Deepawali or Diwali as
it is commonly called, is the festival which is most joyfully celebrated
throughout India by the rich and poor alike. Other festivals are of short
duration and hence no special preparations are made for
them; but this
festival normally lasts for
four days and
every day has got a special
importance of its own. Hence all the
people in the house from young to old take interest in
celebrating the festival in their own way and make preparations for the same
for days together.
The usual days for this
festival are the last two days of the month of Ashwin and the first two days of
the month of Kartik. Sometimes
according to the almanac, the
festival lasts for only three
days or sometimes
it is extended upto five
days. The general tendency of
the human beings is to expect joy for as long a period as possible
and hence people
expect the Deepawali festival
to last for a long period. The
elders, who have enjoyed this festival
for many years
are not much worried about the duration of
this festival; but
the youngsters who are having special holidays for this
festival always like to have the Deepawali lasting for the maximum number of
days. Whenever the calendar for the
new year is received, the youngsters in the house always try to find out
from that as to the number of days
allotted for this festival. The children also
want this festival to last long
because when the elders are celebrating a festival, they are usually giving
full freedom to the youngsters and they
do not mind
if they behave a little out of the way.
Like other
Hindu festivals, this festival also has a mythological and
social background behind it. Though
the first day of Deepawali is known as Narak
Chaturdashi, the day
preceeding is day also has its importance. This day is the thirteenth day the second
half of the month of Ashwin and it is known as ie "Dhanteras" The distinguishing feature
of this festival
is row ( Awali) of lights (
Deep) from which the festival gets name and these lights are actually
kindled from Dhanteras. The mythological story behind
the importance of this day goes to say that Yama the Lord of death once asked
his assistants as to 'whether they felt
sorry any time while performing their duty, 'hey replied that once when they had to snatch
away the son of King Haima, only on the fourth day of his marriage,
they were pained much to inflict premature death on that young boy. They further requested that in future no
such case should happen and _take
them to suffer
from the pangs of grief.
Yamaraj agreed and declared that those who will observe the
festival for five days
from Dhanteras and
light lamps will not have
premature death. From that
time it became
a practice to
observe this festival by lighting lamps for five days.
The programme for the
first day of Deepawali starts early morning with a hot water bath accompanied
by ointments, scented soaps and scents of various kinds according to the choice
of every individual. This day is the fourteenth day of the second half of the
month of Ashwin and is known as Narak Chaturdashi. As usual a mythological
story is told bringing out the importance of this day also. Once upon a time, a
demon named Narakasur became very powerful. He was having his kingdom in the
region south of the present Nepal and Bhutan states. He invaded the territories
of the surrounding kingdoms and imprisoned sixteen thousand ladies whom he had
captured by force. He had the audacity even to trouble the gods.
When Lord Shrikrishna
knew about this disorderly behavior of the demon, he decided to kill him; but
his wife Satyabhama came forward to achieve this task and marched on the demon.
She fought bravely with
the demon and killed him before the dawn of the fourteenth day of the second
half of the month of Ashwin and freed all the ladies in distress. They all went
home and expressed their joy by illuminating their houses. Hence we even now
get up early morning on this day and have a bath and have the illuminations by
the night.
The second day of the
Deepawali festival is the no-moon day or Amavasya. Usually the no-moon day is
supposed to be inauspicious for any festival; but this day is supposed to be
auspicious, because this was the day when the Goddess Laxmi was freed from the
fetters of King Bali by Lord Vishnu in the Waman incarnation. On this day Laxmi
i. e. wealth (Cash, Gold etc.) is worshipped in all the houses as well as in
all the shops. In old days the merchants and businessmen used to celebrate this
day on a very grand scale. They used to have special illumination on that day.
They used to entertain their customers with sweets and drinks; but with the
scarcity of all things and the sky high prices of all essential commodities,
they are not now able to celebrate this day on the same scale as before.
However the old practice of worshipping the accounts books etc. is continued by
them as before. Their financial year ends on this day. Hence the new books of
accounts that they have to open on the new year are worshipped by them on this
day, which is dedicated to the Laxmi Pujan.
The third day of the
festival is the Padwa. This is the first day of Kartik. The samvat year starts
from this day. Many of the business firms who still observe traditional way of
keeping accounts, begin their financial year from this day. This way of
counting the year is even recognised by the Government, because the assessment
of income tax is also done according to this year for so many business firms,
who maintain their accounts according to this financial year.
The fourth day
of the Deepawali festival is a day of the brothers and
sisters. On this day sister is supposed to entertain the brother, give him a
feast and the brother in his turn, has to give a gift to his sister. In all the
houses this function is celebrated on a grand scale. Waving the Aarati round the
face of the brother by the sister on this day is supposed to be very auspicious
and it is scrupulously observed by all. Most of the brothers make it a point to
pay a visit to their married sisters even if they are staying far away. A
mythological story of Yama, the God of death, and his sister is told in this
context which throws light on this custom of fostering the relations of the
brother and sister on this day.
Thus ends this great
festival of the year. This festival is of the longest duration and there is
more of social element in it than religious. There might be some economical
background behind the celebration of this festival at this particular time of
the year. Since long India is essentially a country of farmers. Our whole
economy even today depends on the agricultural products that we procure in the
year. Though of late some dams have been constructed and few irrigation works
are supplying water for farming, still we are even today mainly depending on
the crops which we produce in the monsoon. By the end of Ashwin the monsoon
mostly gets over in our country and expectation of a good crop, which is by
that time blooming gaily in the field, makes the farmer hilarious. He is
therefore in a good mood to enjoy the functions of the festival. The children
have got long holidays and they are gay because of the firing of crackers that
they do freely in this festival. In good old days stitching of new cloths for
the ensuing year was being done on the eve of this festival and buying gold and
preparing new ornaments for this festival was being done. As now the purchase
of clothes does not require any particular occasion and as we are purchasing
clothes throughout the year and as the price of gold has soared so high that
gold is hardly purchased unless it is absolutely necessary, both the above
practices are mostly abandoned.
We wish
all our readers
and all Sai devotees
a happy Diwali and a prosperous
new year.