The festival of lights, Diwali, is arguably India’s biggest religious celebration. The Sanskrit word for it, Deepavali, translates into ‘row of lights’. Light symbolises hope. Homes, institutions and entire neighbourhoods are decorated with candles, earthen lamps and fairy lights on this auspicious moonless night. This is the one unifying facet of Diwali across regions.
In most urban centres, Diwali has come to be associated with weeks of card parties that culminate in a grand evening of fire crackers, on the main day of the festival. A homogeneous culture has set in with the modern youth that sees the festival as a time for exuberance and conspicuous consumption. Traditionally, however, different regions of India have diverse ways of commemorating this day. Get-togethers are secondary to more ritualistic practices that vary from culture to culture. Although Diwali is the commemoration of Lord Rama’s return from 14 years of exile, not all parts of India adhere to this theology. Here are some of the lesser known variations of the festival
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