Diwali: Indian city Ayodhya lights 300,000 lamps to celebrate 1769445048FaglCzkz
Diwali is the five-day festival of lights, which this year will start on October 27 and end on November 3. The Hindu, Sikh, Jain and sometimes Buddhist faiths will take part in the festival, with more than one billion revellers worldwide. The festival has several different meanings which vary according to regional and religious practice.
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Who celebrates Diwali?
Diwali is the festival of lights in many countries and will see observers light candles outside of homes and shop fronts for five days.
However, the festival takes on different meanings depending on the faith of those observing it.
Depending on the dominant religion, Diwali may go by a different name and involve the worship of varying deities.
READ MORE: Diwali start date: When is Diwali 2019? How long does Diwali last?
Hinduism
Diwali’s religious significance varies throughout India and is associated with a variety of traditions, symbolism and deities.
The festival is often linked to the Hindu epic Ramayana, in which Diwali marks two pivotal events.
In Ramayana, Diwali is when the avatars of the goddess Vishnu, Lakshmi, Shesha and Shiva reached the city of Ayodhya after 14 years in exile.
On the same day during the Trete Yuga (the fourth age of mankind in Hinduism), Vishnu’s avatar Rama’s army of good defeated demon king Ravana’s army of evil.
Jainism
In Jainism, an ancient Indian religion, Diwali is celebrated in observance of the death and nirvana (ascendance to heaven) of Mahavira, according to the scholar Jeffrey Long.
Mahavira was the 24th Tirthankara (the propagator of the teachings of the religion, named dharma) who Jains credit for the revival and reorganisation Jainism.
The death and nirvana of Mahavira is known as Mahavira Nirvana Divas.
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Sikhism
Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas rather than Diwali.
Bandi Chhor Divas marks the day Guru Hargobind was released from the Gwalior Fort prison by Jahangir, a Mughal emperor, and his subsequent arrival at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Guru Hargobind introduced the concept of Miri and Piri to Sikhism and built the Akal Takht (throne of the tireless one).
Buddhism
Diwali is not a Buddhist festival but is sometimes observed by the Newar people of Nepal.
The Newar people revere deities in Vajrayana Buddhism, and during Diwali will offer prayers to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.
Their worship of other deities is consistent within a “textually specified” norm which allows them to worship any deity for their “worldly betterment”, according to researchers.
What happens on each day of Diwali?
The first day: Dhanteras
- Dhanteras is dedicated to prosperity, and marks when the Goddess Lakshmi is believed to have emerged from the ocean with a special ceremony. On this day most people buy gold and gamble.
The second day: Naraka Chaturdasi
- Naraka Chaturdasi commemorates Lord Krishna and the Goddess Kali’s destruction of the demon Narakasura. To celebrate, people burn symbolic effigies.
The third day: Amavasya
- Amavasya sees people worship the Goddess Lakshmi, and they dedicate evening rituals to her.
The fourth day: Padwa/Govardhan Puja
- Padwa, or Govardhan Puja, takes different significance in different Indian regions, but has a central theme of celebrating the husband and wife relationship.
The fifth day: Bhai Duj
- Bhai Duj celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters.