Diwali - the Festival of Lights
Author: Aunindita Bhatia
Diwali comes from a Sanskrit word meaning a row of right and is commonly known as Festival of lights. India is known for its festivals. And Diwali is one of the most gracious Indian festivals and is celebrated with great excitement by whole Indian community. . It is celebrated on Amavasya, eighteen days after Dusherra. On this day oil lamps – diyas are burned throughout the night to ward of darkness and evil. It is a festival of happiness, joy and brightness.
Dipawali is one of the major festivals of Hindus. People place diyas all around the home, courtyards, verandahs, gardens and roof tops. These days, in cities diyas are substituted by candles. In big cities, neon lights are also used for decoration. Colourful rangolis are also made at the entrance of the house and is decorated with beautiful flowers.
The festival of lights is spread over five days and accompanied by five different philosophies for each day. Dhan Theras is the first day of Diwali festival. It is celebrated on the thirteenth lunar day of Krishna Paksha in the Hindu month of Kartik (October-November). Devotees offer their prayers to Goddess of wealth, Lakshmi on this day. Dhan Theras is considered as the New Year for all businesses in Hindu community. On this day markets and house are flooded with people as they go on heavy shopping. People find it auspicious to buy ornaments of gold, silver and utensils on this day. All the shopping arenas are beautifully decorated by flowers and lights on this day
Choti diwali is celebrated as the second day of the five day long festival. In South India, it is believed that on this day demon Naraksura was killed by Lord Krishna. The day falls on the fourteenth day of the month of Kartik. It is marked as the win of goodness over evil powers. On this day, people light their house and burn crackers. Choti Diwali is celebrated on a smaller scale compared to to Badi Diwali.
The third day of Diwali festival is marked as the most important day. It falls on the fifteenth lunar day of Krishna Paksha in the Hindu month of Kartik (October-November). It is commonly known as Badi Diwali. On this day, people worship Lakshmi, Goddess of wealth. All business establishments and household perform Lakshmi puja after sunset. It is believed that on this day, Goddess Lakshmi visits all houses and offers her blessings. People clean their houses on this day and light every corner of the house with diyas. It is said that Goddess Lakshmi loves cleanliness and visits the cleanest house first. On this day broom is also worshiped and offered prayers with turmeric and vermillion. Later in the evening crackers are burst and people play cards throughout the night for joy and fun.
Govardhan Puja is celebrated on third day of this festival. It is marked as the first day of the bright fortnight or Shukla Paksh in the Hindu month of Kartik. People worship Lord Govardhan Parvat on this day. It is believed that on this day Lord Krishna lifted Govardhan Parvet on his little finger and saved life of many people. A small hillock with cow-dung is prepared and is decorated it with flowers. In North India, people offer prayers to machines which they use for their businesses.
Bhai Dhooj is marked as the last day of five day long Diwali Puja. This day is celebrated with a lot of affection between brother and sisters. Traditionally, brothers visit their sisters on this day. Sisters perform an arti for their bothers and offer prayers for the long life. Traditionally, brothers sit on mats on floor and sisters apply sacred red tilak on their brother’s forehead. And brothers promise to protect their sisters at all times. Both brothers and sisters share sweets after prayers. Gifts are exchanged on this day among brothers and sisters.
Everyone celebrates Diwali with a different tradition but the main reason behind the festival is defeat of evil by goodness. In North India, Diwali is celebrated to worship Lord Rama and his homecoming after defeating Ravana and completing 14 years of exile. In Eastern India, Goddess Kali’s puja is done while in South India, it is celebrated because God Krishna killed Narakasura on this day. People worship Laksmi, Goddess of wealth. Lakshmi Puja is performed during the evening and devotional songs are sung in celebration.
On the occasion of Diwali, festive meals and sweets are prepared with enthusiasm and people visit each others home. People burst crackers and one can see wonderful fireworks. It’s a common practice to exchange gifts among loved ones on this day. People exchange sweets, new clothes. It is also marked as the beginning of Hindu New Year. It also symbolizes the beginning of winter season.
About the Author:
I am a post graduate in Mass Communication. Love to read and write about diverse subjects. Love to observe things around me.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Diwali - the Festival of Lights
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The Story of Divaali
by Valmiki (Author), Jatinder Verma (Author), Nilesh Mistry
(Illustrator)It is an excellent story book
indeed but it should have been titled something like "The Ramayan". I
bought it to introduce my child to the festival . Most of the book
depicts the Ramayan and there is very little about Diwali as such. I
guess it is a challanging task to write a book about Diwali without
mentioning Ramayan. The illustrations are very pleasing to the eye and
are proportionate to the text contained on each page. This should make
it easier for early readers to keep the interest as they read. There is
a page on how it is celebrated currently, it would have been more
interesting to have some more illustrations to support that. |
Diwali - a Spectrum of Spectacular Illumination of Lights and Life's Festivities
Author: Ronald Nelson
Diwali, a diminutive form of Deepavali, etymologically means a row of lights ('Deep'- light and 'Avali'-a row). Hence it is festival of lights. The name Diwali originates from a tradition involving lighting small ceramic oil lamps, called diyas. Diwali that is on the 15th day of the month of Kartik is a holiday and is celebrated with fervor and gaiety. Indian communities float diyas in rivers and streams and place them outside temples. Being a New Year day all financial transactions remain closed on this day. Lord Ganesh, the elephant-headed god, the symbol of auspiciousness and wisdom, and Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and wealth, are worshipped during Diwali. Traditional sweets called naivedya are made and shared and songs are sung to honor the goddess.
In each of the simple traditions and rituals at Diwali there is a tale of significance and credo. Apart from the celebration of Rama's return to Ayodhya, historically too, the origin of Diwali can be traced back to ancient India, when it was probably an important harvest festival.Legend holds that after the goddess Parvati played dice with her husband she declared that anyone who gambled during Diwali would prosper throughout the upcoming year. Today, families gather and play cards, dice and other games.
India is known throughout the world for it's celebratory fervor.Celebration of Diwali begins from Dusshera, which comes twenty days before Diwali. Lord Rama destroyed Ravana on this day and hence it is celebrated as a day of victory. Brilliantly decorated tableaux and processions depicting various facets of Rama's life are taken out and scenes from his life enacted out in a popular form of drama called Ramlila.
Diwali is a festival of joy, splendor, brightness and happiness. It is t 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.At a metaphysical level, Deepawali is a festival s, the latter is destroyed and reduced to ashes by fireworks is the belief of the people. On Diwali day, everywhere in India, at dusk when darkness unfolds itself, one can see a spectacular illumination of tiny flickering lamps adorning in rows - at homes, buildings and streets. People visit the places of their relatives and friends to wish them on the occasion and exchange gifts. Feasts are arranged and gaily-dressed men, women and children go to temples and fairs, visit friends and relatives. Diwali is also celebrated outside India mainly in Guyana, Fiji, Malaysia, Nepal, Mauritius, Myanmar, Singapore, Srilanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Britain, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Africa, and Australia among the Hindus world over. Places as far as Southern America have record of celebrating Diwali.
Uniting all members of the community, young and old, rich or poor, the lighting of the lamps represents a way of paying obeisance to God for attainment of health, wealth, knowledge, peace and valoured fame. People give expressions to their happiness by lighting earthen diyas , bursting fire crackers etc. Diwali is celebrated for five days, each day having it's own significance, rituals and myths.
The First day is called Dhanteras or Dhantryaodashi, which falls on the thirteenth day of the month of Ashwin. The word "Dhan" means wealth.
The Second day is called Narka-Chaturdashi or Chhoti Diwali that falls on the fourteenth day of the month of Ashwin.
The Third day of the festival of Diwali is the most important day of Lakshmi-Puja, which is entirely devoted to the propitiation of Goddess Lakshmi. This day is also known by the name of "Chopada-Puja". The day of Lakshmi-Puja falls on the dark night of Amavasya.
The Fourth day is called Padwa or VarshaPratipada that marks the coronation of King Vikramaditya
The Fifth and Final Day of Diwali Festival is known by the name of "Bhaiya-Dooj" This day is observed as a symbol of love between sisters and brothers.
The festival of Diwali has been celebrated for ages and grows in attraction by the year. Everyone enjoys the goodies, the shine, glamour, and the endless enthusiasm for living that suddenly grips people around this time. However, Diwali is a holy tradition and cannot to be put in the shade by the lights.
About the Author:
This article is written by Ronald Nelson, Researcher and Events Organizer, specializing in worldwide events and festivals.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Diwali - a Spectrum of Spectacular Illumination of Lights and Life's Festivities
--Diwali Story
Author: Prasad Cheruvannur
Diwali Festival is celebrated all over India on October. Normally India is having thousands of local festivals according to local culture and traditions. India is truly a diversified country with multiplies languages and different cultures in various parts of India. Since the Indian civilization is one of the oldest and evolved from different parts of India and joined the festivals very different from one place to another.
Diwali is the Universal Festival of India:
If we study the Festivals of India, we can see lot of variations in the festivals from south to north and east to west. In Kerala you can find onam, in Tamilnadu you can find Pongal,Telegu new year in Andhra Pradesh, Pohela Baishakh in Bengal, Baisakhi Festival for Sikhs etc. Almost all of this festival is totally unknown to states than it is celebrating. In addition, we can see the same festival is celebrated in different parts of the country on same day with different legend. In addition, the celebration will be different. However, the Diwali (Deepavali) is celebrated across the India in every state irrespective of culture and Languages. This makes Deepavali as a universal festival of India.
Deepavali the festival of lights:
Diwali is not the original or correct name of this festival. The correct name of the festival is Deepavali (I think only in Kerala still they use the correct name) and the word Diwali is a short form of Deepavali.Deepam means is the flame of lamp in almost all languages in India. Therefore, as the name suggests on deepavali day the houses will be celebrated with lighted lamps all over India. The temples also will be decorated with lamps and will have a divine look for Diwali. Therefore, as the name suggests we can see on Deepavali day that all houses are decorated with lighted lamps in all over India.Another Tradition is Diwali sweets, which will be prepared and distributed to nears, and dears by every family.
The Story of Diwali:
As normal to other Indian festival diwali also got more than one legend attached to it. As normal in Indian festival diwali also point to Hindu Religion.
- Lord Rama returning to Ayodya:-The most famous legend behind the celebrations of Diwali is about Return of Lord Sri Rama (Prince of Ayodya) to Ayodhya after Winning Rama-Ravana war. Lord Ram was staying in forest with his wife Sitadevi for 14 years to full fill his father's Promise given to one of his wife. At that time The Demon king Ravana of Sri lanka has kidnapped the sitadevi. Therefore, Sri Ramachandra conducted the war with the help of monkey soldiers and won the war. He returned to Ayodhya with his wife Sita and younger brother Lakshmana after completing the promise. To celebrate the joy of this occasion people of Ayodhya decorated their home with lamps to show the love and affection to their Prince. Therefore, from there people of Ayodya started decorating their home with deepam on that day of every year.
- Incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi: Once upon a Time The Devas and demons the churning of the ocean, which is known as 'Samudra Mathan' by the demons on one side and 'Devas' on the other side. Samudra mathan was done in order to extract 'Amruth' from underneath of sea, which will help you to live forever. People believe that Goddess Lakshmi (of wealth and prosperity), was incarnated before Amruth from sea on samudra mathan, on the auspicious new moon day, which is 'Amavasya' of the Hindi month of Kartik.
- Lord Krishna Killed Narakasura: Narakasur was the demon king ruler of Pragjyotishpur, in South of Nepal. He had defeated lord Indra the king of Heaven. He stole the magnificent earrings of aditi Devi Indras Mother. Narakasura also imprisoned thousands of daughters of gods and saints. Lord Indra was a relative of Lord Krishna's one wife Sathya Bhama. Lord Krishna defeated narakasura and freed all women from his jail. To celebrate this occasion people decorated their houses with Lamps.
- Pandavas Returning: - Kauravas (cousins of Pandavas) cheated Pandavas on the game of dice and won. As a result pandavas had to go to forest for thirteen years and should live in absconding for one year. If Kauravas was able to identify them in absconding period, they have to repeat another 13 years in Forest. Pandavas Successfully Completed this and returned to their country to rule again. People all over their Kingdom celebrated this occasion with lamps placed all over the house
Diwali Wishes:
It is a tradition to send Cards, Gifts and Wishes on Diwali. Now a days lot of online sites are there to make this Task easy. You can find some good Diwali Cards with 365greetings.com
About the Author:
Author invites you to visit 365greetings.com for sending Free greetings and birthday cards to your friends and relatives
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Diwali Story
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