India, it symbolizes the victory of light over dark. Here light represents the good and dark represents the bad. So it is a celebration of the victory of good over the evil. It also signifies the victory of knowledge over ignorance. Deepavali is celebrated by lighting earthen pots(Diyas), bursting crackers and distributing sweets. It is a major festival in India; though it is celebrated all over the country, it has a major significance in Northern India.

Beautiful Earthen Pots(Diyas) being lighted during Diwali night

The History

      The Diwali festival is likely a fusion of harvest festivals in ancient India. It is mentioned in Sanskrit texts such as the Padma Purana, the Skanda Purana, both of which were completed in the second half of the 1st millennium CE. The diyas (lamps) are mentioned in Skanda Kishore Purana as symbolizing parts of the sun, describing it as the cosmic giver of light and energy to all life and which seasonally transitions in the Hindu calendar month of Kartik.

             There is another and most famous referral of the origin of Deepavali in the epic Ramayana, where Lord Rama when returned to his kingdom Ayodhya, he was greeted by his citizens by welcoming him by lighting Diyas on his way back to his kingdom, and lights outside their homes too.

  Diwali was also described by numerous travelers from outside India. In his 11th century memoir on India, the Persian traveler and historian Al Biruni wrote of Deepavali is celebrated by Hindus on the day of the New Moon in the month of Kartika. The Venetian merchant and traveller Nicollo de Conti visited India in the early 15th-century and wrote in his memoir, "on another of these festivals they fix up within their temples, and on the outside of the roofs, an innumerable number of oil lamps... which are kept burning day and night" and that the families would gather, "clothe themselves in new garments", sing, dance, and feast.

The Celebration

Festival Day 1, Dhanteras

Rangoli

Dhanteras, derived from Dhan meaning wealth and teras meaning thirteenth, marks the thirteenth day of the dark fortnight of Kartik and the beginning of Diwali. On this day, many Hindu's clean their homes and business premises. They install diyas, small earthen oil-filled lamps that they light up for the next five days, near Lakshmi and Ganesha iconography. Women and children decorate doorways within homes and offices with rangoli, colorful designs made from rice flour, flower petals and colored sand, while the boys and men decorate the roofs and walls of family homes, markets, and temples. The day also marks a major shopping day to purchase new utensils, home equipment, jewelry, firecrackers and other items. On the evening of Dhanteras, families offer prayers (puja) to Lakshmi and Ganesha and lay offerings of puffed rice, candy toys, rice cakes and batashas (hollow sugar cakes).

Festival Day 2, Choti Diwali

Diwali Sweets

Choti Diwali, also known as Naraka Chaturdasi, is the second day of festivities coinciding with the fourteenth day of the second fortnight of the lunar month. The term "choti" means little, while "Naraka" means hell and "Chaturdasi" means "fourteenth".^[1 The day and its rituals are interpreted as ways to liberate any souls from their suffering in "Naraka", or hell, as well as a reminder of spiritual auspiciousness. For some Hindus, it is a day to pray for the peace to the manes, or deified souls of one's ancestors and light their way for their journeys in the cyclic afterlife. A mythological interpretation of this festive day is the destruction of the asura (demon) Narakasura by Krishna, a victory that frees 16,000 imprisoned princesses kidnapped by Narakasura.

Festival Day 3, Diwali, Lakshmi Puja

Fuljhari, a Diwali Cracker

The third day is the height of the festival and coincides with the last day of the dark fortnight of the lunar month. This is the day when Hindu, Jain and Sikh temples and homes are aglow with lights, thereby making it the "festival of lights".

The youngest members in the family visit their elders, such as grandparents and other senior members of the community, on this day. Small business owners give gifts or special bonus payments to their employees between Dhanteras and Diwali. Shops either do not open or close early on this day allowing employees to enjoy family time. 

Anaar, or Tubri, another Diwali Cracker

Shopkeepers and small operations perform puja rituals in their office premises. Unlike some other festivals, the Hindu typically do not fast on Diwali, rather they feast and share the bounties of the season at their workplaces, community centers, temples, and homes.

As the evening approaches, celebrants will wear new clothes or their best outfits, teenage girls and women, in particular, wear saris and jewelry. At dusk, family members gather for the Lakshmi puja, although prayers will also be offered to other deities, such as Ganesha, Saraswati, Rama, Lakshmana, Sita, Hanuman, or Kubera. The lamps from the puja ceremony are then used to light more earthenware lamps, which are placed in rows along the parapets of temples and houses, while some diyas are set adrift on rivers and streams. After the puja, people go outside and celebrate by lighting up patakhe (fireworks) together, and then share a family feast and mithai (sweets, desserts).

Kali Puja

Idol of Maa Kali

The puja and rituals in the Bengali Hindu community focus on Kali, the goddess of war, instead of Lakshmi. In Bengal, during Navaratri (Dussehra elsewhere in India) the Durga Puja is the main focus, although in the eastern and northeastern states the two are synonymous, on Diwali the focus is on the puja dedicated to Kali. These two festivals likely developed in tandem over their recent histories, states McDermott. Textual evidence suggests that Bengali Hindus worshipped Lakshmi before the colonial era, and that the Kali puja is a more recent phenomenon. Contemporary Bengali celebrations mirror those found elsewhere, with teenage boys playing with fireworks and the sharing of festive food with family, but with the Shakti goddess Kali as the focus.