Diwali

First of all I wish you a very happy Diwali. I have decided that for every festival, I would do all the research to find out why a particular festival is celebrated, what are the stories behind each festival, what are the normal rituals that are performed for each festival. The reason is many of us including me do not know the significance of many festivals. When somebody asks us we should be able to give all the details. So here is my research about Diwali.

Diwali is a shortened name for Deepavali. Deep meaning lights. vali meaning an array or rows. Basically this festival is celebrated by lighting an array of lamps. The reason being that lighting means positivity, coming out of darkness, ignorance, evil etc. anything that is bad.

The reason this is done is for different reasons. One of the reasons is to celebrate the return of the King Rama to Ayodhya after the 14 years of exile. People celebrate the return of their beloved king by bursting fire crackers, distributing sweets, wearing new clothes and making merry.

Another reason is to celebrate the death of Narakasura in the hands of Lord Krishna. Today is the day when he was killed. For those of you who do not know this story, Narakasura was a demon who locked up so many people inside a cave and started eating them. Lord Krishna, before killing him asks for his last wish. He says he wants people to enjoy his death in a very grand manner with lighted lamps.

People in south India celebrate Diwali one day earlier because the King Rama travels from Lanka to Ayodhya which is from south India to North India. As he passes through South India one day before he arrives in Ayodhya, they celebrate it one day before.

Rituals
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People get up early in the morning before sunrise and have a ceremonious oil bath while the stars are in the sky because that is equivalent to taking bath in the holy river ganges. This bath is called "Ganga Snana". Then the merriment continues with sumptuous meals and sweets.

People perform lakshmi pooja today as it is the birth of the goddess lakshmi during the churning of the milk of ocean. Another reason for performing this puja is today is the day when vishnu returned to his home after killing the demon king bali. As Lakshmi is the wife of Lord Vishnu, and on his return she is in a benevolent mood so people think that she will shower her blessings on to the people.

One more reason for performing Lakshmi puja today is: diwali marks the end of the harvest season and people want to thank the goddess of wealth for a good crop season that she has given and also pray her for another good season next year.

Diwali has significance in other religions too. For Jains, it marks the day when the Lord Mahavira attained nirvana or moksha. At this time all the gods were present illuminating the darkness.

For Sikhs, it is the return of their sixth guru from the prison. They celebrate by illuminating the Golden Temple.