Diwali: All you need to know about the festival of lights

Charan Kumar
October 18, 2017

Diwali or Deepavali, the festival of lights, sees millions attend firework displays, prayers and celebratory events across the world every autumn. Celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains for a variety of reasons, the main theme is the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil.

Also known as Deepavali, a Sanskrit word meaning “rows of lighted lamps”, it is one of the most popular Hindu festivals celebrated across South Asia.  But it is also celebrated by Jains and Sikhs.

It sees millions of earthenware oil lamps, called diyas, light up people’s homes, shops, public spaces and places of worship as part of celebrations which marks the start of the Hindu new year.

Diwali is celebrated every year on the 15th day of Kartika. The celebrations last for five days. The night before Diwali, people clean and decorate their homes and offices. On Diwali night, people dress up in new clothes, light diyas and pray to goddess Lakshmi — the goddess of fertility and prosperity.

Why this celebration?

The mythical stories around Diwali vary regionally and within the traditions of Hinduism. It is believed to be the festival after the summer harvest in the month of Kartika. It is also associated with the legend of Yama and Nachiketa on Kartika Amavasya (Diwali night). The Nachiketa story — about right versus wrong, true wealth versus transient wealth, knowledge versus ignorance — is noted in the Katha Upanishad that was composed in 1st millennium BC.

In North India, Diwali is celebrated as the day when Lord Rama returned from his 14-year exile after defeating Ravana. People of Ayodhya light candles and diyas to celebrate his return to the kingdom. According to another legend, Pandavas from the Mahabharata returned to their homeland after 13 years, and the day is celebrated to commemorate their return. In South India, it is celebrated as the day Lord Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura. There are still other theories associated with Deepavali, such as Lord Mahavira attaining enlightenment on this day, the rising of goddess Lakshmi from the sea and the birth of goddess Kali.

Five days

There is significant variation in regional practices and rituals. Prayers are offered to one or more deities, with the most common being Lakshmi — the goddess of wealth and prosperity. Each day of Diwali has its own story and legends.

The first day of Deepavali is known as Dhanteras, which means the coming of wealth and prosperity to the home. People buy utensils, silver or gold coins to signify the welcoming of wealth to their homes.

The second day, today, is known as Naraka Chaturdasi, which is a celebration of Lord Krishna defeating the demon Narakasura.

The third day is Amavasya, at which Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped, as she fulfills all wishes.

The fourth day is known as Bali Pratipada, to mark the day when Lord Vishnu defeated the demon king Bali in his Vamana avatar. A Govardhan puja is also held on this day to mark the defeat of the proud Indra by Lord Krishna.

The fifth day is known as Yama Dvitiya or Bhai Dooj, which is when the lord of death Yama visits his sister, Yami.

Apart from this, another prevalent tradition is the worshipping of cattle by farmers. According to farmers, cows are their primary source of wealth, which is why they treat cattle like god. In some parts of the country, cows are worshipped as goddess Lakshmi.

Diyas, Kartik lamps and Rangoli

There cannot be Deepavali without diyas. A diya is an oil lamp usually made of clay, with a cotton wick dipped in ghee or vegetable oils. It is lit in households celebrating Deepavali to shed light on darkness. Lighting lamps are of utmost significance in the month of Kartika. There is a tradition of offering akash deep (hanging lamps) during this month.

During Deepavali, people clean their homes and decorate the courtyards, walls and entrances with hangings, torans and colorful rangolis to welcome goddess Lakshmi.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
January 16,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 16: Amping up the online payment experience for consumers, Razorpay, the leading full-stack financial services company, today launched a new product, Instant Refunds for businesses.

This new feature activates refunds and credits the customer's source account across payment methods such as credit card, net banking, and UPI within a minute of initiation.

India is one of the fastest-growing online retail markets today. About 71 per cent of internet users in the country purchase products online. Today, the refund process has two major pain points for both the end customer and the business.

First, a delay of five-seven business days for the customer in receiving the money because of multiple intermediaries like the acquiring bank, issuing bank and the networks (VISA/MasterCard/Rupay).

Second, the lack of transparency during the entire refund process for both the customer and the business. This long cycle of processing refunds is a significant problem with every popular payment method in the industry.

By issuing refunds instantly, Razorpay will help businesses retain their customers, build trust through an improved hassle-free payment experience and provide complete transparency on refunds to both the business and the end-user.

This new feature will also reduce the dependence on manpower as every refund issue on an average leads to ten service emails or calls from customer support teams.

"Instant Refunds are the new normal and central to great customer experience. A lot of consumers fail to use online payment methods as they feel getting refunds through an online platform is a very time-consuming task; hence they prefer CoD as the best alternative. Given the technological advancements being made in the fin-tech ecosystem, its fair for customers to expect refunds as fast as possible. A solution like Instant Refunds will not only help build consumer confidence in digital payments but also reduce losses for e-commerce companies where CoD has become an expensive option with more than 50 per cent online transactions made through cash", said Shashank Kumar, CTO & Co-founder of Razorpay.

"Our Instant Refunds feature ensures that the refund is processed at a 3600x faster pace than the normal expected time of five-seven business days. The team is focused on creating new technologies designed to make the entire payment lifecycle hassle-free. We believe this new feature will make customers experience a notch higher, help brands create a competitive advantage, and even make them more profitable", he added.

Razorpay's growth has been uphill, particularly in the last two years. With a 500 per cent growth in 2019, the company has been witnessing a healthy growth rate of 35 per cent month-on-month.

The company also recently launched its corporate credit cards for its partner businesses, RazorpayX current accounts, support for freelancers and homepreneurs, and acquired Opfin, a payroll and HR management software company.

Currently powering payments for over 800,000 businesses including the likes of Indigo, BSE, Thomas Cook, Reliance, SpiceJet, Aditya Birla, Sony, and Oyo, the team plans to increase this count to 1,400,000 by this year. The full-stack financial solutions company expects a 4x growth in its revenue by the end of the next fiscal year.

This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 19,2020

Mysuru, May 19: Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday announced the results of garbage free-star rating for Indian cities.

He said that Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh, Rajkot in Gujarat, Mysuru in Karnataka, Indore in Madhya Pradesh and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra have got a five-star rating.

Puri extended the wishes to the cities who got a five-star rating and said it came at a time when the entire world, including India, are reeling under the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

"It was the intention of my senior colleagues and others to declare the result of star rating of garbage-free cities much earlier but we decided to postpone because we wanted at least some degree of opening to take place and we thought the timing is correct," Puri said.

The minister said that of all the flagship programmes Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced, Swachta Mission is the most important programme for him.

"I have often shared with you my assessment that of all the flagship programmes that the Prime Minister had announced after the 2014 election results. But my personal view, a view I have had a citizen and certainly a view that is fortified by my experience as Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, that the Swachta Mission by far is the most important programme of all the missions," Puri said

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 25,2020

Udupi, Jan 25: The accused, who planted a crude bomb at the Mangalore International Airport on January 20, was brought to Udupi on Saturday, to collect information, as part of the spot investigation, police said here.

According to police officials, accused Aditya Rao was brought to Karnataka Bank Kadiyali branch, where Rao had a Safe Locker. The team opened the locker and seized the documents, along with a Box.

They said the seized documents, along with the Box, will be sent to the FSL for investigation.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.