Diwali: The Festival of Lights
by Jaya Dasgupta
Please click here for details about a Dewali Festival celebration from noon to 1 p.m. Monday, Nov. 4, on the first floor of the Siek Campus Center. The event is presented by Sponsored by the International Students Club and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
In a land far away from here, literally on the other side of the globe, the day we will celebrate Halloween, people will celebrate a festival called Diwali. On the darkest of nights, being new moon, the streets and homes are lit up, traditionally with oil lamps, but in the modern times, also with incandescent lights. And the sky lights up with fireworks, thus, earning the name “the festival of lights,” one of the main festivals celebrated by Hindus not just in India, but all over the world. (Fun fact: The original name of the festival is Deepawali, a string of lights.)
Devouring the best that Indian cuisine has to offer, decked in colorful clothing, spending time with your friends and neighbors and getting to see your family members – that’s the happy feeling we all look forward to beyond borders. But like many festivals or celebrations, there is mythology associated with Diwali. However, to know the story behind Diwali, we need to know that it is closely linked to another major festival – Dusshera.
Now story time, for which we must go back to a time when there lived a kind, brave and wise king named Dasharath and his three wives and four sons. Everyone lived happily in his kingdom. However, things weren’t the same within the palace walls, where claim to the throne was a cause of conflict (mostly because of his second queen). Unfortunately, we don’t have time for all the details, but long story short, she persuaded the King to banish his eldest son, Ram, the successor to the throne, to 14 years in exile. His wife, Sita, and younger brother, Lakshman, decided to accompany Ram.
During their exile, despite their hardships, they had many enriching experiences and adventures. But it ended in a mishap when Sita was kidnapped by the learned but egotistic king of Lanka, Ravan. (Side note: Ravan is always pictured as having ten heads. Did he really have so many heads? Well, that’s the beauty of mythology. Each of his heads is an embodiment of a flaw. It goes on to show that even with being educated and wise, humans can and do have flaws. Flaws that Ravan wore proudly as his heads). Ram and Lakshman, with the help of the animals and birds and, most importantly, the monkeys and their king, whom they befriended in the forest, crossed the ocean and fought a war that ended with the death of Ravan. Sita was thus freed from her captor. The killing of Ravan is celebrated as Dusshera. The death of Ravan in the hands of the virtuous king, Ram, is not so much the death of his physical being, but the symbolic of death of our vices and destruction of our flaws. It emphasizes the idea that all of us have vices and virtues, and each one of us has the power to overcome the vices using the strengths of our virtues. In the end, good always wins over evil. Even today, in India and worldwide, Hindus burn the effigy of Ravan to symbolize the strength to destroy what is negative within us.
This battle also marked the end of their time in exile, meaning, the three of them were now to return home to their kingdom in Ayodhya. The old king Dasharath had passed away, and Ram’s stepbrother, Bharat ruled, but only as a symbolic head of the state. Their family, including the repentant queen who had forced Ram to exile, and the citizens of Ayodhya, eagerly awaited the return of their King and Queen. Diwali is celebrated 20 days after Dusshera, the time it is believed it took for them to walk home from Lanka.
It was a new moon night. To ensure that they did not return home in dark and gloom, the residents of the palace and the city lit thousands of oil lamps. The streets were lined with lamps and people sang and danced and celebrated the return of Ram, Sita and Lakshman to their home.
That, in a nutshell, is the story behind these two big festivals. Beyond the boundaries of religion and mythology, these celebrations are truly the celebration of what makes humans human. It is a reminder that whether a king or a pauper, we are all prone to adversities sometime in our lives. And it is during these times of hardships, we need to show our determination and our grit to overcome them. It is also a celebration of families and, above all, a celebration of the victory of good over evil. These are things we all hold close to our heats and values we cherish as humans. For isn’t this just a season of celebrations that brings everyone close? Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas… and many more! In the end, as humans, we all look forward to having time to rejoice, to have our loved ones close to us, and to grow as human beings. To find that common link between all of us – the link of being a human.
As immigrants, we often celebrate our festivals over the weekends with our friends and communities, reliving the memories of home. It is a joy and privilege to be able to write and share this note with you all. And a very special kind of joy to see the festival acknowledged first by the White House, then the state of New York and now, our own college community!
The image is a pumpkin I carved many years back when Halloween and Diwali fell on the same day, just like this year! Is this not a way to celebrate the best of both worlds?
On behalf of everyone celebrating the festival or the spirit of the festival, I wish you all a very happy and prosperous Diwali!
This article was written by Jaya Dasgupta, associate professor in the Biology, Chemistry and Physics Department and co-advisor of the Biology Club Dept.Co-advisor, Biology Club, and submitted by the college’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as part of an ongoing series.
In service,
Ainsley Thomas
Chief Diversity Officer