DEEPAVALI (DEEVAALI)Deepavali is celebrated on the new moon day in the month of Karthik of Sakavarsha, 20 days after Vijayadasami. In Sanskrit the term 'Deepa' means lamp and the term 'Avali' means array.Deepavali means array of lights(lamps). People get up at ' brahmamuhoortha ' (about 3 a.m.) and take bath applying oil all over the body as well as head. It may be because of the belief that Goddess Lakshmi resides in gingelly oil and Goddess Ganges resides in water till sunrise on the day of Deepavali. New colourfull dresses are worn. Houses are cleaned and decorated with array of lamps. Delicious dishes especially sweets are prepared.Fireworks are burst. Everyone forgets and forgives the wrongs done by others. People move out mingling together freely, without any reserve. All enmities are forgotten. The bursting of firecrackers is the symbol of destroying the evil things and the illumination means honouring virtues. The light of virtues resides in the mind, destroying the darkness of all evil thoughts.
There are many legends relating to Deepavali. Two among them are most popular. Narakasura was the wicked king of Pradyoshapuram also known as Pragjyothipuram, a province to the south of Nepal. He performed severe and prolonged penance to propitiate Lord Brahma and won his blessing. He committed atrocities all over the world. He kidnapped sixteen thousand girls and imprisoned them. He snatched the umbrella of Lord Indra,the king of heaven. All the gods are believed to be succession of mother Aditi.Narakasura stole Aditi's earrings. Indra went to the Trinity of gods{Brahma,Vishnu & Maheswara} who suggested him to seek the help of Sree Krishna. Sree Krishna was returning home with his wife Sathyabhama . He fought against Narakasura. His soldiers and seven sons were killed.Finally Narakasura was defeated. When he fell down Sathyabhama placed his head on his mother's lap(Narakasura was the son of Bhoomi Devi). He confessed that he had done many evil deeds and that he deserved death as punishment. Narakasura felt repentance towards the end of his life as a result of the contact with Sree Krishna and begged pardon. Gods were willing to forget his evil deeds and to forgive. His soul was exonerated from all the sins and was blessed with salvation. He requested his mother not to mourn on his death. He requested to celebrate the day of his demise with great pomp and splendour as it was the day of the end of evil. The eve of Deepavali, the day on which Narakasura was killed, is known as Narakachadurdhashi. All the wealth robbed by Narakasura was recovered and the girls were released and sent to their homes. In the absence of Sri Krishna people were worshipping Goddess Lakshmi for prosperity and welfare. People were anxious about the delay of Sri Krishna's arrival. They prayed Goddess Lakshmi for his safe and quick arrival. When he arrived home, he took bath applying oil all over the body to cleanse himself after the hectic work done during the fight. In memory of this, people get up at ' brahmamuhoortha ' and take bath applying oil all over the body as well as head. Whatever the legend may be, the victory of virtue over evil is celebrated during Deepavali. All the darkness including the darkness of mind is destroyed and bright light of virtue is placed. To be able to forget and forgive, to be able to mingle together with free mind, without any reserve or discrimination is indeed a great quality which Deepavali provides us with. Let us bid goodbye to darkness and welcome divine light to our self.
