Festival of Lights

What is Deepavali?
•Deepavali, the literal meaning of which in Sanskrit is 'a row of lamps.'
•festival of joy, splendour, brightness and happiness.
•festival of lights and is celebrated with great enthusiasm by all Indians all over the world.
•The uniqueness of this festival is its harmony of five varied philosophies, with each day to a special thought or ideal.

The first day of Diwali: Dhanteras
•Is called Dhanvantari Triodasi or Dhanwantari Triodasi also called Dhan Theras.
•the 13th lunar day of Krishna Paksh, the dark forthnight of the month of Kartik.
•On this day, Lord Dhanwantari came out of the ocean with Ayurvedic for mankind.
•This day marks the beginning of deepawali celebrations.
•On this day at sunset, Hindus should bathe and offer a lighted deeya with Prasad (sweets offered at worship time) to Yama Raj, the Lord of Death and pray for protection from untimely death.
•This offering should be made near a Tulsi tree, the Holy Basil or any other sacred tree that one might have in their yard.

Dhanteras Legends
•Once the sixteen year old son of King Hima. was doomed to die by a snake-bite on the fourth day of his marriage as per his horoscope.
•On that particular fourth day of his marriage his young wife did not allow him to sleep. She laid all the ornaments and lots of gold and silver coins in a big heap at the entrance of her husband's boudoir and lighted innumerable lamps all over the place. And she went on telling stories and singing songs.
•When Yama, the god of Death arrived there in the guise of a Serpent his eyes got blinded by that dazzle of those brilliant lights and he could not enter the Prince's chamber.
•So he climbed on top of the heap of the ornaments and coins and sat there whole night listening to the melodious songs.
•In the morning he quietly went away. Thus the young wife saved her husband from the clutches of death.
•Since then this day of Dhanteras came to be known as the day of "Yamadeepdaan" and lamps are kept burning throughout the night in reverential adoration to Yam, the god of Death.

Dhanteras Preparations
•Houses and business premises are renovated and decorated.
•Entrances are made colorful with lovely traditional motifs of Rangoli designs to welcome the Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity.
•To indicate her long-awaited arrival, small footprints are drawn with rice flour and vermilion powder all over the houses. Lamps are kept burning all through the nights.

Dhanteras Traditions
•Considered auspicious to purchase gold or silver articles or at least one or two new utensils.
•It is believed that new “Dhan” or some form of precious metal is a sign of good luck.
•"Laxmi-Puja" is performed in the evenings when tiny Diyas of clay are lighted to drive away the shadows of evil spirits.
•"Bhajans"-devotional songs- in praise of Goddess Laxmi are also sung.
•There is a peculiar custom in Maharashtra to lightly pound dry coriander seeds with jaggery and offer as Naivedya.
•In villages cattle are adorned & worshiped by farmers as they form the main source of their income.
•In south cows are offered special veneration as they are supposed to be the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi and therefore they are adorned and worshiped on this day.

The 2nd day of Diwali: Choti Diwali
•Is also called Narak Chaturdasi or ‘small Diwali’
•On this day Lord Krishna destroyed the demon Narakasur and made the world free from fear.
•On this day, one should massage the body with oil to relieve it of tiredness, bathe and rest so that Diwali can be celebarated with vigour and devotion.
•The Shastras (Laws of Dharma) declares that Yama Deeya should be offered on Triodasi night with Prasad.
•It is Diwali on a smaller scale, with fewer lights lit and fewer crackers burst.
•The morning after Choti Diwali, the women of the house make beautiful, colored rangoli in the doorway and courtyard.
•Tiny footprints made out of rice paste are a special feature of the rangolis made for Diwali.
•In Hindu homes, Chhoti Diwali celebrations involve a ritual puja to Goddess Lakshmi and also to Rama in the evening. Songs in honor of the god are sung and aarti is performed.

Legends behind Chhoti Diwali
•the demon king Narakasur ruler of Pragjyotishpur (a province to the South of Nepal) after defeating Lord Indra had snatched away the magnificent earrings of Aditi, the Mother Goddess (the ruler of Suraloka and a relative of Satyabhama, Lord Krishna's wife) and imprisoned 16,000 daughters of the gods and saints in his harem.
•On coming to know about this, Satyabhama was enraged by Narakasura's malevolence towards women, and she appealed to Krishna to give her the golden chance to destroy Narakasura.
•The legend also says that Narakasura was given a curse that he would be killed by a woman.
•Krishna granted Satyabhama a boon to fight with Narakasura. With Krishna as the charioteer, Satyabhama entered the battle field.
•During the war, Krishna swooned for a while, a preordained divinely act adopted to empower Satyabhama to kill the demon.
•After Narakasura was beheaded, the imprisoned women were released, and Krishna accepted to marry them.
•As a symbol of that victory Lord Krishna smeared his forehead with the demon king's blood. Krishna returned home in the very early morning of the Narakachaturdashi day.
•The womenfolk massaged scented oil to his body and gave him a good bath to wash away the filth from his body. Since then the custom of taking bath before sunrise on this day has become a traditional practice specially in Maharashtra.
•Bhudevi, mother of the slain Narakasura, declared that his death should not be a day of mourning but an occasion to celebrate and rejoice. Since then, Deepavali is being celebrated by people every year with joyous celebrations with lot of fun and frolic, and fire works.
•In South India that victory of the divine over the mundane is celebrated in a very peculiar way. People wake up before sunrise prepare a paste by mixing Kumkum in oil, symbolizing blood and after breaking a bitter fruit that represents the head of the demon King that was smashed by Krishna, apply that mixture on their foreheads. Then they have an oil bath using sandalwood paste.
•In Maharashtra also, traditional early baths with oil and "Uptan" (paste) of gram flour and fragrant powders are a `must'.
•All through the ritual of baths, deafening sounds of crackers and fireworks are there in order that the children enjoy bathing. Afterward steamed vermicelli with milk and sugar or puffed rice with curd is served.

The 3rd day of Diwali: Lakshmi Puja on Diwali
•This is the day when worship unto Mother Lakshmi is performed.
•Hindus cleanse themselves and join with their families and their Pandit (priest) and they worship the divine Goddess Lakshmi to achieve the blessings of wealth and prosperity, the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness.
•On this very day sun enters his second course and passes Libra which is represented by the balance or scale. Hence, this design of Libra is believed to have suggested the balancing of account books and their closing.
•Despite the fact that this day falls on an amavasya day it is regarded as the most auspicious.

Lakshmi Puja on Diwali
•The day of Lakshmi-Puja falls on the dark night of Amavasya.
•The strains of joyous sounds of bells and drums float from the temples as man is invoking Goddess Laxmi in a wondrous holy "pouring-in" of his heart. All of a sudden that impenetrable darkness is pierced by innumerable rays of light for just a moment and the next moment a blaze of light descends down to earth from heaven as golden-footed Deep-Lakshmi alights on earth in all her celestial glory amidst chantings of Vedic hymns.
•It is believed that on this day Lakshmi walks through the green fields and loiters through the bye-lanes and showers her blessings on man for plenty and prosperity. It is extremely important to keep the house spotlessly clean and pure on Diwali.
•Goddess Lakshmi likes cleanliness, and she will visit the cleanest house first.
•This is also the reason why the broom is worshiped on this day with offerings of haldi and kumkum (turmeric and vermilion).
•Lamps are lit in the evening to welcome the goddess. They are believed to light up Her path.
•Lakshmi Puja consists of a combined puja of five deities:
–Ganesha is worshiped at the beginning of every auspicious act as Vighnaharta;
–Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped in her three forms –
–Mahalakshmi (the goddess of wealth and money),
–Mahasaraswati (the goddess of books and learning), and
–Mahakali; Kuber (the treasurer of the gods) is also worshiped.

Rama Return to Ayodhya
•After 10 days of fierce war with Ravana, the victorious Rama, Laxmana and Sita prepared to return to Ayodhya.
•There was joyous shouts of Victory to Rama, Veer Hanuman ki Jai - Victory to Hanuman. Celebration in AyodhyaHere in Ayodhya, Bharata, Ram's beloved brother, eagerly waited for the arrival of Rama, Laxmana and Sita.
•He had counted every day of those fourteen years that Rama had to suffer in forest as a result of his mother's folly.
•He had ruled as the representative Rama, living like a monk -sanyasi. Rama's wooden shoes adored the throne during his absence.
•The whole city was decorated with flowers and garlands. Every house adored beautiful look of cleanliness and was lighted with candles and lamps. Perfumes and scent filled the air. Every street was cleaned and watered, and decorated with hand-painted colorful designs. Brothers Meet
•Bharata and Rama hugged each other, tears flowing down their eyes. Rama inquired about the well being of Kaikeyi first, then about his mother Kaushalya and Sumitra.
•Soon, Rama was given his due honour as King of Ayodhya and Rama ruled Ayodhya wisely.

The 4th day of Diwali: Padwa & Govardhan Puja
•Govardhan Pooja is performed on this day.
•Thousands of years ago, Lord Krishna caused the people of Vraja to perform Govardhan Pooja.
•From then on, every year Hindus worship Govardhan to honour that first Pooja done by the people of Vraja.
•Govardhan is a small hillock in Braj, near Mathura and on this day of Diwali people of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar build cowdung, hillocks, decorate them with flowers and then worship them.
•This festival is in commemoration of the lifting of Mount Govardhan by Krishna.
•As per Vishnu-Puran the people of Gokul used to celebrate a festival in honor of Lord Indra and worshiped him after the end of every monsoon season but one particular year the young Krishna stopped them from offering prayers to Lord Indra who in terrific anger sent a deluge to submerge Gokul.
•People were afraid that the downpour was a result of their neglect of Indra.
•But Krishna assured them that no harm would befall them.
•He lifted Mount Govardhan with his little finger and sheltered men and beasts from the rain.
•This gave him the epithet Govardhandhari. After this, Indra accepted the supremacy of Krishna.

Padwa
•The day following the Amavasya is "Kartik Shuddh Padwa" and it is only on this day that the King Bali would come out of Pathal Loka and rule Bhulok as per the boon given by Lord Vishnu. Hence, it is also known as "Bali Padyami".
•This day also marks the coronation of King Vikramaditya and Vikaram-Samvat was started from this Padwa day.

Gudi Padwa
•Is symbolic of love and devotion between the wife and husband.
•On this day newly-married daughters with their husbands are invited for special meals and given presents. In olden days brothers went to fetch their sisters from their in-laws home for this important day.

The 5th day of Diwali: Bhai Duj
•Is called Bhai teeka or Bhai fota. It is a day dedicated to sisters.
•The reason why this festival is known as bhai dooj is that it falls on the second day after the new moon, that is the Dooj day.
•And it is a day to pray for the long life of the brother, which is referred as “bhayya or bhai”.
•The essence is that it is celebrated to strengthen the love between brothers and sisters.
•It is a day of food-sharing, gift-giving and reaching out to the inner most depths of the hearts.
•Brothers and sisters indulge themselves on this day by gifting each other gifts.
•This day marks the end of the five days of deepavali celebrations.
•According to religious scriptures, Yamaraj, the God of death, went to visit his sister's house after a long period of separation.
•His sister, Yami was very happy to see him and welcomed him by putting an auspicious mark on his forehead for his welfare.
•Yami and Yamraj then shared a meal. He was so pleased with his sister's reception, he proclaimed that every year, on the dooj day, if a sister puts a tilak on her brother's forehead, then no one can harm her brother.
•Till date, this tradition is followed. Sisters perform puja for their brothers safety and well being. Brothers in return give gifts to their sisters as a token of love.
•The festival of Diwali is incomplete without bhai dooj.