Saturday, October 17, 2009

Day 48 - Deepavali


Deepavali is most commonly known in the world as 'festival of lights' in India probably because its associated with strings of lights across streets, multitude of diyas in house and firecrackers bursting all over the ground and sky in the night. There's light, an unfortunately also loud sound and pollution, all around!

But what is Deepavali? What can I tell my children about it?

Deepavali stems from a sanskrit word combination of 'deepa' meaning light and 'avali' meaning a row and so the literal translation of Deepavali is also 'Row of Lights'. The most common explanation for Deepavali is the return of Lord Rama from Lanka after defeating Ravana and completing his 14 years in exile. The people of Ayodhya were so happy that they wanted to show their love and affection for their returning King. Being an amavasya - no moon night - it was slated to be a very dark night and so the citizens of Ayodhya lit up rows of diyas on the streets and in their houses to show the way to Lord Rama and to turn the night into day. And from there came the name of the occasion - Deepavali, a row of lights. Almost every child in India knows this story.

But what I found interesting was that the day of Deepavali has significance in other religions as well. That really opened my eyes and my perspective.

In Jainism the day is celebrated as one on which Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara attained Nirvana. The lighting of lamps is symbolic substitute to denote the light of knowledge that got extinguished with his passing. This was in 527 BC.

Fast forward a few centuries and for Sikhs the day is significant as the day of return of Guru Har Bind Ji from his imprisonment by the Mughal emperor Jehangir. Guru Har Gobind Ji was imprisoned in Fort Gwalior with 52 other Hindu Kings. After freeing them he went to Harminder Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar where the devotees greeted him with lit candles and diyas.

A simple day that has significance across centuries and across religions. Amazing, isn't it?

Wearing new clothes on Deepavali signifies an ending of all bad things of the previous year and starting a new year with new feelings, new emotions and new ideas. Its a great day to reconnect with your friends and enemies. Let bygones be bygones with people with whom you fought and re-connect with them.

Start the year on a fresh note!

Wishing all of you a Very Happy Deepavali and a prosperous, safe, happy and love filled new year!

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