Diwali Around the World

What is Diwali?

Diwali/Deepavali popularly known as the festival of light is one of the important festivals observed by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains. Diwali is a glamorous and joyful festival that is enthusiastically enjoyed by people of all religion in Asian countries. It is celebrated to mark the victory of good over bad, knowledge over ignorance and light over dark.

Origin of Diwali

There are several myths associated with Diwali, a few of them are explained below. Story Of Lord Rama: The people of Ayodhya celebrated the return of Lord Rama from his 14 years exile by lighting lamps throughout the kingdom. This tradition of lighting lamp has continued even today to show the victory of good over evil. The Story Of Narakasur: Narakasur was believed to be a demon with evil thoughts, who created problems for other people. Lord Krishna destroyed Narakasur for the welfare of the people. Annihilation of evil by the God is known as Diwali or the festival of lights. The Story Of King Bali And Vamana: King Bali is remembered on Diwali. Bali was a very generous king, but was very ambitious because of which all the people were disturbed. To check the generosity of king Bali, Lord Vishnu came in the avatar of Vamana. He then asked King Bali to give him the land that would be covered in three steps. This first foot step covered the whole earth, the second covered the whole universe and no space was left to place his third foot step, so the king asked Vamana to place his third step on his head. Thus Lord Vishnu destroyed Bali by placing his foot on his head.