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Varying themes for a single occasion

In most of the major festivals in other traditions of the world, celebrations stretch over several days.

Diwali celebrations stretch into a group of at least five minor festivals and therefore it is a festival of composite nature.

The first of them is Dhana-Terasa. ‘Terasa’ is the corrupt form of Trio-Dash, meaning thirteenth; ‘Dhana’ means wealth; and thus, Dhan-Terasa means ‘Thirteenth, the Day of Wealth’, that is, two days before Deepawali which takes place on the fifteenth Amavasya.

Dhana-Terasa marks the beginning of the Lakshmi’s welcome rites. In the evening, some lamps are lit and placed outside the door for Yama, the God of Death for keeping him away.

Actual Diwali shopping, especially of utensils and jewellery, is done on Dhana-Terasa and is considered exceptionally auspicious; these new things alternate the old.

Chaturdashi is celebrated as minor Diwali in all sects as Naraka Chaturdashi in the Hindu tradition, and as the day of Mahavira’s Nirvana, amongst Jains.

Govardhana-Puja, worship of Mount Govardhana that takes place on the day after Diwali, is another minor festival.

While some parts of India follow the tradition of worshipping a cow-dung model of Govardhana along with cows, in other places it is celebrated as Annakuta, the worship of the pile of the first harvested grain of the season.

‘Doja’ is the second day of the second half of the month, which is celebrated as Bhaiya-Doja. It is the day when sisters put tilaka-mark on the foreheads of their brothers and feed them with the food they prepared. This was a tradition introduced by Acharya Hemadri in the 13th Century.

Bhaiya-Doja is also known as Yama-Dwitiya with Vedic interpretation, involving Yama and Yami, the son and daughter of Surya.

As is the story, Yami made a proposal to Yama for marrying her, something common in primitive society which did not see a man and woman as other than a male and a female. To change this position, Surya instructed Yama to turn down Yami’s proposal. In course of time, this relationship was identified as brother and sister.

Bhaiya-Doja aimed at strengthening the ties in between them.

Astronomy in Diwali

Diwali celebrations are fixed for the Amavasya night of the month of Kartika but this Amavasya is not a mathematically counted day. It is rather the outcome of the planetary position.

The Zodiac is divided into twelve parts with as many signs, namely, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. The cycle of the Sun’s movement across them is the basis for determining both Diwali and Holi, the other popular festival of India.

Diwali occurs on the day when the Sun transits from Virgo, the sixth sign, into Libra, the seventh, a planetary position on the Kartika Amavasya.

From this Amavasya, the latter half of the planetary year begins.

The planetary position on this day determines the prospects across the year of not only those born under this or that zodiac sign but also of the society in general, the nation and the world. Being linked with the arrival of crop, which equips all with buying capacity, Diwali has a special meaning for traders, and accordingly they open new account books on this day.

The Presiding Deity

Lakshmi is unanimously revered as the Presiding Deity of Diwali.

She bestows riches, prosperity, fertility and well-being.

In its Gautami-Mahatmya part, the Brahma-Purana perceives Her as God’s grace, grace of penance and yajna, one who gives prosperity, fame, popularity, learning, intellect, happiness, salvation, forbearance, accomplishment of all desired, quiescence, and all faculties of mind, and as one who herself is the water, earth, space, light, darkness, Maya, and all that is manifest and unmanifest.

Hence, in Diwali rituals, Lakshmi is thrice worshipped. Analogous to Kala-Ratri, the first night after the Great Deluge when the process of re-creation commenced, Diwali begins its rituals with the joint worship of Lakshmi and Ganesh, one representing the primordial energy and the other who channelled it into creative process by controlling detriments.

The Remover of Obstacles

The image of Ganesh, when accompanied by his consorts Riddhi and Siddhi, has greater auspices. While Ganesh checks negatives, Riddhi and Siddhi operate and produce results.

This joint worship of Lakshmi-Ganesh is followed by the worship of nine planets, sixty-four Yoginis – manifest forms of primordial energy, sixteen mothers, knowledge of architecture, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

Lakshmi is then worshipped independently as the Goddess of Riches and Abundance. Scriptures also prescribe worship of Yaksha Kuber, the custodian of riches.

Finally, after one has worshipped the means of livelihood, means of rituals and knowledge, Lakshmi is worshipped again, with three recitations and offerings.

The above article has been reproduced here with the permission of Exotic India.

www.exoticindiaart.com

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