DIWALI – TRULY A NATIONAL FESTIVAL

दिवाली है दीपों का त्योहार , सभी धर्मों में लाती  है खुशियों की बहार 

Amongst all the festivals Diwali is one of the festivals which is most widely celebrated across India the main reasons of these being as follows :-

1) Goddess Lakshmi's Birthday: On this very Diwali day, the Goddess of wealth, Lakshmi is said to have been incarnated from the depth of the bottomless ocean.

2) The Killing of Narakasura: The Bhagavata Purana tells us about Narakasura, an evil demon king who had managed to acquire awesome powers. When Lord Vishnu was incarnated as Krishna in the Dwapara Yuga, he killed Narakasura on the day preceding Diwali and rescued 16,000 women whom the demon had imprisoned in his palace.

3) The Return of the Pandavas: The great Hindu epic `Mahabharata' reveals that it was `Kartik Amavashya' (the new moon day of the Kartik month) when the Pandavas appeared from their 12 years of banishment.

4) The Victory of Rama: The great Hindu epic `Ramayana' describes how Lord Ram (the incarnation of Lord Vishnu in the Treta Yug) conquered Lanka after vanquishing the evil King Ravana and after passing a period of of fourteen years in exile returned to his capital Ayodhya on a new moon day of Kartik with wife Sita and brother Lakshman. To celebrate the homecoming of their beloved king, the people of Ayodhya burst crackers, lit up their houses with earthen lamps (diyas), and decorated the entire city in the grandest manner.

5) It is said that Vikramaditya, the legendary Indian king famed for his wisdom, valour and magnanimity was coroneted on the Diwali day following his victory over the Sakas in 56 BC.

6) Diwali marks the auspicious occasion when on a new moon day of Kartik (Diwali day) Swami Dayananda Saraswati, one of the greatest reformers of Hinduism attained his nirvana (enlightenment) and became Maharshi Dayananda.

7) For Jains, Diwali commemorates the enlightenment of Vardhamana Mahavira(the twenty-fourth and last Tirthankaras of the Jains and the founder of modern Jainism) which is said to have occurred on Oct. 15, 527 B.C.

8) For Sikhs, Diwali holds a special significance for it was on a Diwali day that the third Sikh Guru Amar Das institutionalized the festival of lights as an occasion when all Sikhs would gather to receive the Gurus blessings. It was also on a Diwali day in 1619 that their sixth religious leader, Guru Hargobind Ji, who was held by the Mughal Emperor Jahengir in the Gwalior fort, was freed from imprisonment along with 52 Hindu Kings (political prisoners) whom he had arranged to be released as well. And it was also on the same auspicious occasion of Diwali when the foundation stone of the Golden Temple at Amritsar was laid in 1577.

9) Kali Puja in West Bengal

To conclude, there are several reasons behind Diwali celebrations and almost every region of India has its own reason to observe the occasion. Whatever the cause behind its celebration, Diwali is undoubtedly a national festival of India, and the aesthetic aspect of the festival is enjoyed by most Indians regardless of faith.