Origin of Diwali – a Festival of Joy

India is called as a land of festivals, where there will be one or other festival celebrated by people of different states on different times, throughout the year. Every state has its own unique festivals that are not celebrated in other states. For example, Onam is celebrated in Kerala, but not in any other state. Pongal is celebrated in Tamilnadu, but not known in other states.

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But there is one festival, which is celebrated by almost all states of India. That is Deepavali, also pronounced as Diwali in some parts, which is the Festival of Lights. The word Deepavali is derived from two words ‘Deepam’ which means Lamp and “Oli” which means light. On the day of deepavali, people lit lamps all over their home and also burn / burst crackers.

The celebration of diwali has lot of stories associated with it, which differs from place to place. It is celebrated for four days.

The first day is called as Aswayuja Bahula Chaturdasi, also called as Naraka Chaturdasi. “Naraka” was a demon king, who was the son of Bhumadevi (or Bhudevi) otherwise known as Mother Earth. He did a severe penance (thapas or prayers) towards Lord Brahma and got his wish fulfilled, that he should be killed only by his mother. He was sure that no mother will kill her own son. So, he cruelly tortured all living beings, with his immense power. The unbearable saints pleaded Lord Vishnu to save them from the tyranny of the demon. Lord blessed them that he will kill Naraka during his avatar as Lord Krishna.

During the Krishna avatar, Bhudevi was in the avatar of Satyabhama, wife of Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna went for a war with Naraka, having his wife Satyabhama as his Charioteer. During the war, Lord Krishna acted as if he got hurt by the arrows of Naraka and acted as fainted. By seeing this, Satyabhama, who was not aware of her Purvajenma (the previous birth), got angry. She took her bow and aimed arrows at Naraka. Being the mother of Naraka, she was able to kill him. The demon king’s live got ended in the hands of his own mother.