Deepavali celebrates Ravana’s defeat and Ram’shomecoming. India’s best-known mythologicalfiction writers share their favourite Diwali story

SHARED BY ASHWIN SANGHI

MOST of us associate Diwali with thereturn of Lord Ram to Ayodhya on thedarkest new moon night of the monthof Kartika. But, there is one part ofIndia that celebrates Diwali almost afull month after that date. In manydistricts of Himachal Pradesh — Ani,Nirmand, Shillai, Giripar, Sangrah, Ra-jgarh and Chopal — this timelag ver-sion of Diwali is known as BoodhiDiwali, literally meaning old Diwali. Ihave always been fascinated by this

regional variation. Why should amainstream festival be celebrated afull month later in some regions?

If we view the Ramayana as a his-torical rather than mythologicalevent, the logic of Boodhi Diwali be-comes apparent. When Lord Rama en-tered Ayodhya after 14 years of exile,the news of his arrival spread. The cit-izens of Ayodhya began celebrating bylighting mud lamps and distributingmithai. But this rejoicing would havebeen limited to the capital and imme-diate surrounding regions. Many

mountainous and inaccessible areaswould have been unaware of Ram’sreturn. The news of his victory overRavana and his safe homecomingwould have reached these corners ofthe kingdom after several weeks.Hence, the people living in these partsrejoiced a full month later. Thus,Boodhi Diwali is observed on the firstnew moon after regular Diwali inthese regions.

But, Diwali is not only about Rama’sreturn. Diwali is also variously associ-ated with the incarnation of Lakshmi,

the killing of Narakasura, the return ofthe Pandavas, the rescue of Lakshmi,the coronation of Vikramaditya, at-tainment of nirvana by Mahavira andthe return of Mahabali to the subter-ranean world. But in the Boodhi Di-wali districts, it is related to thevictory of the gods over demons, Danoand Asur who resided there as snakes.As part of the celebrations, a ropefashioned from grass and resemblinga snake is carried into the fields. It isthen cut into pieces, thus representingthe victory of good over evil.

Diwali is not only about Rama’s return.Diwali is also variously associated with theincarnation of Lakshmi, the killing ofNarakasura, the return of the Pandavas, therescue of Lakshmi, the coronation ofVikramaditya, attainment of nirvana byMahavira and the return of Mahabali to thesubterranean world. But in the Boodhi Diwalidistricts, it is related to the victory of thegods over demons, Dano and Asur whoresided there as snakes.

THE story that occurs to me isone that’s not part of the officialValmiki Ramayan, but is a verypopular tale in the folk tradi-tions in north India.

Ravan may have committedmany crimes, no doubt, but hewas also a brilliant intellectualand a very good warrior. And so,the story goes that after Ravanwas shot and lay dying, LordRam told his brother Lord Lax-man, “The man is a genius andhis knowledge should not gowaste.” Lord Ram then askedLord Laxman to go sit withRavan and learn from him. LordLaxman, as you know, was quiteshort-tempered.

He went to Ravan who lay onthe ground and stood close tohis head and said, “Lord Ram

said that your knowledge shouldnot go waste. So, tell me whatyou know.” And Ravan justturned his face and did not sayanything.

Lord Laxman came back toLord Ram and said, “He is still

arrogant and is not saying any-thing.” Then Lord Ram askedhim, “How did you ask him?Where were you standing?” “Iwas standing close to his head.”was the answer.

Lord Ram told Lord Laxmanthat that was not the way oneshould ask Ravan to share hisknowledge.

Lord Ram went to Ravan andhe stood close to Ravan’s feet

and asked politely, “Ravan youhave earned a lot of knowledge.You are a devotee of Lord Shivaand it’s important that thisknowledge survives. If youshare it with me, I will makesure that it does. And also, that it will never be forgottenthat you gave this knowledge to me.”

Then, Ravan started speaking.The lesson here is that even

someone as knowledgeable andgreat as Lord Ram, showed hu-mility and kindness towards anenemy. He realised that the warwas over. The story also showsthat everyone has somethinggood in them, even Ravan.

Amish is the author of the Meluhaseries, Scion of Ikshvaku and Sita:

Warrior of Mithila

Ram went to Ravana andsat at his feet and askedpolitely, “Ravana, you haveearned a lot of knowledge.You are the devotee of LordShiva and it’s importantthat this knowledgesurvives.”

IN the southern states, Deepavali isassociated with the killing of Naraka-sura, the son of Lord Vishnu andBhoodevi. It’s a story I have grown upwith and I like it for its sense ofwoman power.

Narakasura was killed by Satyab-hama, a reincarnation of Bhoodevi.

While there are contradictory ver-sions, the story I grew up with saysthat when the child was born toBhoodevi she was restored to her position from the depths of the oceanby Vishnu in his boar-incarnation(varaha-avatar). Being a mother, shedidn’t want the child to die, eventhough he was a rakshasa. She askedLord Vishnu to bless him with a longlife. He told her, “That’s okay, but hehas to die.” She told him, “Then blesshim that he should die at my hands; Ishould be the reason for his death. Ishould wish it and only then it should happen.”

The story goes that Narakasurawent to the three worlds and raidedthem. While he was in Swarga, he stolethe earrings of Aditi, considered themother of all gods. Narakasura alsostole the white umbrella belonging toVaruna. The theft of the earrings wasakin to rape, her honour had been sul-lied. She was hurt and wanted himkilled. Indra tried to fight Narakasurabut was unable to reach Narakasura’shome in the fortress-like setting ofPragjotishpura. Unable to even reachthe rakshasa, Indra went to Krishna forhelp. Krishna agreed to help. However,given the inaccessibility of Pragjotish-pura, he commissioned Garuda (theonly time Krishna used the Vishnuva-han) to transport him and his entirearmy. How Satyabhama tagged alongis interesting.

Krishna knew that only a woman

could kill Narakasura and he knewthat Satyabhama was the reincarna-tion of Bhoodevi. “I want to go. I wantto see a war and how you fight.”Satyabhama, who was completelyunder the spell of maya, insisted.

“Don’t think this is Nandanavana.There won’t be fragrant flowers orbreeze and no chirping birds. Instead,there will be blood, gore and the criesof dying people,” Krishna warned her.

Satyabhama said, “I am not chickenhearted. I want to see you fight. I haveheard of your great valour.”

Krishna underlined this with, “Okay,but remember I am taking you onlybecause you want to go.”

Once the war started, Krishna andhis army fought the generals, sons ofNarakasura and the entire army. Then,they breached the fort. Narakasuraused the Shaktiastra and hit Krishnaon the head.

Krishna fainted and Satyabhama gotupset and angry. In her rage, thewoman who had not even learnt war-fare took up Krishna’s bow, shot anarrow and killed Narakasura. Herthought, “I must kill him,” made theboon come true, ensuring that thedreaded rakshasa died.

Radha Vishwanath is the authorof Ravan Leela

Why Diwali comes a month later to the hills

Narakasura and the cycle of karma

Ram got Ravana to share his knowledge with him

A woman saved the world

And, ultimately all these ideas con-stitute the core of Diwali, irrespectiveof whether you celebrate it a monthearlier or later. Destruction of dark-ness with light. Spiritual awakening.Renewal. Birth. Material prosperitythrough the arrival of Lakshmi. In thatsense, Diwali is a magnificent um-brella. Anyone can sit beneath it andcreate yet another reason to celebrate.

Ashwin Sanghi is the author of The RozabalLine, Chanakya’s Chant, The Krishna Key

and The Sialkot Saga

IT’S fascinating to see how thechain of karma (action) andkarma phala (fruits of action)operate in our Puranas. We cansee this link in several epics.The Puranas are rarely blackand white, and the stories havenever been about Good versusEvil, as they are being madeout to be. It’s Abrahamic reli-gions that operate in a binaryway — god versus satan, virtueagainst sin, and eternal lifeagainst death. Eastern philoso-phy believes in the cyclical na-ture of life.

The links of karma andkarma phala are not straight-forward. And, this is evidenteven in the most famous storysurrounding Deepavalai, thatof Narakasura.

Narakasura was the son ofVishnu and Bhoomidevi. WhenVishnu took on the avatar ofVaraha (bore) in the hill of Hi-ranyakasha, a son was born tohim and Bhoomidevi ormother Earth. Bhoomidevi re-quested Vishnu to bless herson to become all powerful.Vishnu complied. This iskarma. Let’s see how karmaphala unfolds. The son grew upto be arrogant and conqueredthe world. He kidnapped16,000 women and unleashed areign of terror. Thus, Vishnu’svardan of conquering evil ledto a chain of events that endedup creating more evil. Naraka-sura could only be defeated byKrishna and his wife Satyab-hama, incarnations of Vishnuand Bhoomidevi. In otherwords, those responsible forcreating the evil would have tofind a solution, too. Deepavaliis the day when Krishna andSatyabhama killed Narakasura.Thus, they had to perform anaction — or karma — to defeatevil, which came as the karmaphala of their own action. This action inturn created another chain

of events.Krishna married the 16,000

women. However, he bore anevil son from another wife,Jambavati. This son, Samba,was so evil that Krishna had tocurse him to become a leper.Sambha became the cause ofdestruction of Dwaraka andthe annihilation of the Yadavaclan. As Dwaraka was sinking,Krishna asked Arjuna to takehis 16,000 wives to Hastina-pura. On the way, these wiveswere captured by rakshasasunder the leadership of Dur-jaya. They defeated Arjuna andtook away the wives.

Who were these rakshasas?

They were reincarnations ofthe rakshasa who was killed inLanka by Rama when he hadwaged a war to rescue Sitafrom Ravana’s captivity.

So, in one birth, Rama kills16,000 rakshasas to save hiswife. In the next birth, 16,000 ofhis wives are captured by thesame rakshasas. And who killsKrishna? It is Vali, killed byRama, who is reincarnated as Jara.

By lighting lamps, we are re-minding ourselves that forevery light, there is a shadow.By lighting crackers, we tellourselves that even the great-est flash of light and boomingsound is temporary in the vastdarkness of time. That is whyGod in Indian culture is knownas Kalapurusha. That is whyShiva is Kalabhairava and inGita, Krishna says I am Time.And, life is a function of end-less cycles of action, result and reaction.

Anand Neelakantan is the author ofbooks based on the Ramayana, such

as Asura: Tale of the Vanquished,Ajaya: Roll of the Dice and Ajaya:Rise of Kali. More recently, he has

written The Rise of Sivagami: Book 1of Baahubali - Before the Beginning

Thus, Vishnu’s vardan ofconquering evil, led to achain of events that endedup creating more evil.Narakasura could only bedefeated by Krishna andhis wife Satyabhama,incarnations of Vishnu andBhoomidevi. In otherwords, those responsiblefor creating the evil wouldhave to find a solution too.ILLUSTRATION/UDAY MOHITE

FEATURE22 mid-day Sunday, October 15, 2017 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

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