Story behind Diwali

In India, if you ask children what is the festival which they like the most, many of them will answer that Diwali is their favourite one because they burn crackers which is their most favourite part about this festival. Diwali, also known as “Festival of lights” usually falls in the month of October. On this day, most of the people do Laxmi pooja and pray for wealth and prosperity. They distribute sweets among themselves on this beautiful occasion and they believe that burning crackers kills harmful insects. On Diwali, people burn the idol of the demon “Naraka Asura” and celebrate the festival with great warmth. There are several stories associated with this festival but the most popular ones are shown below.

Demon Narakasura’s death:

There once took place the birth of a baby boy who was the son of Earth goddess and Varaha, one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. His mother noticed that the boy clearly showed demonic qualities and thought that his death would be in the hands of Lord Vishnu. So she urged her husband not to kill him upon any circumstances to which Vishnu thought for a while and gave her a boon. According to the boon, no one but only Earth goddess could kill him. After hearing this, she felt relaxed because she strongly believed that she wouldn’t be killing her own son with her hands. But as the days were passing, there was no one could who stop Narakasura and his demonic qualities grew day by day. Even the Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara couldn't do anything. Taking this an advantage, his grew his crimes day by day.

At last, unable to bear this, all the gods approached Lord Vishnu and prayed to save them from Narkasura. Having known that death was nearer to Narakasura, Lord Vishnu gave his word to them that Narakasura would soon be killed. Within no time, Lord Vishnu incarnated as Sri Krishna and Earth goddess as Satyabama, his wife. On the other hand, Narakasura continued to torture everyone. He used to torment sages, exasperate every king that he met. Once it so happened that he met Lord Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna knew that Naraksura’s death would be in the hands of Earth goddess, then Satyabama. This was the reason that he didn’t stop her from coming to the war field when she wanted to come along with him.

Then there took place a great war between Narakaura and Sri Krishna. Both of them fought vigorously with their weapons. At last, Narakasura made Sri Krishna faint with his power. This made Satyabama angry and she herself began to fight with Narakasura. She hit the arrows one by one bravely on to the Narakasura’s heart to which he fell on the ground and died. This made everyone very happy and they celebrated the occasion. So this is one of the popular stories behind celebrating Diwali.

Rama’s return to Ayodhya after vanvas:

Most of the people believe that Diwali is celebrated as Lord Rama returned to his kingdom Ayodhya after 14 years of vanvas. In Treta Yoga, There lived a king called Dasrath in Ayodhya who had four sons namely Rama, Lakshmana, Bharatha and Shatragna. When the king Dasrath wanted his eldest son Rama to take the throne, his second wife Kaikei reminded him of the word given by him about Rama’s exile in the forest for fourteen years. Though he didn’t want to send them to vanvas, he had to send them because he couldn’t deny his own word. Then Lord Rama, along with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana set out to stay in the forest for fourteen years.

During their vanvas, once Sita gets abducted by demon Ravana. Then Rama with his vanara synyam (the army of monkeys) builds a bridge between Ayodhya and Lanka with stones. They work vigorously day and night for this mission to complete. A squirrel watching all this wants to help them in some way. So it drenches itself in the water and tosses itself in mud, then goes into the water where the construction of bridge takes place. This way, it takes part in the mission. Rama watches this and appreciates its efforts even though it is a very tiny part in the construction. He then places his fingers on the squirrel and strikes slowly on its back which is the reason why squirrels have three lines on their back even today as the squirrel asks for the Rama’s lines for its entire species to come in future.

Finally when the bridge gets ready, Lord Rama goes to Lanka and kills Ravana. Most of the people observe this occasion as Dussehra. After killing Ravana, he returns to Ayodhya along with Sita and Lakshamna. It takes them twenty one days to reach Ayodhya. After their arrival to Ayodhya, everyone celebrates the occasion by lighting lamps all around. Many people believe that this is how Diwali originated which is the reason we have twenty one days in between Dussehra and Diwali.

Story of Vamana and Bali Chakravarti:

Bali Chakravarti, who was the king of Asuras, once strongly determined to win over gods by occupying the heaven. To accomplish his mission, he started the Vishwajith Yaga under the supervision of his teacher Shuklacharya. Upon the successful completion of Yaga, he acquired the gold chariot, divine weapons and divine shields. He then set out to win Swarg (the heaven). Gods didn’t know about this but the heaven quivered due to Bali’s chariot’s terrible movement. Then the teacher of Devas, Brihaspati intimated all the Devas that Bali would be going to rise against Devas in heaven and suggested them to leave the heaven for some time and come back when circumstances were favourable. When Devas asked him when the circumstances would be favourable, Brihaspati told them that it would happen when Bali’s teacher Shuklacharya cursed Bali.

Soon Bali occupied the heaven. Having known this, Deva Mata Adithi prayed Lord Vishnu about Bali to which he assured her that he would protect good qualities from him. He then turned immediately into a Vamana (A Brahman child) and went to the Bali’s place of Yaga. Bali saw the Vamana and showed his kind hospitality to his guest and washed his legs with his own hands. He then asked Vamana what he wanted and assured him that he was ready to give anything that he would desire for. After hearing this, Vamana asked Bali that he only wanted three feet of land to which Bali asked him what was the reason behind asking only three feet of land when he had the ability to give anything in the world. Then Vamana told Bali that if a man had no satisfaction in taking a three feet of land, he wouldn’t have satisfaction even if the whole Earth was given to him and asked that he wanted only three feet of land that he would set his feet on. Bali accepted his desire but his teacher Shuklacharya stopped him and warned that it all looked like Lord Vishnu’s magic and asked him not to grant his wish. But Bali told him that he wouldn’t take his word back as he was the grandson of Prahlad to which Shuklacharya reminded him that there would be no wrong in taking back the word to protect one’s own life but Bali denied his words. This made Shuklacharya angry and he cursed Bali that his end would be soon. Thus saying, he went away.

Bali thought to himself that even if Lord Vishnu came in the form of Vamana, he wouldn’t deny his word. Then Vamana grew higher and bigger so fast and he set one of his feet on Earth, another one on the heaven. He then wanted to test Bali’s greatness and asked Bali where to put his third foot else there would be no use of accepting his wish. Bali, happened to know everything, urged Vamana to set his third foot on his head. Then Lord Vishnu in the form of Vamana, lauded his great quality of having his word irrespective of his guru’s warning. He then blessed Bali that he would have the great privilege to enter Vaikuntam where even Devas were not allowed to enter but before that he would rule the Kingdom Suthala lokam. In his next incarnation, he would become Lord Indra and stay in the heaven. Thus, after saying this, Vamana put his third foot on Bali’s head. So some of the people believe that this is also a reason why we celebrate Diwali.

However, it is strongly believed that Goddess Laxmi comes to her devotees home if they pray her on this day. This is why people keep everything clean and do Laxmi pooja to please her.

So, these are some of the stories associated with celebrating Diwali but I wonder how even the Asuras had these great qualities in the ancient times. That’s really great. Isn't it? Anyhow, with the festival of lights officially due in next few months, let’s hope everyone has a great time. Wishing you a happy Diwali in advance. Stay safe and stay happy! Will be back shortly with another interesting story behind the festival. Meanwhile, if you know any other interesting stories associated with Diwali, don’t hesitate to comment them in the comment box below.