Diwali

The story behind the day

Diwali, the festival of lights, is a five-day autumn celebration kept in October or November around the new moon. Hindus, Jains and Sikhs all keep it, and some Buddhists too, and each tradition tells its own reason for the lamps. Hindus remember Rāma and Sītā coming home to Ayodhyā and honour the goddess Lakṣmī. Jains commemorate the nirvāṇa of Mahāvīra. Sikhs mark the release of Guru Hargobind from Gwalior fort, a day they call Bandi Chhor Divas. This calendar places the main night at sunset on the new moon of the dark fortnight of Āśvina.^[1–5]

Origins

Ayodhya lit for Rama's returnIllustration · AI-generated

The Hindu story is the Rāmāyaṇa, the Sanskrit epic in which the demon king Rāvaṇa kidnaps Rāma's wife Sītā and Rāma wins her back. When the couple began their long journey home, as the story is told, everyone lit oil lamps to guide and welcome them, and the lights are taken as a sign of light overcoming darkness, just as Rāma defeated Rāvaṇa. Hindus also honour Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, prosperity and wealth, and offerings are made to her inviting her to bless the year ahead.^{[3, 6–7]}

What it marks

For Jains the lamps recall Mahāvīra and his nirvāṇa. People are said to have lit lamps on the night of his passing in his honour, and Jain tradition places his death at Pāvāpurī in Bihar in 527 BCE; some modern scholars date him later, to about 490 to 410 BCE. For Sikhs the festival recalls Guru Hargobind, whom the Mughal emperor Jahangir had held in the fort of Gwalior. The Sikh account says he would not leave unless fifty-two other princes were freed with him.^{[4, 8–10]}

How it is kept

diyas along a Varanasi ghat — Diyas along a Varanasi ghatIllustration · AI-generated

The name Diwali comes from the Sanskrit dīpāvali, a row of lamps, and across India countless small lamps are lit. In Amritsar the Darbār Sāhib, the Golden Temple, is illuminated for the occasion, and the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism records that the anniversary of the Guru's release is marked there with lights and fireworks. In Hindu homes Lakṣmī is worshipped, and offerings are made to her asking for her blessing on the household in the year ahead.^{[5–7, 11–12]}

Across traditions

Bandi Chhor Divas at the Golden Temple, Jain lamps for Mahavira's nirvanaIllustration · AI-generated

The same night carries three stories. Hindu accounts speak of Rāma's homecoming, Jain accounts of Mahāvīra's nirvāṇa, and Sikh accounts of Guru Hargobind's freedom. Dates in the Sikh memory are not settled: the Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions gives 1619 for his release, the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism puts a stay of a few months in the fort in 1617 to 1619, and the Sikh gurdwara committee SGPC dates his detention at Gwalior to 1609 to 1612. The festival's date, by contrast, is fixed by the lunar calendar rather than by any one of these events.^{[1, 13]}

Sources

Each statement above was checked against published sources; the verdict says whether it stood as written, was corrected or was hedged.