Diwali is the festival of Laxmi, the Goddess of prosperity and wealth.. It is believed that Goddess Laxmi brings peace and prosperity
to all.Diwali is celebrated all over India. The preparations for the festival begins well in advance. People start decorating their homes, preparing sweets and farsans and buy new clothes & jewelry all this to
welcome the Goddess into their homes who comes to bless all.
The festival of Diwali is celebrated for a period of 5 days the last day being the 15th day of Ashwin -(a month of Hindu calendar) which falls somewhere in
the month of October and November. People light up their homes with clay oil lamps and colorful lights and Rangolis . This new moon night or Amavasya as it is called is thus turned into a bright and colorful night.
Diwali is a festival of Hindus, but especially of the Businessmen, On this day they do puja of Account books and start writing their new accounts. This is called as "CHOPDA PUJAN" meaning puja of account
books. The celebration of Diwali can be viewed in all its splendor at night when all the homes are lit up.
Diwali is incomplete without its fireworks. People especially children burst crackers of all variety -
Sparkles, Flower Pots, Rockets, from the fancy ones to the loud noise making Bombs. LEGEND OF DIWALI When Lord Ram killed Ravan and were returning to Ayodhya along with Laxman, Sita and Hanuman, at that time Diwali was
celebrated in Ayodhya for the 1st time. The people of Ayodhya lit up their homes with oil lamps and turned the night into a light festival.
From that time onwards Diwali is celebrated to marks the Victory of Lord Ram
over the evil Ravan. Some Beliefs about Diwali Peoples of Marwadi community this marks the begining of the new year and along with Lakshmi Saraswathi pooja the pooja is performed on the book of accounts also along with
the swastik the blessings of God are invoked for a bright and prosperious year. Why do people clean and decorate their homes for Diwali?
Diwali is considered to be the festival of the Goddess wealth and prosperity
Laxmi - Goddess Laxmi visits all homes to bless the people and so to welcome the goddess homes are cleaned & decorated. Why do people Light up their homes with clay oil lamps? People light up their homes to welcome
Goddess Laxmi. In earlier days there were no lights and not even candles, so in keeping with tradition clay lamps are still used today besides clay lamps are considered Shudh (pure).
Clay lamps also indicates the
victory of Light over Darkness, Good over Evil, as well as the victory of Truth over Falsehood and that man can succeed only through his virtues. So lets all join together in spreading the LIGHT & GOOD CHEER
therefore making the world a better place, a place where there's no room for darkness.
According to Jain community Lord Mahaveera the 24th Thirthankara attained Moksha on the day of Deewali to symbolise this great
occassion the Devas and Celestial heavenly beings showered on him gems and diamonds thus eliminating the whole place. Today diya's are burnt to signify the same thing.
By
Pooja Ramachandran
