History of Diwali

Diwali is a beautiful Hindu festival that is celebrated during 5 days and is known as the Festival of Lights. It literally means Row of Lights in Sanskrit. It begins late in the month of Ashwin with Dhan Teras the first day, and ends in the beginning of month Kartika, the last day is called Yama Dvitiya.


History of Diwali


There are many stories and legends behind the celebrations of Diwali. Mainly it marks victories over evil.

First victory is the return of Lord Raama to Ayodhya after fighting and defeating demon king Ravana. The legend says that the wife of Raama, Sita, was kidnapped by Ravana, king of Lanka. To free his wife, Raama faced Ravana in a fight, the fight between the two caused a great war between their kingdoms, Lanka and Ayodhya. During the war Raama managed to defeat Ravana in combat and free Sita. When the two of them returned to their kingdom of Ayodhya, the people was filled with joy for the victory, they decorated their homes and streets with small lights called diyas to welcome their victorious king.

Another story is told to be behind the celebrations of Diwali. Demon King Nakasur, ruler of Pragjyotishpur, was victorious over Lord Indra in a war. As winner he decided to take as his spoils the earrings from Mother Goddess Aditi, who was a relative of Satyabhama, wife of Lord Krishna. Not happy only with this, he took prisoner in his harem thousands of daughters from the Gods. Satyabhama wasn’t the least happy with what had happened, so together with her husband, Lord Krishna, they went after Narakasur and defeated him without mercy. The women were freed from the harem and the earring returned to Mother goddess Aditi.

One final story, and that is behind the biggest celebration of Diwali, is about the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity. There was a time when gods and demons were at war, like always they seem to be in an eternal fight between good and evil, and the ocean was churned because of their fights, this was called the Samudra Manthan. So, to prevent greater evils to come from that war, Lakshmi incarnated as a beautiful woman that managed to distract all the demons.

Since the festival has 5 days, each day has its own celebrations and reasons to be and all of these divinities are adored and praised with the lighting of diyas in their house and all over the cities.

Diwali Traditions, Customs and Activities

Diwali is celebrated by days, and in each of the 5 days there different activities.

The first day is the festival of Dhanteras. It is day to worship Lord Yamaraj, God of Death, by lighting a Yama-Diya durng the night and offer prayers. By tradition people on this day a utensil for their houses, any kind of utensil for the kitchen or anything else.

On the second day there is the festival of Choti Diwali, it celebrates the victory of Lord Krishna over Narakasur. On this day the tradition is to take baths and receive massages with oils, if you do not take a bath on this day you will go to Hell, at least that is what traditional sayings foretell.

The third day is the festival of Lakshmi Puja and is the main day of celebrations. Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped on this day and prayers are offered to her for wealth and prosperity. People clean their homes the best they can and decorate the homes with beautiful lights and in the streets there are great fireworks displays.

The fourth day is the festival of Govardhan Puja, Lord Govardhan is worshipped on this day for joining Lord Krishna in protecting the people of Vraja from heavy rains.

The fifth and final day is dedicated to brothers and sisters, legend says that on this day Lord Yamaraj visited his sister Yamuna and blessed her, so if brothers visit their sister son this day like Lord Yamaraj, they will also be blessed and be liberated from all their sins. Sisters also get sweets on this day and not only spiritual gifts.

During the festival there are many other activities, it is tradition to play card games to pass the time. Everyone likes to play with fireworks and it seems like New Year at night during the festival days as everybody lights fireworks on the streets. Great dinners and lunches are prepared on these days for the whole family, while it is tradition to offer sweets to women on these days, and especially to your sisters on the last day.

As preparation for the festival, and for the main day of Diwali, houses are thoroughly cleaned and decorated with flowers, wall pictures of the gods and placing diyas, or little lights, on the house to light them all throughout the five days. Children especially like to prepare different ways to make decorations with things that they find in the streets or in the house, so that they can also please the gods.


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