Diwali#Hinduism

Diwali ({{IPAc-en|lang|pron|d|ᵻ|ˈ|w|ɑː|l|iː}}){{Emdash}}also known as Dewali, Divali,{{sfn|Cybelle T. Shattuck|1999|pp=51, 124}} or Deepavali (IAST: dīpāvalī){{Emdash}}comes from the Sanskrit {{lang|sa|dīpāvali}} meaning {{gloss|row or series of lights}}.{{harvnb|James G. Lochtefeld|2002|pp=200–201}}{{sfn|Jessica Frazier|Gavin Flood|2011|p=255}} The term is derived from the Sanskrit words {{lang|sa|dīpa}}, {{gloss|lamp, light, lantern, candle, that which glows, shines, illuminates or knowledge}}Monier Monier Williams (2008 updated, Harvard University), Sanskrit English dictionary, दीप, [http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/2014/web/webtc/servepdf.php?page=481 p. 481] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817230340/http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/2014/web/webtc/servepdf.php?page=481 |date=17 August 2018 }} and {{lang|sa|āvali}}, {{gloss|a row, range, continuous line, series}}.Monier Monier Williams (2008 updated, Harvard University), Sanskrit English dictionary, आवलि, [http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/monier/serveimg.pl?file=/scans/MWScan/MWScanjpg/mw0155-Avarjaka.jpg p. 155] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327103005/https://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/monier/serveimg.pl?file=%2Fscans%2FMWScan%2FMWScanjpg%2Fmw0155-Avarjaka.jpg |date=27 March 2019 }}{{efn|The holiday is known as dipawoli in {{langx|as|দীপাৱলী}}, dīpabolī or dipali in {{langx|bn|দীপাবলি/দীপালি}}, dīvāḷi in {{langx|gu|દિવાળી}}, divālī in {{langx|hi|दिवाली}}, dīpavaḷi in {{langx|kn|ದೀಪಾವಳಿ}}, {{langx|knn|दिवाळी}}, dīpāvalī in {{langx|mai|दीपावली}}, {{langx|ml|ദീപാവലി}}, {{langx|mr|दिवाळी}}, dīpābali in {{langx|or|ଦୀପାବଳି}}, dīvālī in {{langx|pa|ਦੀਵਾਲੀ}}, diyārī in {{langx|sd|दियारी}}, tīpāvaḷi in {{langx|ta|தீபாவளி}}, and {{langx|te|దీపావళి}}, Galungan in Balinese and Swanti in {{langx|ne|स्वन्ति}} or tihar in {{langx|ne|तिहार}} and Thudar Parba in {{langx|tcy|ತುಡರ್ ಪರ್ಬ}}.}}

The five-day celebration is observed every year sometime from the second half of October to the first half of November{{sfn|Constance Jones|2011|pp= 252–253}} coinciding with a new moon (amāvasyā) as per the Hindu lunisolar calendar.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=61–62}}

The festivities begin two days before amāvasyā, on Dhanteras, and extend two days after, until the second (or 17th) day of the month of Kartik.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|p=61}} (According to Indologist Constance Jones, this night ends the lunar month of Ashwin and starts the month of Kartik{{sfn|Constance Jones|2011|pp= 252–253}} – but see this note{{efn|Historical records appear inconsistent about the name of the lunar month in which Diwali is observed. One of the earliest reports on this variation was by Wilson in 1847. He explained that though the actual Hindu festival day is the same, it is identified differently in regional calendars because there are two traditions in the Hindu calendar. One tradition starts a new month from the new moon, while the other starts it from the full moon.{{Cite journal |last=H.H. Wilson |year=1847 |title=Religious festivals of the Hindus |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=9 |page=61}}}} and Amanta and Purnima systems.) The darkest night is the apex of the celebration.

The festival climax is on the third day and is called the main Diwali. It is an official holiday in a dozen countries, while the other festive days are regionally observed as either public or optional restricted holidays in India.{{Cite web |title=Indian Government Holiday Calendar |url=http://india.gov.in/calendar/calendar.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225122630/https://www.india.gov.in/calendar/calendar.php |archive-date=25 December 2018 |access-date=16 November 2016 |publisher=National Portal of India}} In Nepal, it is also a multiday festival, although the days and rituals are named differently, with the climax being called the Tihar festival by Hindus and Swanti festival by Buddhists.{{Cite book |last1=Robert Isaac Levy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ngacsMPGJPcC |title=Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal |last2=Kedar Raj Rajopadhyaya |publisher=University of California Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-520-06911-4 |pages=411–417 |access-date=20 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112124529/https://books.google.com/books?id=ngacsMPGJPcC |archive-date=12 January 2021 |url-status=live}}{{Cite journal |last=Shrestha |first=Bal Gopal |date=July 2006 |title=The Svanti Festival: Victory over Death and the Renewal of the Ritual Cycle in Nepal |url=http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/contributions/pdf/CNAS_33_02_03.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Contributions to Nepalese Studies |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=206–221 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213034438/http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/contributions/pdf/CNAS_33_02_03.pdf |archive-date=13 December 2013 |access-date=20 August 2018}}

The five-day long festival originated in the Indian subcontinent and is likely a fusion of harvest festivals in ancient India.{{sfn|Constance Jones|2011|pp= 252–253}} It is mentioned in early Sanskrit texts, such as the Padma Purana and the Skanda Purana, both of which were composed between the 7th and 10th centuries.{{Cite book |last=Doniger |first=W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNsXZkdHvXUC |title=The Hindus: An Alternative History |publisher=OUP Oxford |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-19-959334-7 |page=370 |access-date=2024-10-29}}{{Cite book |last=Clothey |first=F.W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AevljBmCRQC&pg=PA224 |title=The Many Faces of Murukan̲: The History and Meaning of a South Indian God |publisher=Mouton |year=1978 |isbn=978-90-279-7632-1 |series=Religion and society |page=224 |access-date=2024-10-29}} The diyas (lamps) are mentioned in Skanda Kishore Purana as symbolising parts of the sun, describing it as the cosmic giver of light and energy to all life and which seasonally transitions in the Hindu calendar month of Kartik.{{harvnb|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=59–65}}{{sfn|James G. Lochtefeld|2002|p=355}}

Emperor Harsha refers to Deepavali, in the 7th-century Sanskrit play Nagananda, as Dīpapratipadotsava (dīpa = light, pratipadā = first day, utsava = festival), where lamps were lit and newly engaged brides and grooms received gifts.BN Sharma, Festivals of India, South Asia Books, {{ISBN|978-0-8364-0283-4}}, pp. 9–35{{Cite book |last=Varadpande |first=Manohar Laxman |title=History of Indian Theatre, Volume 1 |date=1987 |publisher=Abhinav Publications |isbn=978-81-7017-221-5 |page=159}} Rajasekhara referred to Deepavali as Dipamalika in his 9th-century Kavyamimamsa, wherein he mentions the tradition of homes being whitewashed and oil lamps decorated homes, streets, and markets in the night.

File:Radha and Krishna watching fireworks in the night sky.jpg, late 18th-century. National Museum, New Delhi]]

Diwali was also described by numerous travellers from outside India. In his 11th-century memoir on India, the Persian traveller and historian Al Biruni wrote of Deepavali being celebrated by Hindus on the day of the New Moon in the month of Kartika.R.N. Nandi (2009), in A Social History of Early India (Editor: B. Chattopadhyaya), Volume 2, Part 5, Pearson Education, {{ISBN|978-81-317-1958-9}}, pp. 183–184 The Venetian merchant and traveller Niccolò de' Conti visited India in the early 15th-century and wrote in his memoir, "on another of these festivals they fix up within their temples, and on the outside of the roofs, an innumerable number of oil lamps... which are kept burning day and night" and that the families would gather, "clothe themselves in new garments", sing, dance, and feast.{{sfn|Abraham Eraly|2015|pp=315–316}}{{sfn|Robert Sewell|2006|pp=85–86}} The 16th-century Portuguese traveller Domingo Paes wrote of his visit to the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire, where Dipavali was celebrated in October with householders illuminating their homes, and their temples, with lamps.{{sfn|Robert Sewell|2006|pp=85–86}} It is mentioned in the Ramayana that Diwali was celebrated for only 2 years in Ayodhya.

Islamic historians of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire era also mentioned Diwali and other Hindu festivals. A few, notably the Mughal emperor Akbar, welcomed and participated in the festivities,{{sfn|Richard M. Eaton|1996|pp=159–160 with footnotes}}{{sfn|Charles Melville|2012|p=526|ps=: "He [Mahmud b. Amir Vali] gives a very detailed account of the celebration of the ten days of Moharram, which he witnessed in Lahore in 1965, as well as Hindu festivals such as Diwali (...)."}} whereas others banned such festivals as Diwali and Holi, as Aurangzeb did in 1665.{{sfn|Kiyokazu Okita|2014|pp=28–29}}{{sfn|Stephen Blake|2013|pp=87–89}}{{efn|According to Audrey Truschke, the Sunni Muslim emperor Aurangzeb did limit "public observation" of many religious holidays such as Hindu Diwali and Holi, but also of Shia observance of Muharram and the Persian holiday of Nauruz. According to Truschke, Aurangzeb did so because he found the festivals "distasteful" and also from "concerns with public safety" lurking in the background.{{sfn|Audrey Truschke|2017|pp=74–75}} According to Stephen Blake, a part of the reason that led Aurangzeb to ban Diwali was the practice of gambling and drunken celebrations.{{sfn|Stephen Blake|2013|pp=87–89}} Truschke states that Aurangzeb did not ban private practices altogether and instead "rescinded taxes previously levied on Hindu festivals" by his Mughal predecessors.{{sfn|Audrey Truschke|2017|pp=74–75}} John Richards disagrees and states Aurangzeb, in his zeal to revive Islam and introduce strict Sharia in his empire, issued a series of edicts against Hindu festivals and shrines. According to Richards, it was Akbar who abolished the discriminatory taxes on Hindu festivals and pilgrims, and it was Aurangzeb who reinstated the Mughal era discriminatory taxes on festivals and increased other religion-based taxes.{{Cite book |last=John F. Richards |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHyVh29gy4QC |title=The Mughal Empire |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-521-56603-2 |pages=38–40, 175–176 |access-date=23 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529043831/https://books.google.com/books?id=HHyVh29gy4QC |archive-date=29 May 2016 |url-status=live}}}}{{efn|Some Muslims joined the Hindu community in celebrating Diwali in the Mughal era. Illustrative Islamic records, states Stephen Blake, include those of 16th-century Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi who wrote, "during Diwali.... the ignorant ones amongst Muslims, particularly women, perform the ceremonies... they celebrate it like their own Id and send presents to their daughters and sisters,.... they attach much importance and weight to this season [of Diwali]."{{sfn|Stephen Blake|2013|pp=87–89}}}}

Publications from the time of the British Raj also made mention of Diwali, such as the note on Hindu festivals published in 1799 by Sir William Jones, a philologist known for his early observations on Sanskrit and Indo-European languages. In his paper on The Lunar Year of the Hindus, Jones, then based in Bengal, noted four of the five days of Diwali in the autumn months of Aswina-Cartica {{sic}} as the following: Bhutachaturdasi Yamaterpanam (2nd day), Lacshmipuja dipanwita (the day of Diwali), Dyuta pratipat Belipuja (4th day), and Bhratri dwitiya (5th day). The Lacshmipuja dipanwita, remarked Jones, was a "great festival at night, in honour of Lakshmi, with illuminations on trees and houses".{{Cite journal |last=Sir William Jones |author-link=William Jones (philologist) |year=1799 |title=The Lunar Year of the Hindus |journal=Asiatic Researches |volume=3 |pages=263–267, context: 257–293, note the mention of Brahmaputra and Ganges rivers, immersion ceremony on Durga puja}}{{efn|Williams Jones stated that the Bhutachaturdasi Yamaterpanam is dedicated to Yama and ancestral spirits, the Lacshmipuja dipanwita to goddess Lakshmi with invocations to Kubera, the Dyuta pratipat Belipuja to Shiva-Parvati and Bali legends, and the Bhratri dwitiya to Yama-Yamuna legend and the Hindus celebrate the brother-sister relationship on this day. Jones also noted that on the Diwali day, the Hindus had a mock cremation ceremony with "torches and flaming brands" called Ulcadanam, where they said goodbye to their colleagues who had died in war or in a foreign country and had never returned home. The ceremony lit the path of the missing to the mansion of Yama.}}

File:1867 CE chromolithograph, Diwali, feast of lamps, by William Simpson.jpg

Sanskrit inscriptions in stone and copper mentioning Diwali, occasionally alongside terms such as Dipotsava, Dipavali, Divali and Divalige, have been discovered at numerous sites across India.{{Cite book |last=Dineschandra Sircar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pySCGvdyYLIC |title=Indian Epigraphical Glossary |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1966 |isbn=978-81-208-0562-0 |page=98 |access-date=21 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126200729/https://books.google.com/books?id=pySCGvdyYLIC |archive-date=26 January 2021 |url-status=live}}{{Cite book |last=E. Hultzsch |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TcIUAAAAYAAJ |title=Epigraphia Indica and Record of the Archæological Survey of India, Volume V |publisher=Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India |year=1899 |page=13 |access-date=21 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120608/https://books.google.com/books?id=TcIUAAAAYAAJ |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-status=live}}{{efn|Some inscriptions mention the festival of lights in Prakrit terms such as tipa-malai, sara-vilakku and others.}} Examples include a 10th-century Rashtrakuta empire copper plate inscription of Krishna III (939–967 CE) that mentions Dipotsava,{{Cite book |last=Dineschandra Sircar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mh1y1eMgGBMC |title=Studies in the Religious Life of Ancient and Medieval India |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1971 |isbn=978-81-208-2790-5 |pages=128–129 |access-date=21 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815132825/https://books.google.com/books?id=mh1y1eMgGBMC |archive-date=15 August 2021 |url-status=live}} and a 12th-century mixed Sanskrit-Kannada Sinda inscription discovered in the Isvara temple of Dharwad in Karnataka where the inscription refers to the festival as a "sacred occasion".{{Cite book |last=R.S. Panchamukhi |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.69982 |title=Epigraphia Indica, Volume XX |publisher=Archaeological Society of India |year=1933 |editor-last=Hirananda Sastri |pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.69982/page/n151 117], 121, see Lines 44–52}} According to Lorenz Franz Kielhorn, a German Indologist known for translating many Indic inscriptions, this festival is mentioned as Dipotsavam in verses 6 and 7 of the Ranganatha temple Sanskrit inscription of the 13th-century Venad Hindu king Ravivarman Samgramadhira. Part of the inscription, as translated by Kielhorn, reads:

"the auspicious festival of lights which disperses the most profound darkness, which in former days was celebrated by the kings Ila, Kartavirya and Sagara, (...) as Sakra (Indra) is of the gods, the universal monarch who knows the duties by the three Vedas, afterwards celebrated here at Ranga for Vishnu, resplendent with Lakshmi resting on his radiant lap."{{Cite book |last=F. Kielhorn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vqZCAAAAYAAJ |title=Epigraphia Indica, Volume IV |publisher=Archaeological Society of India |year=1896 |editor-last=E. Hultzsch |pages=148–151 |access-date=21 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120611/https://books.google.com/books?id=vqZCAAAAYAAJ |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-status=live}}{{efn|The Sanskrit inscription is in the Grantha script. It is well preserved on the north wall of the second prakara in the Ranganatha temple, Srirangam island, Tamil Nadu.}}

Jain inscriptions, such as the 10th-century Saundatti inscription about a donation of oil to Jinendra worship for the Diwali rituals, speak of Dipotsava.{{Cite book |last=Ramendra Nath Nandi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7HRgstuWe6EC |title=Religious Institutions and Cults in the Deccan, c. A.D. 600–A.D. 1000 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1973 |isbn=978-0-8426-0564-9 |page=38 |access-date=21 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120609/https://books.google.com/books?id=7HRgstuWe6EC |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-status=live}}{{Cite book |last1=Madhusudan A. Dhaky |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TXIYAQAAMAAJ |title=Encyclopaedia of Indian temple architecture, Volume 1, Part 3 |last2=Michael W. Meister |publisher=American Institute of Indian Studies |year=1996 |isbn=978-81-86526-00-2 |pages=255–257 |access-date=21 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120610/https://books.google.com/books?id=TXIYAQAAMAAJ |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-status=live}} Another early 13th-century Sanskrit stone inscription, written in the Devanagari script, has been found in the north end of a mosque pillar in Jalore, Rajasthan evidently built using materials from a demolished Jain temple. The inscription states that Ramachandracharya built and dedicated a drama performance hall, with a golden cupola, on Diwali.{{Cite book |last=E. Hultzsch |url=https://archive.org/stream/EpigraphiaIndicaXI/Epigraphia%20Indica%20XI#page/n71 |title=Epigraphia Indica, Volume XI |publisher=Archaeological Society of India |year=1980 |pages=52–55}}{{Cite book |last=Manohar Laxman Varadpande |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SISkCN6L0nUC&pg=PA23 |title=Religion and Theatre |publisher=Abhinav Publications |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-391-02794-7 |page=23 |quote=The most important reference is to the setting up of the golden cupola in the newly built central hall for dramatic performances on the occasion of Dipotsava Dana in v.s. 1268. The inscription written in Sanskrit clearly points out a tradition, in the Jain Viharas of performing plays on festive occasions before the idol of Mahavira. |access-date=21 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120611/https://books.google.com/books?id=SISkCN6L0nUC&pg=PA23 |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-status=live}}{{efn|The Diwali-related inscription is the 4th inscription and it includes the year Vikrama Era 1268 (c. 1211 CE).}}

File:Raja Ravi Varma, Goddess Lakshmi, 1896.jpg, the goddess of wealth.]]

The religious significance of Diwali varies regionally within India.

One tradition links the festival to legends in the Hindu epic Ramayana, where Diwali is the day Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, and Hanuman reached Ayodhya after a period of 14 years in exile after Rama's army of good, defeated demon king Ravana's army of evil.{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|p=91}} Throughout the epic, Rama's decisions were always in line with dharma (duty) and the Diwali festival serves as a reminder for followers of Hinduism to maintain their dharma in day-to-day life.{{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=Mason |title=Diwali and Its Origins |publisher=OUACHITA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY |year=2022 |pages=2 |language=English}}

Per another popular tradition, in the Dvapara Yuga period, Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, killed the demon Narakasura, who was the evil king of Pragjyotishapura, near present-day Assam, and released 16000 girls held captive by Narakasura. Diwali was celebrated as a signifier of triumph of good over evil after Krishna's Victory over Narakasura. The day before Diwali is remembered as Naraka Chaturdashi, the day on which Narakasura was killed by Krishna.{{Cite web |title=Krishna Killed Narakasur – The Narakasur Legend of Diwali – Diwali Legend |url=http://www.diwalicelebrations.net/diwali-legends/krisna-narakasur.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227121743/http://www.diwalicelebrations.net/diwali-legends/krisna-narakasur.html |archive-date=27 February 2019 |access-date=17 December 2018 |website=diwalicelebrations.net}}

File:Diwali Lakshmi Poojan.jpg worship during Diwali]]

File:Diwali Ganesh Laxmi Puja 001.jpg

Many Hindus associate the festival with Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, and wife of Vishnu. According to Pintchman, the start of the 5-day Diwali festival is stated in some popular contemporary sources as the day goddess Lakshmi was born from Samudra Manthana, the churning of the cosmic ocean of milk by the Devas (gods) and the Asuras (demons) – a Vedic legend that is also found in several Puranas such as the Padma Purana, while the night of Diwali is when Lakshmi chose and wed Vishnu.{{Cite journal |last=Pechilis |first=Karen |year=2007 |title=Guests at God's Wedding: Celebrating Kartik among the Women of Benares |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=273–275 |doi=10.1017/S0021911807000460}} Along with Lakshmi, who is representative of Vaishnavism, Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Parvati and Shiva of Shaivism tradition, is remembered as one who symbolises ethical beginnings and the remover of obstacles.{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|p=91}}

Hindus of eastern India associate the festival with the Goddess Kali, who symbolises the victory of good over evil.{{sfn|Laura Amazzone|2012|}}Buck, C. (2008). Hindu Festivals, Festivals in Indian Society (2 Vols. Set), Vol 1, {{ISBN|978-81-8324-113-7}}{{Cite journal |last=Holm |first=Jean |year=2006 |title=Growing Up in Hinduism |journal=British Journal of Religious Education |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=116–120 |doi=10.1080/0141620840060303}} Hindus from the Braj region in northern India, parts of Assam, as well as southern Tamil and Telugu communities view Diwali as the day the god Krishna overcame and destroyed the evil demon king Narakasura, in yet another symbolic victory of knowledge and good over ignorance and evil.{{sfn|Michael D. Coogan|2003|pp=152–153}}{{sfn|Lavanya Vemsani|2016|pp=190–191}}

Trade and merchant families and others also offer prayers to Saraswati, who embodies music, literature and learning and Kubera, who symbolises book-keeping, treasury and wealth management. In western states such as Gujarat, and certain northern Hindu communities of India, the festival of Diwali signifies the start of a new year.{{sfn|Michael D. Coogan|2003|pp=152–153}}

Mythical tales shared on Diwali vary widely depending on region and even within Hindu tradition,{{Cite book |last1=Vasudha Narayanan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdTJJEQsDHoC |title=Celebrate Diwali |last2=Deborah Heiligman |publisher=National Geographic |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4263-0291-6 |page=31 |access-date=14 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102030400/https://books.google.com/books?id=rdTJJEQsDHoC |archive-date=2 January 2017 |url-status=live}} yet all share a common focus on righteousness, self-inquiry and the importance of knowledge,[http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/wfchannel/index.php?wfc_cid=39 Hindu Festivals] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151011182204/http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/wfchannel/index.php?wfc_cid=39 |date=11 October 2015 }} Hinduism Today (2010)Carol Plum-Ucci (2007). Celebrate Diwali, Enslow Publishers, {{ISBN|978-0-7660-2778-7}}, pp. 39–57 which, according to Lindsey Harlan, an Indologist and scholar of Religious Studies, is the path to overcoming the "darkness of ignorance".{{sfn|Frank Salamone|2004|p=112, Article on Divali by Lindsey Harlan}} The telling of these myths is reminiscent of the Hindu belief that good ultimately triumphs over evil.{{Cite book |last=Bridget Brereton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uNrUU360mzsC&pg=PA113 |title=An Introduction to the History of Trinidad and Tobago |publisher=Heinemann |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-435-98474-8 |page=113 |access-date=19 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120611/https://books.google.com/books?id=uNrUU360mzsC&pg=PA113 |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-status=live}}{{sfn|Darra Goldstein|2015|pp=222–223}}

Originally a Hindu festival, Diwali has transcended religious lines.{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Henry |date=2007-06-01 |title='Happy Diwali!' Performance, Multicultural Soundscapes and Intervention in Aotearoa/New Zealand |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/17411910701276526 |url-status=live |journal=Ethnomusicology Forum |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=79 |doi=10.1080/17411910701276526 |issn=1741-1912 |s2cid=191322269 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111152309/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17411910701276526 |archive-date=11 November 2023 |access-date=22 October 2022|url-access=subscription }} Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and Newar Buddhists, although for each faith it marks different historical events and stories, but nonetheless the festival represents the same symbolic victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, and good over evil.[http://www.hinduismtoday.com/pdf_downloads/pagers/Hindu-Festival_Diwali_broadsheet-color.pdf Diwali – Celebrating the triumph of goodness] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924041444/http://www.hinduismtoday.com/pdf_downloads/pagers/Hindu-Festival_Diwali_broadsheet-color.pdf|date=24 September 2015}} Hinduism Today (2012)Jean Mead, How and why Do Hindus Celebrate Divali?, {{ISBN|978-0-237-53412-7}}, pp. 8–12

{{main|Diwali (Jainism)}}

File:Mahavira Nirvan Kalyanak Diwali.jpg in meditation before attaining nirvana, the day is celebrated by Jains as Dipalikaya]]

In Jain religion, Diwali is celebrated in observance of "Mahavira Nirvana Divas", the physical death and final nirvana of Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankar of current time cycle. Nirvana is considered to be the state of a soul when it escapes from the cycle of birth and death, while experiencing its true nature of boundless bliss and infinite knowledge.{{Cite book |last1=Jacobi |first1=Hermann |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/jai/sbe45/index.htm |title=Uttaradhyayana Sutra, Jain Sutras Part II, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 45 |last2=Ed. F. Max Müller |publisher=The Clarendon Press |year=1895 |location=Oxford |access-date=19 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704214930/http://www.sacred-texts.com/jai/sbe45/index.htm |archive-date=4 July 2009 |url-status=live}} The Jain Diwali celebrated in many parts of India has similar practices to the Hindu Diwali, such as the lighting of lamps. However, the focus of the Jain Diwali remains the dedication to Mahavira.{{sfn|Jeffery D. Long|2009|pp=26, 42}} According to the Jain tradition, this practice of lighting lamps first began on the day of Mahavira's nirvana in 527 BCE,{{efn|Scholars contest the 527 BCE date and consider Mahavira's biographical details as uncertain. Some suggest he lived in the 5th-century BCE contemporaneously with the Buddha.{{sfn|Potter|2007|pp=35–36}}{{sfn|Dundas|2002|p=22}}}} when 18 kings who had gathered for Mahavira's final teachings issued a proclamation that lamps be lit in remembrance of the "great light, Mahavira".{{sfn|J Gordon Melton|2011|p=255}}{{sfn|Jeffery D. Long|2009|p=42}} This traditional belief of the origin of Diwali, and its significance to Jains, is reflected in their historic artworks such as paintings.{{sfn|Jyotindra Jain|Eberhard Fischer|1978|p=13}}

{{main|Bandi Chhor Divas}}

File:A hukamnama from the tenth Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh, requesting all of the Sikh congregation to convene in his presence on the occasion of Diwali.jpg from the tenth Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh, requesting all of the Sikh congregation to convene in his presence on the occasion of Diwali]]

Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas in remembrance of the release of Guru Hargobind from the Gwalior Fort prison by the Mughal emperor Jahangir and the day he arrived at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.{{Cite book |last=H.S. Singha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqIbJz7vMn0C&pg=PA62 |title=The Encyclopedia of Sikhism (over 1000 Entries) |publisher=Hemkunt Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-81-7010-301-1 |page=62 |access-date=6 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102024429/https://books.google.com/books?id=gqIbJz7vMn0C&pg=PA62 |archive-date=2 January 2017 |url-status=live}} According to J.S. Grewal, a scholar of Sikhism and Sikh history, Diwali in the Sikh tradition is older than the sixth Guru Hargobind legend. Guru Amar Das, the third Guru of the Sikhs, built a well in Goindwal with eighty-four steps and invited Sikhs to bathe in its sacred waters on Baisakhi and Diwali as a form of community bonding. Over time, these spring and autumn festivals became the most important of Sikh festivals and holy sites such as Amritsar became focal points for annual pilgrimages.{{sfn|J. S. Grewal|1998|pp=50–51, 60, 73–78, 93}} The festival of Diwali, according to Ray Colledge, highlights three events in Sikh history: the founding of the city of Amritsar in 1577, the release of Guru Hargobind from the Mughal prison, and the day of Bhai Mani Singh's martyrdom in 1738 as a result of his failure to pay a fine for trying to celebrate Diwali and thereafter refusing to convert to Islam.{{sfn|Ray Colledge|2017|pp=276–278}}{{sfn|Pashaura Singh|Louis E. Fenech|2014|pp=431–433}}{{efn|Sikhs historically referred to this festival as Diwali. It was in early 20th-century, states Harjot Oberoi, a scholar of Sikh history, when the Khalsa Tract Society triggered by the Singh Sabha Movement sought to establish a Sikh identity distinct from the Hindus and the Muslims.{{sfn|Harjot Oberoi|1994|pp=346–349}} They launched a sustained campaign to discourage Sikhs from participating in Holi and Diwali, renaming the festivals, publishing the seasonal greeting cards in the Gurmukhi language and relinking their religious significance to Sikh historical events.{{sfn|Harjot Oberoi|1994|pp=347–349}} While some of these efforts have had a lasting impact for the Sikh community, the lighting, feasting together, social bonding, sharing and other ritual grammar of Sikh celebrations during the Diwali season are similar to those of the Hindus and Jains.{{sfn|Harjot Oberoi|1994|pp=347–349}}}}

Diwali is not a festival for most Buddhists, with the exception of the Newar people of Nepal who revere various deities in Vajrayana Buddhism and celebrate Diwali by offering prayers to Lakshmi. Newar Buddhists in Nepalese valleys also celebrate the Diwali festival over five days, in much the same way, and on the same days, as the Nepalese Hindu Diwali-Tihar festival.{{Cite book |last=Jon Burbank |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EaWLU6Blh_sC&pg=PA111 |title=Nepal |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7614-1476-6 |pages=111–112 |access-date=14 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102013443/https://books.google.com/books?id=EaWLU6Blh_sC&pg=PA111 |archive-date=2 January 2017 |url-status=live}} According to some observers, this traditional celebration by Newar Buddhists in Nepal, through the worship of Lakshmi and Vishnu during Diwali, is not syncretism but rather a reflection of the freedom within Mahayana Buddhist tradition to worship any deity for their worldly betterment.

{{Infobox

| title = Diwali celebrations

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{{image array|perrow=2|width=150|height=100

| image1 = Diwali Festival.jpg|caption1 = Hindu girls lighting diyas in Bangladesh

| image2 = Glowing Swayambhu (3005358416).jpg| caption2 = Decorations in Kathmandu for Tihar (Diwali in Nepal)

| image3 = Diyas Diwali Decor India.jpg|caption3 = Diwali lamps arranged in the pattern of Om

| image4 = Fireworks Diwali Chennai India November 2013 b.jpg| caption4 = Deepavali night fireworks over Chennai

| image5 = Diwali Pujan at Haridwar.jpg|caption5 = Indoor Diwali decorations in front of an altar in Haridwar

| image6 = United States Diwali Dance San Antonio 2011 b.jpg|caption6 = Dance event for Diwali in Texas, US

| image7 = Divalinagar.jpg|caption7 =Divali Nagar celebration in Trinidad and Tobago

| image8 = Diwali Festival. Jpg.jpg|caption8 =Diyas lit for Diwali at Golden Temple, Punjab

| image9 = Diwali offerings to god in Tamil Nadu JEG2437.jpg| caption9 = Diwali sweets and snacks

| image10 = DiwaliKarnal.JPG|caption10 =Decorative lights for Diwali on a house in Haryana

}}

|caption = Diwali festivities include a celebration of sights, sounds, arts and flavours. The festivities vary between different regions.Frank Salamone (2004). Encyclopedia of Religious Rites, Rituals and Festivals, {{ISBN|978-0-415-88091-6}}, Routledge, pp. 112–113, 174, 252Deborah Heiligman, Celebrate Diwali, {{ISBN|978-0-7922-5923-7}}, National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C.

}}

In the lead-up to Diwali, celebrants prepare by cleaning, renovating, and decorating their homes and workplaces with diyas (oil lamps) and rangolis (colourful art circle patterns).{{Cite book |last=Pramodkumar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6A9EZRQIT9kC&pg=PA109 |title=Meri Khoj Ek Bharat Ki |date=2008 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-1-4357-1240-9 |quote=It is extremely important to keep the house spotlessly clean and pure on Diwali. The goddess Lakshmi likes cleanliness, and it is believed that she will visit the cleanest house first. Lamps are lit in the evening to welcome the goddess. They are believed to light up her path. |access-date=26 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120623/https://books.google.com/books?id=6A9EZRQIT9kC&pg=PA109 |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-status=live}} During Diwali, people wear their finest clothes, illuminate the interior and exterior of their homes with saaki (earthen lamp), diyas and rangoli, perform worship ceremonies of Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and wealth,{{efn|Hindus of eastern and northeastern states of India associate the festival with the goddess Durga, or her fierce avatar Kali (Shaktism).{{sfn|Laura Amazzone|2012|}} According to McDermott, this region also celebrated the Lakshmi puja historically, while the Kali puja tradition started during the British Raj and was particularly prominent from the 1920s.{{sfn|McDermott|2011|pp=183–188}}}} light fireworks, and partake in family feasts, where mithai (sweets) and gifts are shared.

The height of Diwali is celebrated on the third day coinciding with the darkest night of Ashvin or Kartika.

The common celebratory practices are known as the festival of light, however there are minor differences from state to state in India. Diwali is usually celebrated twenty days after the Vijayadashami festival, with Dhanteras, or the regional equivalent, marking the first day of the festival when celebrants prepare by cleaning their homes and making decorations on the floor, such as rangolis.Karen Bellenir (1997). Religious Holidays and Calendars: An Encyclopedic Handbook, 2nd Edition, {{ISBN|978-0-7808-0258-2}}, Omnigraphics Some regions of India start Diwali festivities the day before Dhanteras with Govatsa Dwadashi. The second day is Naraka Chaturdashi. The third day is the day of Lakshmi Puja and the darkest night of the traditional month. In some parts of India, the day after Lakshmi Puja is marked with the Govardhan Puja and Balipratipada (Padwa). Some Hindu communities mark the last day as Bhai Dooj or the regional equivalent, which is dedicated to the bond between sister and brother,{{Cite book |last1=Rajat Gupta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DatDDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 |title=Hospitality & Tourism Management |last2=Nishant Singh |last3=Ishita Kirar |publisher=Vikas |isbn=978-93-259-8244-4 |page=84 |access-date=13 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120612/https://books.google.com/books?id=DatDDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-status=live}} while other Hindu and Sikh craftsmen communities mark this day as Vishvakarma Puja and observe it by performing maintenance in their work spaces and offering prayers.{{Cite book |last1=Kristen Haar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YOI1nB_zTyAC |title=Sikhism |last2=Sewa Singh Kalsi |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4381-0647-2 |pages=98–99 |access-date=13 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200208123615/https://books.google.com/books?id=YOI1nB_zTyAC |archive-date=8 February 2020 |url-status=live}}{{Cite book |last=Shobhna Gupta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g4TtrdejbTEC&pg=PA84 |title=Festivals of India |publisher=Har-Anand |year=2002 |isbn=978-81-241-0869-7 |page=84 |access-date=13 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120607/https://books.google.com/books?id=g4TtrdejbTEC&pg=PA84 |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-status=live}}

File:Diwali in Sri Lanka Culture and Sights.jpg (prayers) to Lakshmi and Ganesha. Lakshmi is of the Vaishnavism tradition, while Ganesha of the Shaivism tradition of Hinduism.{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|pp=92–93}}{{sfn|David Kinsley|1988|pp=33–34}}]]

File:चंदुआ लालटेन, कला भूमि ओडिशा शिल्प संग्रहालय.jpg

Rituals and preparations for Diwali begin days or weeks in advance, typically after the festival of Dusshera that precedes Diwali by about 20 days.{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|p=91}} The festival formally begins two days before the night of Diwali and ends two days thereafter. Each day has the following rituals and significance: Diwali has become more popular in other countries. In New York City lawmakers have passed legislation to make holidays in school. But debates over the holiday push back. In the future Diwali will be a holiday.{{Cite news |last=Closson |first=Troy |date=2023-06-26 |title=Diwali Is Set to Become a School Holiday in New York City |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/26/nyregion/diwali-school-holiday-nyc.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804020242/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/26/nyregion/diwali-school-holiday-nyc.html |archive-date=4 August 2023 |access-date=2023-08-02 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}

{{main|Dhanteras}}

File:DiwaliOilLampCrop.JPG or Panati lamp rows, house cleaning and floor rangoli]]

Dhanteras, also known as Dhanatrayodashi, is derived from Dhan meaning wealth and teras meaning thirteenth, marks the thirteenth day of the dark fortnight of Ashwin or Kartik and the beginning of Diwali in most parts of India.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=59–60}} On this day, many Hindus clean their homes and business premises. They install diyas, small earthen oil-filled lamps that they light up for the next five days, near Lakshmi and Ganesha iconography.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=59–60}}{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|pp=92–93}} Women and children decorate doorways within homes and offices with rangolis, colourful designs made from rice flour, flower petals, coloured rice or coloured sand,{{sfn|Paul Fieldhouse|2017|pp=150–151}} while the boys and men decorate the roofs and walls of family homes, markets, and temples and string up lights and lanterns. The day also marks a major shopping day for buying new utensils, home equipment, gold jewellery, firecrackers, and other items.{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|pp=92–93}}{{Cite web |date=2023-07-14 |title=Diwali {{!}} Definition & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Diwali-Hindu-festival |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501153023/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/166786/Diwali |archive-date=1 May 2015 |access-date=2023-07-27 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}} On the evening of Dhanteras, families offer prayers (puja) to Lakshmi and Ganesha, and lay offerings of puffed rice, candy toys, rice cakes and batashas (hollow sugar cakes).{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|pp=92–93}}

According to Tracy Pintchman, Dhanteras is a symbol of annual renewal, cleansing and an auspicious beginning for the next year.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=59–60}} The term Dhan for this day also alludes to the Ayurvedic icon Dhanvantari, the god of health and healing, who is believed to have emerged from the "churning of cosmic ocean" on the same day as Lakshmi.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=59–60}} Some communities, particularly those active in Ayurvedic and health-related professions, pray or perform havan rituals to Dhanvantari on Dhanteras.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=59–60}}

On Yama Deepam (also known as Yama Dipadana or Jam ke Diya), Hindus light a diya, ideally made of wheat flour and filled with sesame oil, which faces south in the back of their homes. This is believed to please Yama, the god of death, and to ward off untimely death.{{Cite web |last=LLP |first=Adarsh Mobile Applications |title=2020 Yama Deepam date and timings for New Delhi, NCT, India |url=http://www.drikpanchang.com/diwali/yama-deepam/yama-deepam-date-time.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223185715/http://www.drikpanchang.com/diwali/yama-deepam/yama-deepam-date-time.html |archive-date=23 December 2017 |access-date=28 August 2021 |website=Drikpanchang}} Some Hindus observe Yama Deepam on the second night before the main day of Diwali.{{Cite web |title=The 'Yam-deep' or 'Jam ke Deeya' – SWAHA International |url=http://www.swahainternational.org/the-yam-deep-or-jam-ke-deeya/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120618/http://www.swahainternational.org/the-yam-deep-or-jam-ke-deeya/ |archive-date=10 January 2022 |access-date=11 November 2020}}{{Cite web |date=2021-12-29 |title=Significance of Yama Deepam on Diwali Eve |url=https://www.astroved.com/blogs/significance-yama-deepam-diwali-eve |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419040402/https://www.astroved.com/blogs/significance-yama-deepam-diwali-eve |archive-date=19 April 2021 |access-date=2022-01-10 |publisher=AstroVed.com}}

{{main|Naraka Chaturdashi}}

{{multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width=400

| image1 = Diwali Food and Celebrations in Sri Lanka Culture and Sights.jpg

| image2 = Hindu diet, meal setting at festival.jpg

| footer = Choti Diwali is the major shopping day for festive mithai (sweets)

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Naraka Chaturdashi, also known as Chhoti Diwali, is the second day of festivities coinciding with the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of Ashwin or Kartik.{{Cite news |date=13 November 2020 |title=Choti Diwali 2020 date: Kali Chaudas significance, when and how to celebrate |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/astrology/rituals-puja/choti-diwali-2020-date-kali-chaudas-significance-when-and-how-to-celebrate/articleshow/79203502.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114134308/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/astrology/rituals-puja/choti-diwali-2020-date-kali-chaudas-significance-when-and-how-to-celebrate/articleshow/79203502.cms |archive-date=14 November 2020 |access-date=2020-11-14 |work=The Times of India |language=en}} The term "chhoti" means little, while "Naraka" means hell and "Chaturdashi" means "fourteenth".{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=60–61}} The day and its rituals are interpreted as ways to liberate any soul from suffering in "Naraka", or hell, as well as a reminder of spiritual auspiciousness. For some Hindus, it is a day to pray for the peace to the manes, or defiled souls of one's ancestors and light their way for their journeys in the cyclic afterlife.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=60–61, 63}} A mythological interpretation of this festive day is the destruction of the asura (demon) Narakasura by Krishna, a victory that frees 16,000 imprisoned princesses kidnapped by Narakasura.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=60–61}} It is also celebrated as Roop Chaudas in some North Indian households, where women bathe before sunrise, while lighting a diya (lamp) in the bath area, they believe it helps enhance their beauty – it is a fun ritual that young girls enjoy as part of festivities. Ubtan is applied by the women which is made up of special gram flour mixed with herbs for cleansing and beautifying themselves.

Naraka Chaturdashi is also a major day for purchasing festive foods, particularly sweets. A variety of sweets are prepared using flour, semolina, rice, chickpea flour, dry fruit pieces powders or paste, milk solids (mawa or khoya) and clarified butter (ghee).{{sfn|Darra Goldstein|2015|pp=222–223}} According to Goldstein, these are then shaped into various forms, such as laddus, barfis, halwa, kachoris, shrikhand, and sandesh, rolled and stuffed delicacies, such as karanji, shankarpali, maladu, susiyam, pottukadalai. Sometimes these are wrapped with edible silver foil (vark). Confectioners and shops create Diwali-themed decorative displays, selling these in large quantities, which are stocked for home celebrations to welcome guests and as gifts.{{sfn|Darra Goldstein|2015|pp=222–223}}{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|pp=92–93}} Families also prepare homemade delicacies for Lakshmi Pujan, regarded as the main day of Diwali.{{sfn|Darra Goldstein|2015|pp=222–223}} Chhoti Diwali is also a day for visiting friends, business associates and relatives, and exchanging gifts.{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|pp=92–93}}

On the second day of Diwali, Hanuman Puja is performed in some parts of India especially in Gujarat. It coincides with the day of Kali Chaudas. It is believed that spirits roam around on the night of Kali Chaudas, and Hanuman, who is the deity of strength, power, and protection, is worshipped to seek protection from the spirits. Diwali is also celebrated to mark the return of Rama to Ayodhya after defeating the demon-king Ravana{{Cite web |date=2023-06-24 |title=Ravana {{!}} King of Lanka, Demon King, Ten-Headed {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ravana |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602165102/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ravana |archive-date=2 June 2023 |access-date=2023-07-28 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}} and completing his fourteen years of exile. The devotion and dedication of Hanuman pleased Rama so much that he blessed Hanuman to be worshipped before him. Thus, people worship Hanuman the day before Diwali's main day.{{Cite web |title=2020 Hanuman Puja date and time during Diwali for New Delhi, NCT, India |url=https://www.drikpanchang.com/diwali/hanuman-puja/hanuman-puja-date-time.html?year=2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211103035611/https://www.drikpanchang.com/diwali/hanuman-puja/hanuman-puja-date-time.html?year=2020 |archive-date=3 November 2021 |access-date=6 November 2020}}

This day is commonly celebrated as Diwali in Tamil Nadu, Goa, and Karnataka.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} Traditionally, Marathi Hindus and South Indian Hindus receive an oil massage from the elders in the family on the day and then take a ritual bath, all before sunrise.{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|pp=93–94}} Many visit their favourite Hindu temple.{{sfn|Hillary Rodrigues|2016|p=29}}

Some Hindus observe Yama Deepam (also known as Yama Dipadana or Jam ke Diya) on the second day of Diwali, instead of the first day. A diya that is filled with sesame oil is lit at back of their homes facing in the southern direction. This is believed to please Yama, the god of death, and to ward off untimely death.

{{Main|Lakshmi Puja|Kali Puja}}

The third day is the height of the festival{{sfn|Stephen Jacobs|2010|p=26}} and coincides with the last day of the dark fortnight of Ashwin or Kartik. This is the day when Hindu, Jain and Sikh temples and homes are aglow with lights, thereby making it the "festival of lights". The word Deepawali comes from the Sanskrit word दीप (dīpa, “light”) and आवलि (āvali, “series, line, row”), where dīpa means an Indian lantern or lamp.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=61–62}}{{Cite book |last=Jean Mead |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QJyZKOtHWg4C&pg=PA4 |title=How and why Do Hindus Celebrate Divali? |date=February 2008 |publisher=Evans Brothers |isbn=978-0-237-53412-7 |pages=4– |access-date=25 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120611/https://books.google.com/books?id=QJyZKOtHWg4C&pg=PA4 |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-status=live}}

File:Kit Kat Firecracker.jpg

The youngest members in the family visit their elders, such as grandparents and other senior members of the community, on this day. Small business owners give gifts or special bonus payments to their employees between Dhanteras and Lakshmi Pujan.{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|pp=93–94}}{{sfn|Constance Jones|2011|p= 254}} Shops either do not open or close early on this day allowing employees to enjoy family time. Shopkeepers and small operations perform puja rituals in their office premises. Unlike some other festivals, the Hindus typically do not fast during the five-day long Diwali including Lakshmi Pujan, rather they feast and share the bounties of the season at their workplaces, community centres, temples, and homes.{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|pp=93–94}}

File:Woman lighting the candles for the Festival of Lights in India (cropped).jpg

As the evening approaches, celebrants will wear new clothes or their best outfits, teenage girls and women, in particular, wear saris and jewellery.{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|pp=94–95}} At dusk, family members gather for the Lakshmi Pujan,{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|pp=94–95}} although prayers will also be offered to other deities, such as Ganesha, Saraswati, Rama, Lakshmana, Sita, Hanuman, or Kubera. The lamps from the puja ceremony are then used to light more earthenware lamps, which are placed in rows along the parapets of temples and houses,{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|pp=97–98}} while some diyas are set adrift on rivers and streams.John Bowker, ed., Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Religions (Oxford UP, 2000), See Festivals{{sfn|Klaus K. Klostermaier|2014|pp=59, 69}} After the puja, people go outside and celebrate by lighting up patakhe (fireworks) together, and then share a family feast and mithai (sweets, desserts).

The puja and rituals in the Bengali Hindu community focus on Kali, the goddess of war, instead of Lakshmi.{{sfn|McDermott |2011|pp =183–188}}{{sfn|Constantina Rhodes|2010|pp=1–2}} According to Rachel Fell McDermott, a scholar of South Asian, particular Bengali, studies, in Bengal during Navaratri (Dussehra elsewhere in India) the Durga puja is the main focus, although in the eastern and northeastern states the two are synonymous, but on Diwali the focus is on the puja dedicated to Kali. These two festivals likely developed in tandem over their recent histories, states McDermott.{{sfn|McDermott|2011|pp=183–188}} Textual evidence suggests that Bengali Hindus worshipped Lakshmi before the colonial era, and that the Kali puja is a more recent phenomenon.{{efn|According to McDermott, while the Durga Puja is the largest Bengali festival and it can be traced to the 16th-century or earlier, the start of Kali puja tradition on Diwali is traceable to no earlier than about the mid-18th-century during the reign of Raja Krishnacandra Ray.{{sfn|McDermott|2011|pp=183–188}} McDermott further writes that the older historic documents of the Bengal confirm that the Bengali Hindus have long celebrated the night of Diwali with illuminations, firecrackers, foods, new account books, Lakshmi (not Kali), inviting their friends (including Europeans during the colonial era) and gambling.{{sfn|McDermott|2011|pp=183–188}} The Kali sarbajanin tradition on Diwali, with tantric elements in some locations, grew slowly into a popular Bengali tradition after the mid-1920s.{{sfn|McDermott|2011|pp=183–188}}}} Contemporary Bengali celebrations mirror those found elsewhere, with teenage boys playing with fireworks and the sharing of festive food with family, but with the Shakti goddess Kali as the focus.{{sfn|June McDaniel|2004|pp=253–255}}

File:Sparkles phuljhari fireworks on DIWALI, festival of lights.jpgs during Diwali]]

On the night of Diwali, rituals across much of India are dedicated to Lakshmi to welcome her into their cleaned homes and bring prosperity and happiness for the coming year.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=61–63}}{{Cite web |date=2020-11-12 |title=Diwali Festival 2020 India:Date,Story,Celebration,Diwali Special Gift |url=https://news.jagatgururampalji.org/diwali-festival-2020-special-gift/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114053744/https://news.jagatgururampalji.org/diwali-festival-2020-special-gift/ |archive-date=14 November 2020 |access-date=2020-11-14 |website=S A NEWS |language=en-US}} While the cleaning, or painting, of the home is in part for goddess Lakshmi, it also signifies the ritual "reenactment of the cleansing, purifying action of the monsoon rains" that would have concluded in most of the Indian subcontinent.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=61–63}} Vaishnava families recite Hindu legends of the victory of good over evil and the return of hope after despair on the Diwali night, where the main characters may include Rama, Krishna, Vamana or one of the avatars of Vishnu, the divine husband of Lakshmi.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=61–63}}{{sfn|Om Lata Bahadur|2006|pp=94–97}} At dusk, lamps placed earlier in the inside and outside of the home are lit up to welcome Lakshmi.{{sfn|Stephen Jacobs|2010|p=26}} Family members light up firecrackers, which some interpret as a way to ward off all evil spirits and the inauspicious, as well as add to the festive mood.{{Cite book |last=Petrillo |first=Valerie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GErOyV7FBNUC&pg=PA175 |title=Asian American History |date=28 May 2007 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |isbn=978-1-55652-634-3 |quote=There are firecrackers everywhere to scare off evil spirits and contribute to the festive atmosphere. |access-date=26 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120612/https://books.google.com/books?id=GErOyV7FBNUC&pg=PA175 |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-status=live}}{{Cite book |last1=DeRocco |first1=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TRyb8XqB7dEC&pg=SA9-PA1 |title=The International Holiday & Festival Primer |last2=Dundas |first2=Joan |last3=Ian Zimmerman |publisher=Full Blast Productions |year=1996 |isbn=978-1-895451-24-5 |quote=But as well as delighting the spectators, the fireworks are believed to chase away evil spirits. |access-date=26 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111153321/https://books.google.com/books?id=TRyb8XqB7dEC&pg=SA9-PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=11 November 2023 |url-status=live}} According to Pintchman, who quotes Raghavan, this ritual may also be linked to the tradition in some communities of paying respect to ancestors. Earlier in the season's fortnight, some welcome the souls of their ancestors to join the family for the festivities with the Mahalaya. The Diwali night's lights and firecrackers, in this interpretation, represent a celebratory and symbolic farewell to the departed ancestral souls.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|p=63}}

The celebrations and rituals of the Jains and the Sikhs are similar to those of the Hindus where social and community bonds are renewed. Major temples and homes are decorated with lights, festive foods shared with all, friends and relatives remembered and visited with gifts.{{sfn|Constance Jones|2011|p= 254}}{{sfn|Jeffery D. Long|2009|pp=26, 42}}

{{main|Balipratipada|Govardhan Puja}}

The day after Diwali is the first day of the bright fortnight of Kartik.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=63–64}} It is regionally called Annakut (heap of grain), Padwa, Goverdhan puja, Bali Pratipada, Bali Padyami, Kartik Shukla Pratipada and other names.{{sfn|Paul Fieldhouse|2017|pp=150–151}}{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=63–64}} According to one tradition, the day is associated with the story of Bali's defeat at the hands of Vishnu.{{Cite book |last1=M.G.S. Narayanan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mvELAAAAIAAJ |title=Historical Studies in Kerala |last2=K.K.N. Kurup |publisher=Department of History, University of Calicut |year=1976 |access-date=12 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103135407/http://books.google.com/books?id=mvELAAAAIAAJ |archive-date=3 January 2014 |url-status=live}}Deborah Heiligman, Celebrate Diwali, {{ISBN|978-1-4263-0291-6}}, National Geographic, p. 31 In another interpretation, it is thought to reference the legend of Parvati and her husband Shiva playing a game of dyuta (dice) on a board of twelve squares and thirty pieces, Parvati wins. Shiva surrenders his shirt and adornments to her, rendering him naked.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=63–64}} According to Handelman and Shulman, as quoted by Pintchman, this legend is a Hindu metaphor for the cosmic process for creation and dissolution of the world through the masculine destructive power, as represented by Shiva, and the feminine procreative power, represented by Parvati, where twelve reflects the number of months in the cyclic year, while thirty are the number of days in its lunisolar month.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=63–64}}

{{multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width=400

| image1 = Annakut.jpg

| image2 = Lord Krishna and Goverdhan parwat in his left hand's finger.jpg

| footer = Annakut community meals (left), Krishna holding Govardhan Hill ritually made from cow dung, rice and flowers (right).

}}

This day ritually celebrates the bond between the wife and husband,{{sfn|William D. Crump|2014|pp=112–113}} and in some Hindu communities, husbands will celebrate this with gifts to their wives. In other regions, parents invite a newly married daughter, or son, together with their spouses to a festive meal and give them gifts.{{sfn|William D. Crump|2014|pp=112–113}}

In some rural communities of the north, west and central regions, the fourth day is celebrated as Govardhan puja, honouring the legend of the Hindu god Krishna saving the cowherd and farming communities from incessant rains and floods triggered by Indra's anger,{{sfn|William D. Crump|2014|pp=112–113}} which he accomplished by lifting the Govardhan mountain. This legend is remembered through the ritual of building small mountain-like miniatures from cow dung.{{sfn|William D. Crump|2014|pp=112–113}} According to Kinsley, the ritual use of cow dung, a common fertiliser, is an agricultural motif and a celebration of its significance to annual crop cycles.{{sfn|David Kinsley|1988|pp=33–34}}{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=64–65}}{{sfn|Lodrick|1987}}

The agricultural symbolism is also observed on this day by many Hindus as Annakut, literally "mountain of food". Communities prepare over one hundred dishes from a variety of ingredients, which is then dedicated to Krishna before being shared among the community. Hindu temples on this day prepare and present "mountains of sweets" to the faithful who have gathered for darshan (visit).{{sfn|William D. Crump|2014|pp=112–113}} In Gujarat, Annakut is the first day of the new year and celebrated through the purchase of essentials, or sabras (literally, "good things in life"), such as salt, offering prayers to Krishna and visiting temples.{{sfn|William D. Crump|2014|pp=112–113}} In Gujarat New Year is celebrated after the day of Diwali. In the early morning people take showers, do prayer at home, visit temples for worship and children in the evening visit neighbour's houses to say happy new year, shake hands, get mukhvas for dessert, and chocolate.

{{main|Bhai Dooj|Vishwakarma Puja}}

File:Diwali (Bhaiya Dweej ).JPG

The last day of the festival, the second day of the bright fortnight of Kartik, is called Bhai Duj (literally "brother's day"{{Cite book |last=David L. Haberman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=63uDsPPr48gC&pg=PA129 |title=River of Love in an Age of Pollution: The Yamuna River of Northern India |publisher=University of California Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-520-24789-5 |page=129 |access-date=19 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111153322/https://books.google.com/books?id=63uDsPPr48gC&pg=PA129#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=11 November 2023 |url-status=live}}), Bhau Beej, Bhai Tilak or Bhai Phonta. It celebrates the sister-brother bond, similar in spirit to Raksha Bandhan but it is the brother that travels to meet the sister and her family. This festive day is interpreted by some to symbolise Yama's sister Yamuna welcoming Yama with a tilaka, while others interpret it as the arrival of Krishna at his sister Subhadra's place after defeating Narakasura. Subhadra welcomes him with a tilaka on his forehead.{{sfn|William D. Crump|2014|pp=112–113}}{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=66–69}}

The day celebrates the sibling bond between brother and sister.{{Cite web |title=Bhai Bij in India in 2020 |url=https://www.officeholidays.com/holidays/bhai-bij |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116022133/https://www.officeholidays.com/holidays/bhai-bij |archive-date=16 November 2020 |access-date=2020-11-14 |website=Office Holidays |language=en}} On this day the womenfolk of the family gather, perform a puja with prayers for the well-being of their brothers, then return to a ritual of feeding their brothers with their hands and receiving gifts. According to Pintchman, in some Hindu traditions the women recite tales where sisters protect their brothers from enemies that seek to cause him either bodily or spiritual harm.{{sfn|Tracy Pintchman|2005|pp=66–69}} In historic times, this was a day in autumn when brothers would travel to meet their sisters or invite their sister's family to their village to celebrate their sister-brother bond with the bounty of seasonal harvests.

The artisan Hindu and Sikh community celebrates the fourth day as the Vishwakarma puja day.{{efn|According to a Government of Himachal Pradesh and India publication, the Vishvakarma puja is observed on the fourth day of Diwali in the Himalayan state.{{Cite book |last=Government of India & Himachal Pradesh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0EqykjrjNPYC |title=Census of India, 1981: Himachal Pradesh |publisher=Controller of Publications |year=1982 |page=46 |access-date=20 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111153324/https://books.google.com/books?id=0EqykjrjNPYC |archive-date=11 November 2023 |url-status=live}}}} Vishwakarma is the presiding Hindu deity for those in architecture, building, manufacturing, textile work and crafts trades.{{Efn|The Vishwakarma puja day is alternatively observed in other Hindu communities in accordance with the Hindu solar calendar, and this falls in September.{{sfn|J Gordon Melton|2011|pp=908–909}}}} The looms, tools of trade, machines and workplaces are cleaned and prayers offered to these livelihood means.{{Cite journal |last1=Narayan |first1=Kirin |last2=George |first2=Kenneth M. |year=2017 |title=Tools and world-making in the worship of Vishwakarma |journal=South Asian History and Culture |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=478–492 |doi=10.1080/19472498.2017.1371506 |s2cid=149325687}}

During the season of Diwali, numerous rural townships and villages host melas,{{Cite book |last=Kadowala |first=Dilip |title=Diwali |publisher=Evans Brothers Limited |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-237-51801-1 |location=London}} or fairs, where local producers and artisans trade produce and goods. A variety of entertainments are usually available for inhabitants of the local community to enjoy. The women, in particular, adorn themselves in colourful attire and decorate their hands with henna. Such events are also mentioned in Sikh historical records.{{sfn|Harjot Oberoi|1994|pp=188–190 with footnote 96}}{{efn|Max Macauliffe, who lived in northwest Punjab area during the colonial era and is known for his work on Sikh literature and history, wrote about Diwali melas to which people visited to buy horses, seek pleasure, pray in nearby Amritsar temples for the prosperity of their children and their souls, and some on "errands, more or less worthy or unworthy character".{{sfn|Harjot Oberoi|1994|pp=188–190 with footnote 96}}}} In the modern day, Diwali mela are held at college, or university, campuses or as community events by members of the Indian diaspora. At such events a variety of music, dance and arts performances, food, crafts, and cultural celebrations are featured.Priya Krishna (2017), [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/31/dining/diwali-mela-dallas-food.html If You Missed Diwali in India, Dallas Is the Place to Be] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820005814/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/31/dining/diwali-mela-dallas-food.html |date=20 August 2018 }}, The New York Times, 31 October 2017[http://www.asianimage.co.uk/news/15570042.Manchester_Dashehra_and_Diwali_Mela_plans_announced/ Manchester Dashehra and Diwali Mela plans announced] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820005747/http://www.asianimage.co.uk/news/15570042.Manchester_Dashehra_and_Diwali_Mela_plans_announced/ |date=20 August 2018 }}, Asian Image (2 October 2017), United Kingdom{{sfn|Frank Salamone|2004|p=112, Article on Divali by Lindsey Harlan}}

Diwali marks a major shopping period in India, and is comparable to the Christmas period in terms of consumer purchases and economic activity.{{sfn|Klaus K. Klostermaier|2014|p=59}} It is traditionally a time when households purchase new clothing, home refurbishments, gifts, gold, jewelry,[http://www.bullionstreet.com/news/festive-season-to-boost-india-gold-buying/145 Festive season to boost India gold buying] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207104526/http://www.bullionstreet.com/news/festive-season-to-boost-india-gold-buying/145 |date=7 December 2013 }} Bullion Street (15 October 2013)[http://www.gold.org/jewellery/markets/india/ Gold, Key markets: India] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207084755/http://www.gold.org/jewellery/markets/india/ |date=7 December 2013 }} World Gold Council (2013) and other large purchases particularly as the festival is dedicated to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, and such purchases are considered auspicious.[http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/937525dc-e33f-11df-97db-00144feabdc0.html India's banks face pre-Diwali cash crunch] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110121010/https://www.ft.com/content/937525dc-e33f-11df-97db-00144feabdc0 |date=10 January 2022 }} James Lamont, The Financial Times (29 October 2010)[http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/festive-season-consumer-spending-slowing-economy-inflation-retailers/1/321275.html Diwali lights up consumer spending, festive spirit beats inflation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151110043954/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/festive-season-consumer-spending-slowing-economy-inflation-retailers/1/321275.html |date=10 November 2015 }} M.G. Arun, India Today (1 November 2013) According to Rao, Diwali is one of the major festivals where rural Indians spend a significant portion of their annual income, and is a means for them to renew their relationships and social networks.{{sfn|Rao|2001|pp=71–95}}

{{Wikinews|Indian Markets hits record close in Diwali trade}}

Other goods that are bought in substantial quantities during Diwali include confectionery and fireworks. In 2013, about {{INRConvert|25|b}} of fireworks were sold to merchants for the Diwali season, an equivalent retail value of about {{INRConvert|50|b}} according to The Times of India.[https://web.archive.org/web/20131028060716/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-10-24/india/43361997_1_firecrackers-tamil-nadu-fireworks-diwali Firecrackers to cost a bomb this Diwali] The Times of India (24 October 2013){{efn|A 2017 estimate states 50,000 tons (100 million pounds) of fireworks are exploded annually in India over the Diwali festival.[https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/10/17/558067395/fear-of-toxic-smog-leads-india-to-limit-diwali-fireworks Fear Of Toxic Smog Leads India To Limit Diwali Fireworks] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822113355/https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/10/17/558067395/fear-of-toxic-smog-leads-india-to-limit-diwali-fireworks |date=22 August 2018 }}, NPR (17 October 2017) As a comparison, Americans explode 134,000 tons (268 million pounds) of fireworks for 4 July celebrations in the United States.[http://fortune.com/2018/06/29/july-4th-fireworks-billion-dollar-burn-injuries/ Firework Facts: Americans Incinerate $1 Billion in July Fourth Fireworks Every Year] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822113406/http://fortune.com/2018/06/29/july-4th-fireworks-billion-dollar-burn-injuries/ |date=22 August 2018 }}, Fortune (29 June 2018)}} ASSOCHAM, a trade organisation in India, forecasted that online shopping alone to be over {{INRConvert|300|b}} over the 2017 Diwali season.[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/online-sales-may-surpass-rs-30000-crore-in-festive-month-assocham/articleshow/61035441.cms Oneline sales may surpass Rs 30000 crores in festive months] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828055348/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/online-sales-may-surpass-rs-30000-crore-in-festive-month-assocham/articleshow/61035441.cms |date=28 August 2018 }} The Times of India (11 October 2017) About two-thirds of Indian households, according to the ASSOCHAM forecast, would spend between {{INRConvert|5000}} and {{INRConvert|10000}} to celebrate Diwali in 2017.[http://www.assocham.org/newsdetail.php?id=6536 Average family to spend Rs. 10,000 on this Diwali: ASSOCHAM survey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820005805/http://www.assocham.org/newsdetail.php?id=6536 |date=20 August 2018 }}, ASSOCHAM (17 October 2017); Tarandip Kaur (2017), [https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarandipkaur/2017/10/18/festival-of-lights-all-you-need-to-know-about-diwali/ "Festival of Lights: All You Need to Know About Diwali"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819214317/https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarandipkaur/2017/10/18/festival-of-lights-all-you-need-to-know-about-diwali/ |date=19 August 2018 }}, Forbes (18 October 2017) Stock markets like NSE and BSE in India are typically closed during Diwali, with the exception of a Diwali Muhurat trading session for an hour in the evening to coincide with the beginning of the new year.{{Cite web |title=DNA Explainer: What is Diwali Muhurat Trading and why it is best time to invest in stocks |url=https://www.dnaindia.com/business/report-dna-explainer-what-is-diwali-muhurat-trading-and-why-it-is-best-time-to-invest-in-stocks-2918360 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105092714/https://www.dnaindia.com/business/report-dna-explainer-what-is-diwali-muhurat-trading-and-why-it-is-best-time-to-invest-in-stocks-2918360 |archive-date=5 November 2021 |access-date=2021-11-05 |website=DNA India |language=en}} In 2020, the INDF ETF was launched to mark the start of Diwali.{{Cite web |date=2020-11-12 |title=NextFins Celebrates Diwali With the Launch of INDF |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201112005141/en/NextFins-Celebrates-Diwali-With-the-Launch-of-INDF |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112204731/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201112005141/en/NextFins-Celebrates-Diwali-With-the-Launch-of-INDF |archive-date=12 November 2020 |access-date=2020-11-12 |website=businesswire.com |language=en}}

Diwali has increasingly attracted cultural exchanges, becoming occasions for politicians and religious leaders worldwide to meet Hindu or Indian origin citizens, diplomatic staff or neighbours. Many participate in other socio-political events as a symbol of support for diversity and inclusiveness. The Catholic dicastery Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, founded as Secretariat for non-Christians by Pope Paul VI, began sending official greetings and the Pope's message to the Hindus on Diwali in the mid-1990s.{{sfn|Barbato|2017|pp=93–97}}{{efn|The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue was founded as Secretariat for non-Christians by Pope Paul VI. It began sending official greetings and message to Muslims in 1967 on Id al-Fitr. About 30 years later, in the mid-1990s the Catholic authorities began sending two additional annual official greetings and message, one to the Hindus on Diwali and the other to the Buddhists on Buddha's birthday.{{sfn|Barbato|2017|pp=93–97}}}}

Many governments encourage or sponsor Diwali-related festivities in their territories. For example, the Singaporean government, in association with the Hindu Endowments Board of Singapore, organises many cultural events during Diwali every year.Little India, Singapore (2013), [http://www.littleindia.com.sg/Diwali_in_Singapore.aspx Deepavali in Singapore] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131203010347/http://www.littleindia.com.sg/Diwali_in_Singapore.aspx |date= 3 December 2013 }} National and civic leaders such as the former Prince Charles have attended Diwali celebrations at prominent Hindu temples in the UK, such as the Swaminarayan Temple in Neasden, using the occasion to highlight contributions of the Hindu community to British society.{{Cite news |last=PTI |date=10 November 2007 |title=Prince Charles, Camilla celebrate Diwali in UK |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Prince-Charles-Camilla-celebrate-Diwali-in-UK/articleshow/2532035.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104183044/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-11-10/uk/27962079_1_royal-couple-diwali-celebrations-temple |archive-date=4 November 2013 |access-date=3 November 2013 |work=The Times of India}}{{Cite web |title=Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall Celebrate Diwali at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London |url=http://www.mandir.org/news&events/2007/11/trhvisit/index.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114112622/http://www.mandir.org/news%26events/2007/11/trhvisit/index.htm |archive-date=14 November 2012 |access-date=3 November 2013 |website=mandir.org |publisher=BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha}} Additionally, cities across the UK show support of the celebrations through Diwali lights, decorations, and cultural festivities such as dance performances, food stalls and workshops.{{Cite web |title=Mayor announces the capital's Diwali in the Square celebrations {{!}} London City Hall |url=https://www.london.gov.uk/media-centre/mayors-press-release/Diwali-2023 |access-date=2023-11-13 |website=www.london.gov.uk |language=en}} Since 2009, Diwali has been celebrated every year at 10 Downing Street, the residence of the British Prime Minister.{{Cite news |last=PTI |date=17 October 2009 |title=Brown celebrates Diwali at 10, Downing Street, in a 'historic' first |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Brown-celebrates-Diwali-at-10-Downing-Street-in-a-historic-first/articleshow/5134278.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104183112/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-10-17/uk/28096259_1_diwali-downing-street-joginder-sangar |archive-date=4 November 2013 |access-date=3 November 2013 |work=The Times of India}}

Diwali was first celebrated in the White House by George W. Bush in 2003, and its religious and historical significance was officially recognized by the United States Congress in 2007.{{Cite news |last=Sanchez |first=Aurelio |date=2 November 2007 |title=Fest celebrates triumph of light over dark |work=The Albuquerque Journal |page=10 |quote=According to a resolution passed recently by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, the festival is celebrated by almost 2 million in the United States and many millions more around the world. The bill, H.R. 747, calls for the U.S. Congress to acknowledge 'the religious and historical significance of the festival of Diwali.'}}{{Cite news |date=30 October 2007 |title=US House passes resolution on significance of Diwali |work=Hindustan Times}} Barack Obama became the first president to personally attend Diwali at the White House in 2009. On the eve of his first visit to India as President of the United States, Obama released an official statement sharing his best wishes with "those celebrating Diwali".{{Cite web |date=4 November 2010 |title=Statement by the President on Diwali |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2010/11/04/statement-president-diwali |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118112828/https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/11/04/statement-president-diwali |archive-date=18 January 2017 |access-date=1 March 2021 |website=whitehouse.gov |via=National Archives}}

Every year during Diwali, Indian forces approach their Pakistani counterparts at the border bearing gifts of traditional Indian confectionery, a gesture that is returned in kind by the Pakistani soldiers who give Pakistani sweets to the Indian soldiers.[http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/diwali-manmohan-singh-amritsar-pranab-mukherjee-hamid-ansari-india-pakistan/1/321508.html Diwali Lights up India] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203014849/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/diwali-manmohan-singh-amritsar-pranab-mukherjee-hamid-ansari-india-pakistan/1/321508.html |date=3 December 2013 }} India Today (3 November 2013){{efn|Diwali was not a public holiday in Pakistan from 1947 to 2016. Diwali along with Holi for Hindus, and Easter for Christians, was adopted as public holiday resolution by Pakistan's parliament in 2016, giving the local governments and public institutions the right to declare Holi as a holiday and grant leave for its minority communities, for the first time.{{Cite news |date=16 March 2016 |title=Pakistan parliament adopts resolution for Holi, Diwali, Easter holidays |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pakistan-parliament-adopts-resolution-for-Holi-Diwali-Easter-holidays/articleshow/51423609.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306175436/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pakistan-parliament-adopts-resolution-for-Holi-Diwali-Easter-holidays/articleshow/51423609.cms |archive-date=6 March 2018 |access-date=13 March 2017 |work=The Times of India}}{{Cite news |last=Sridharan |first=Vasudevan |year=2016 |title=Muslim-majority Pakistan set to declare Holi, Diwali and Easter as public holidays |url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/muslim-majority-pakistan-set-declare-holi-diwali-easter-public-holidays-1550003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318105641/http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/muslim-majority-pakistan-set-declare-holi-diwali-easter-public-holidays-1550003 |archive-date=18 March 2016 |access-date=19 March 2016 |work=International Business Times}} Diwali celebrations have been relatively rare in contemporary Pakistan, but observed across religious lines, including by Muslims in cities such as Peshawar.{{Cite news |date=17 November 2015 |title=Muslims join Hindus in Diwali celebrations in Pakistan's Peshawar |url=http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-11-17/news/68356366_1_diwali-celebrations-pakistan-hindu-peshawar |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151211212853/http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-11-17/news/68356366_1_diwali-celebrations-pakistan-hindu-peshawar |archive-date=11 December 2015 |access-date=19 March 2016 |work=The Economic Times}}}}{{Cite web |title=India-Pakistan border troops exchange Diwali sweets near Jaisalmer |date=November 2024 |url=https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/india/india-pakistan-border-troops-exchange-diwali-sweets-near-jaisalmer-1.10038937 |publisher=Mathrubhumi}}

{{See also|Firecrackers in India|Fireworks safety}}

The use of firecrackers on Diwali increases the concentration of dust and pollutants in the air. After firing, the fine dust particles get settled on the surrounding surfaces which are packed with chemicals like copper, zinc, sodium, lead, magnesium, cadmium and pollutants like oxides of sulfur and nitrogen.{{Cite web |title=Air Pollution: Delhi's air quality enters 'Red Zone' ahead of Diwali |url=https://www.dnaindia.com/india/video-air-pollution-delhi-s-air-quality-enters-red-zone-ahead-of-diwali-2918268 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211106202325/https://www.dnaindia.com/india/video-air-pollution-delhi-s-air-quality-enters-red-zone-ahead-of-diwali-2918268 |archive-date=6 November 2021 |access-date=2021-11-04 |website=DNA India |language=en}} These invisible yet harmful particles affect the environment and in turn, put people's health at stake.{{Cite news |title=Diwali may bring 'severe' air pollution to Delhi, despite fireworks ban |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/11/03/delhi-fireworks-ban-green-diwali/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105121643/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/11/03/delhi-fireworks-ban-green-diwali/ |archive-date=5 November 2021 |access-date=2021-11-04 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}} The smoke created by firecrackers lit up on Diwali causes smog which sometimes takes days to clear.{{Cite news |date=2022-10-24 |title=Residents across India celebrate Diwali with festivities and dazzling lights |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1130942026/residents-across-india-celebrate-diwali-with-festivities-and-dazzling-lights |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727194915/https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1130942026/residents-across-india-celebrate-diwali-with-festivities-and-dazzling-lights |archive-date=27 July 2023 |access-date=2023-11-10 |work=AP |publisher=NPR}}

During Diwali, the levels of suspended particulate matter increase. When people are exposed to these pollutant particles, they may suffer from eye, nose, and throat-related problems. To produce colours when crackers are burst, carcinogenic and poisonous elements are used.{{Cite web |date=2018-10-23 |title=Firecrackers Not Only Pollute The Environment But Also Carry Cancer Causing Chemicals |url=https://www.news18.com/news/india/a-look-at-how-firecrackers-pollute-the-environment-and-carry-carcinogenic-agents-1916801.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211106193152/https://www.news18.com/news/india/a-look-at-how-firecrackers-pollute-the-environment-and-carry-carcinogenic-agents-1916801.html |archive-date=6 November 2021 |access-date=2021-11-04 |website=News18 |language=en}}

During the 2023 celebration, New Delhi briefly took the top spot in the world for air pollution with an air quality index of 680 on one night.{{Cite news |last=Mehta |first=Tanvi |date=2023-11-13 |title=Three Indian cities among world's 10 most polluted after Diwali |url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/three-indian-cities-amongst-worlds-10-most-polluted-after-diwali-2023-11-13/ |access-date=2023-11-22 |work=Reuters |language=en}}

The use of fireworks during Diwali can also lead to burn injuries. One particular firework called anar (fountain) has been found to be responsible for 65% of such injuries, with adults being the typical victims. Most of the injuries sustained are Group I type burns (minor) requiring only outpatient care. Experts urge precaution around candles and fires and ask for children to be kept a safe distance from flames and to enjoy the festivity of Diwali.{{Cite journal |last1=Mohan |first1=D. |last2=Varghese |first2=M. |year=1990 |title=Fireworks cast a shadow on India's festival of lights |journal=World Health Forum |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=323–326 |pmid=2291800}}{{Cite journal |last1=Ahuja |first1=R.B. |last2=Bhattacharya |first2=S. |date=August 2004 |title=Burns in the developing world and burn disasters |journal=The BMJ |volume=329 |issue=7463 |pages=447–449 |doi=10.1136/bmj.329.7463.447 |pmc=514214 |pmid=15321905}}

In 2023, a Diwali celebration in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India, broke the Guinness World Record for the largest display of oil lamps with 2,223,676 displayed on the eve of Diwali.{{Cite web |last=Addow |first=Amina |date=2023-11-17 |title=Largest display of oil lamps illuminate Indian city to celebrate Diwali |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/commercial/2023/11/largest-display-of-oil-lamps-illuminate-indian-city-to-celebrate-diwali-761303 |access-date=2024-07-20 |website=Guinness World Records}}

{{Div col}}

• Bandna – Agrarian festival that coincides with Diwali
• Bandi Chhor Divas – Sikh festival that coincides with Diwali
• Day of the Little Candles – the Colombian Catholic festival of candles
• Diwali (Jainism) – Diwali's significance in Jainism
• Guy Fawkes Night – the British festival of bonfires and fireworks held on the fifth of November. In towns with a large British Asian community, Diwali and Guy Fawkes festivities are often combined.
• Hanukkah – the Jewish festival of lights
• Kali Puja – Diwali is most commonly known as Kali Puja in West Bengal or in Bengali dominated areas
• Karthika Deepam – the festival of lights observed by Tamils of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Sri Lanka and elsewhere
• Lehyam, often prepared on the occasion of Deepavali to aid the digestion
• Lantern Festival – the Chinese festival of lanterns
• Loy Krathong – the Thai festival of lights
• Saint Lucy's Day – the Christian festival of lights
• Swanti – Newar version of Diwali
• Tihar – Nepali version of Diwali
• Walpurgis Night – the German festival of bonfires{{Div col end}}

{{Clear}}

{{Notelist}}

{{reflist}}

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• {{Cite book |last=Tracy Pintchman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W-9Hq-DOXnEC |title=Guests at God's Wedding: Celebrating Kartik among the Women of Benares |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7914-8256-8 |access-date=17 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226115243/https://books.google.com/books?id=W-9Hq-DOXnEC |archive-date=26 December 2018 |url-status=live}}
• {{Citation |last=Potter |first=Karl H. |title=Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies |volume=X: Jain Philosophy |year=2007 |editor-last=Dalsukh Malvania and Jayendra Soni |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5WHHJ6O7b-IC |access-date=25 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170412065216/https://books.google.com/books?id=5WHHJ6O7b-IC |archive-date=12 April 2017 |url-status=live |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-3169-8 |author-link=Karl H. Potter}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Rao |first=V. |year=2001 |title=Celebrations as Social Investments: Festival Expenditures, Unit Price Variation and Social Status in Rural India |journal=Journal of Development Studies |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=71–97 |doi=10.1080/713601102 |s2cid=59148993}}
• {{Cite book |last=Constantina Rhodes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RC0Mr3E1tqAC |title=Invoking Lakshmi: The Goddess of Wealth in Song and Ceremony |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4384-3322-6 |access-date=17 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110121029/https://books.google.com/books?id=RC0Mr3E1tqAC |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-status=live}}
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• {{Cite book |last=Frank Salamone |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre00sala |title=Encyclopedia of Religious Rites, Rituals and Festivals |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-415-88091-6 |url-access=registration}}
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• {{Cite book |last=Audrey Truschke |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oUUkDwAAQBAJ |title=Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India's Most Controversial King |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-5036-0259-5}}
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{{Refend}}

{{Wiktionary|Diwali}}

{{Commons category|Dipavali}}

{{Wikiquote|Diwali}}

• [https://www.history.com/news/the-ancient-origins-of-indias-biggest-holiday The Ancient Origins of Diwali, India's Biggest Holiday], Becky Little (2017)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170910153209/http://knowindia.gov.in/culture-and-heritage/festivals/deepawali.php Deepawali]
• [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health-news/winter-air-pollution-around-diwali-and-asthma-what-you-need-to-know/articleshow/104929975.cms?from=mdr Winter air pollution around Diwali and Asthma]

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