Divali marks one of the biggest and grandest celebrations in India. Divali is also known as the Festival of Lights. On this day, Lord Ram (the incarnation of Lord Vishnu in the Treta Yug) returned to his capital Ayodhya after the exile of fourteen years thrust upon him by his stepmother Kaikeyi in jealousy, because Ram would become the king and not her own son Bharat. Thousands of years have passed, and yet so ideal is the kingdom of Ram (ram rajya) that it is remembered to this day.
Divali comes exactly twenty days after Dussehra on Amavas (new moon), during the dark fortnight of Kartik some time in October or November. The exact date is taken from the Hindu calendar, and since that calculation is different from the European calendar, we cannot give the exact date according to the Western system.
By Dussehra the evildoer Ravan has been eliminated—along with most of his rakshasas (demons)—by Lord Ram and his brother Lakshman, and their army of monkeys. Sita has been returned to her husband Ram, and they now make their way to Ayodhya in triumph and glory. Kaikeyi, meanwhile, has done enough penance for the misery caused to the family and the kingdom. Bharat had refused to sit on the throne and has kept vigil as a regent and had told Ram that if he did not return on the last day of the fourteen years’ exile, he would immolate himself. Consequently, to commemorate the return of Ram, Sita, and Lakshman to Ayodhya people celebrate Divali with the bursting of crackers and by lighting up their houses with earthen diyas or other lamps in the grandest style, year after year.
The thirteenth day of the dark fortnight—that is, two days before Divali—is known as Dhan Teras. On this day a new utensil is bought for the house. The house has to be cleaned, washed, and whitewashed. On this day the children are taken out to buy crackers, candles, earthen diyas, and a hatri (a small houselike structure made of mud, in the middle of which sits a small idol of Lakshmiji). A pair of earthen Lakshmiji and Ganeshji are a must for Divali pujan. (Ganeshji is to be worshipped before any other god or goddess in all pujas.) Lakshmiji, the goddess of wealth, is supposed to visit everyone during Divali; therefore she must also be fussed over. Earthen katoris (dishes) known as kulris and chaugaras, lots of kheel (puffed rice), toys made out of candy (known as khand ke khilone), batashas (hollow sugar-cakes), and so on are required for the puja. The markets are extremely well decorated and full of items that one can buy for the home.
Special foods like papri and deevlas are made at home. The day prior to Divali is known as Chhoti Divali. On that day Hanuman (Pavanputra or son of the God of Wind), the great bhakta (worshipper) of Lord Ram, had come flying to Ayodhya to inform the family and the kingdom that Ram, Sita, and Lakshman were coming back the following day so that arrangements to welcome them could be made (of course in a great hurry). Today, we have more time at our disposal, and so we start the celebrations much earlier. On Chhoti Divali, mithai (sweets) are displayed by gaily decorated and well-lit shops, and they do very brisk business. Many business houses and individuals distribute mithai to their associates, families, and friends. A lot of visiting is done on this day. The business community begins its new year from this day.
One word of caution—one must remain within a budget. Almost everything bought during Divali time is of little use later on, except utensils, and a few other durables, so please do the buying by your own standards and not the neighbors’! One should remember that twenty-one or fifty-one diyas are bought (although candles are much in use these days). This is just to keep the old tradition alive and maintain a continuity from time immemorial right up to this very day. In case one is in another country, where one cannot get diyas, then one just has to make do with candles. One big diya is definitely required for the center and can be made with atta dough. The diyas are filled with oil (ordinary mustard oil), and wicks are made from old cottonwool. Please soak the diyas in water for a couple of hours and dry them before use, as they will soak up the oil very fast if used absolutely new.
Now let us get to the ceremonial side of Divali, so as to make it an attractive occasion for the family. Even if no one is invited, it is a busy day in itself. The puja starts on Chhoti Divali itself, when the place of worship is decorated with a small chauk made with wet kharia matti. Most Indians know how to decorate the floor with colors, but the quickest one is with kharia matti. Flowers and leaves can be the motifs of the floor decorations; or else geometrical designs can be made. A chauki or a patta (low stool or leaf) should also be decorated and placed against the wall of the place of worship to seat the gods, namely, Ganeshji and Lakshmiji along with (idols or pictures of) Ram, Sita, Lakshman, and Hanuman. Empty diyas or unlit candles are decorated before the puja, and everyone then does the pujan. (See figure E at the Web site http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/vasu/loh.)
On the main Divali day, a morning bath is essential. In South India to bathe before sunrise, after a good oil massage, is considered very auspicious. A bath in starlight, before sunrise, is accepted as a bath in the holy Ganga (since the Milky Way is considered the river’s heavenly form). In North India, gambling is freely allowed during the festival; usually card games are played. The children are also given money to play and join in the fun. They are even allowed to gamble in front of their parents so that they don’t do it in secret. They then understand that there is a time and place even for gambling, but it must have certain limitations. These children seldom grow up to be gamblers. Gambling goes on for about a week or two, in one house or the other, and then it stops until the next Divali.
Regarding the ceremony itself, during my grandmother’s time, we always used to get the whitewashing of the house done before Divali, especially the place where the puja was to be performed. Usually, a more open place than the puja room (a covered verandah is ideal) is used for the puja. A Madhubani type of painting was made, depicting several episodes of Lord Ram, Sita, Lakshman, Hanuman (and even Krishna with his Gopis and raas leelas), and the other gods. These depictions were all confined to a square or oblong limited space. A border of flowers was used to frame the painting. The painting was made by attaching cotton wool to small sticks and taking ordinary colors mixed with water in small katoris. The women and children all got together and filled the colors into the forms already made by the artist of the family. This kept everyone busy for a week or two preceding Divali. The drawings of the faces of the gods, Gopis, and animals were always a side view. At the center of the painting, Lakshmiji was depicted in the Madhubani style, formed by joining a number of dots together so that a face appeared with a chunni (spangle) on top of it. The dots were all prearranged. Of course, one can draw Lakshmiji or glue down a picture of her, but the joining of dots to form a picture is the basic way of teaching a child to draw. Thus as the wall became the canvas and everyone was filling in the colors, producing a beautiful picture, art was encouraged and taught to the children. Such togetherness is rarely found these days.
During the actual Divali day, people still drop in with sweets and crackers and other presents, and some visit elders of the family and the community out of respect. On this day, businesspeople also give presents to those working for them. Businesspeople are very particular about doing Lakshmi puja in their shops or offices. There is no fasting on Divali. The daughters-in-law and girls of the house are given new saris and jewelry. A new bride gets a heavier sari than the rest. This is not obligatory in North India, but very much so in South India.
In the evening, before dark, the actual pujan is done. First, the place of the puja is decorated with candles, diyas, and the earthen hatri, which is placed in the center. The pictures of several gods and goddesses—Lakshmi, Ganesh, Ram, Sita, Lakshman, and Hanuman—are placed on the patta. The kulri and chaugara dishes are filled with puffed rice (kheel) topped with a toy made out of candy; papris and deevlas are also kept on top. Sweets and fruit are placed on the side of the puja patta in a thaal (tray). The new utensil, bought for this purpose, is filled with kheel and kept on the side. Of course, everyone is dressed very well, in colorful and shining clothes, so that they shimmer in the diya or candlelight. The married girls (suhagins) can wear their chunri with its gota and kinari if they so desire. But a chonp (golden bindi dot) is a must on the forehead for the suhagans. Now, everyone is ready for the puja, which is done first by putting the teeka (forehead mark) on the gods and everyone present, and then worshipping the gods with water, aipun, roli, and rice. Everyone takes a little rice in one hand, and the story related to Divali is narrated, which goes as follows.
There was once a king who loved his queen very, very much. One day the king summoned the best jeweler in his kingdom and asked him to make a magnificent necklace costing nine hundred thousand rupees (nine lakhs) for the queen. When it was made it was so beautiful that the queen wore it all the time and wherever she went. She looked so very beautiful with the nine-lakh necklace around her neck that everyone stared at her.
Every morning she would go to the river to bathe with her ladies-in-waiting. She would take off her jewelry and fancy clothes and put them on the riverbank. One day, she did just that and was happily playing and splashing in the river when a kite came flying over the place, and seeing a shiny object, it swooped down and took the necklace away. (Kites love to take shiny objects to their nests for their young ones to get excited about, and also to decorate their homes with glitter.) When the queen came out of the river and found, to her dismay, that her necklace was missing, she was distressed beyond measure, and no one could console her. She fretted so much that the king heard of it within a few minutes and came to find out what had happened. He was also very, very upset and announced, there and then, that whosoever found the necklace would be given anything he or she desired. A man with a dholak (drum) went around making the announcement all over the kingdom, and everyone came to know of the great loss suffered by the queen and that the discovery of the necklace would make the person who found it rich beyond his or her wildest dreams. So everyone did nothing but look for the beautiful necklace and talk about it at their homes and in the marketplaces. The queen could not be consoled. She gave up eating and drinking, and the king was also very unhappy and kept inquiring of his servicemen as to the progress made in the matter.
Now, there used to be a very old and poor woman who lived right outside the town, just where the forest began. She used to make her livelihood by selling wood and sticks for lighting fires, which helped her meet her meager daily needs. She had no one else to look after her, as her children were away, and she had to do her own household chores and shopping. In any case, she could not buy much, as she was very poor. As Divali was approaching, she was cleaning her hut, which was very dark and dingy because it was near the forest. In a dark corner of her hut, she saw a patragho (a large lizardlike animal found in the forest). She killed it and threw it on her thatched roof. At this very moment, the kite with the necklace was flying past, and its eyes fell on the dead animal. The kite thought that food was better than the glittering object that it was carrying. So it dropped the necklace on the thatched roof and made off with the dead patragho. The old woman heard the noise and on seeing something shiny on the roof brought it down and found, to her amazement, the most beautiful necklace that one could imagine. She knew at once that it must belong to the queen. Soon she heard about the king’s announcement and the misery in the palace. So she went and asked for an audience with the king. The king was surprised, but he was a good and kind person, and so the old woman was brought before him. She asked him whether he would stand by what he had promised through his announcement. The king looked hopeful and solemnly declared that he would do as he had promised.
“I have it here,” the old woman said and took the necklace out of her torn jute bag, much to the amazement of all the courtiers, who looked startled and wondered what the old woman would ask for. They, as well as the king, expected her to ask for half the kingdom, or any amount of wealth, but she did not. Do you know what she asked for? “Sire, please order everyone that on Divali day no one will light up their houses except me, and the palace shall also be dark.” The king was stunned but heaved a sigh of relief at the strange request and granted it at once. He was afraid that the old woman might change her mind. This was hardly a thing to think twice about. Everyone talked at length about this odd request—in the marketplaces, in their homes, and in the palace. Wise men shook their heads perplexed, not understanding what it would fetch the old woman.
Divali was near, and soon the day dawned. People were told that not a single light should be seen, or else they would be punished with death—even the king’s palace stood in total darkness as the sun went down. There was pitch darkness everywhere, and only one diya twinkled in the old woman’s house, far away in a corner of the landscape. The old woman just did what she was used to doing all her life during Divali, and lit only one diya, being too poor to afford any more.
At the stroke of midnight, Lakshmiji came down from the heavens in her glittering clothes so that they would shine all the more in the beautiful lights of the houses and palaces that she would visit. She loved a lot of light and gaiety, and so she visited those houses that were bright and shining. Today she was perplexed, for she could hardly move without stumbling against a pillar or post and nearly fell at several places. She was so miserable that she scanned the horizon for some light somewhere, and then she saw the little glimmer from the old woman’s hut. She made a dash for it, because by now she was completely desperate.
Inside her hut, the old woman had bolted the door and had sat down to do her puja with her old, broken earthen utensils. Soon she saw a very bewildered and desperate-looking tiny little man, who came running to her side in great agitation, shouting, “Let me out, let me out, old woman. I cannot stand this light, I must get out at once. I am used to darkness and dinginess and dampness. I could stay but for this light.”
The old woman gave him one look and asked, “Who are you, you funny-looking tiny man?”
“I am Diladdar (Absolutely Down and Out One), companion of the very poor,” replied the old man. The old woman spoke to him thus: “You cannot leave me, Diladdar. You have been my constant companion year after year, and I cannot let you go. I will not allow you to go.”
“O woman, have pity on me. I will die in this illuminated house. I am one who can only live in darkness and dirt, and not in light and cleanliness. There is lovely darkness all over the town tonight. Please, please, open the door.”
Outside Lakshmiji was standing at the door and pleading in her lovely soft voice, “Sweet lady, I am distressed. Please show me the light and let me in—yours is the only house in which I can feel comfortable and happy. I cannot see the other houses. I cannot even see my own feet, and I am frightened. Please, please, let me in.” The old woman replied, “No, no, I will not let you in; you have never bothered about me before. Why should I take pity on you?” But Lakshmiji pleaded with her. So the old woman asked her, “If I let you in, will you promise that you will never leave and will always stay in my house? If you promise me that, I will let you in.” Lakshmiji replied, “Yes, yes, I promise. I will not leave your house ever.”
At the same time Diladdar was shouting himself hoarse to be let out. The old woman told him, “You promise that you will never come anywhere near my house again. Only then will I let you out.” “I promise, I promise,” cried Diladdar.
Quickly, the old woman opened the door, and immediately Lakshmiji entered. Seeing her, Diladdar became more frightened, and he just fled into the darkness.
Very soon, the old woman summoned back all her children, who had gone away to other towns in search of food and money, to come and live with her, and they returned, and everyone lived happily ever after.
After the story is finished, all members shower the puffed rice that they have been holding in their hands on Lakshmiji and Ganeshji, saying loudly, “Get out, Diladdar. Lakshmiji has come (Nikal Diladdar Lakshmi aayee),” repeating this thrice.
The lady of the house then takes one chaugara cup, places the prasad on top of it, and gives it to each member present. This can be done in two installments because fruit and sweets have also to be given as prasad, and it is difficult to give everything all at once. Each member then takes a little puffed rice from the prasad and puts it inside the hatri, in which a silver rupee has already been placed. The hatri symbolizes the home; and the silver coin, the wealth of the house being saved inside it. The gesture of putting puffed rice (kheel) in the hatri is symbolic of India’s basic identity as an agricultural country, and of the members of each household bringing their share of produce into the house.
The diyas from the puja are then taken to light the diyas or candles already placed around the house and on top of it. These diyas are lit only after the puja. The first diya is placed where one throws the garbage; the belief being that there is prosperity in a house where there is a lot of garbage. Pujan should be started at dusk, as the diyas or candles are lit after the puja. Fireworks are brought out, and the children join in the fun and frolic with all the noise and light from the phuljharis (“flower pots”) and other crackers. Fireworks are also distributed to the servants and their children, so that there is universal enjoyment. Then start the feast and card games, which are the “order of the night.” One can carry on for as long as one likes. In some cases, sons-in-law of the house are given some money as a token, along with a peg of whisky. The nondrinkers can just take the money. Thus Divali is celebrated as one of the biggest and grandest festivals of India.
A recipe for a delicious dish prepared during Divali follows.
INGREDIENTS AND OTHER ITEMS
1 karahi
1 thaali or parat
¾ cup water
1 cup sugar
150 gm (1 ½ cups) suji
250 gm (+ 50 gm if required for dipping the rotis) maida
6 dessert spoons (tablespoons) ghee or cooking oil for deep frying
Warm the water in a pot. Then remove from the heat, and mix the sugar into the water. Put this mixture aside. Sieve the maida and suji and mix. Add 6 dessert spoons of melted ghee or oil, and knead into the breadcrumb stage. Sieve the sugar and water through a fine sieve. Blend the sugar-and-water mixture slowly with the breadcrumb-stage dough, and knead further into a soft dough. Roll out individual flat balls as for puri; if they stick, use a little dry maida. The thickness should be ¼” or even a little more.
Pour the ghee or oil for deep frying into a karahi, and heat until very hot; then reduce the fire to low and start frying, adjusting the fire as needed. Fry to dark brown, two mandhis at a time. This recipe will yield about 14 mandhis.
This essay was previously published as “Diwali,” The Book of Hindu Festivals and Ceremonies (New Delhi: UBS Publishers’ Distributors, 1994), 208–19.