Diwali

Diwali brings together several sacred traditions that developed across different regions of India. In the Ramayana tradition, the lighting of lamps recalls Rama, Sita and Lakshmana returning to Ayodhya after fourteen years of exile and Rama's victory over Ravana. Vaishnava traditions also connect the season with Krishna's defeat of Narakasura, while many households place Lakshmi worship at the centre of the night, praying for wisdom, prosperity and an auspicious new beginning. In Gujarat, Diwali closes the old Vikram Samvat year and leads directly into Bestu Varas, the Gujarati New Year. Homes and workplaces are cleaned and illuminated, rangoli is prepared, lamps are lit, sweets are shared and families gather for Lakshmi-Ganesha worship. The many stories differ in emphasis, but together they present Diwali as a festival of light, renewal, dharma and hope.

Diwali is valued for devotion, family tradition and the spiritual or seasonal meaning attached to the day.

Houses are cleaned and whitewashed in the days before. Rangoli is laid at the threshold and lamps are set along the walls and windows at dusk. Traders perform chopda pujan, the blessing of new account books, because the Gujarati new year begins the next morning.

In Gujarat and Maharashtra the new year follows the day after, so Diwali is the eve of something rather than a climax. Bengal keeps the same night as Kali Puja, facing the goddess in her fierce form instead of Lakshmi. In the south it is Naraka Chaturdashi the morning before that carries the weight, with an oil bath before dawn. Jains keep it as the night Mahavir attained nirvana, and Sikhs as Bandi Chhor Divas.