Diwali Special

 Yes, Wasubaras, the day that initiates this unique festival, celebrated  as it is most happily, both in a hutment and a palace, has a mythical allusion to the Kamdhenu, the divine cow, who could grant any boon, fulfil any wish. Beautiful legends are woven around her, right from the Samudra Manthan to the "making" of Sage Vishwamitra whose burning jealousy of Sage Vasishtha made him steal her. Why, in a way, she is inextricably linked to Lord Rama and his lineage as well. 

The moniker of the second day of Diwali is a little misleading though. Dhanteras does not really relate to the monetary mirage. Sure, the very festival celebrates prosperity. Yet the "dhan" in "dhanteras" has less to do with money. Actually, this day is dedicated to Dhanwantari, the deity dedicated to medicine. He has the "amrut kumbha", when like the Kamdhenu, he emerged from the samudra manthan. Alternatively, he is the sage who initiated Ayurveda. He was the first ever surgeon, too, apparently. 

In other words, the day is dedicated to health which follows the divine cow, and comes before destroying the evil (Narakasura), and before praying for wealth, the Laxmi. Well, I am trying to locate a sequence that gives a deep, uniquely symbolic meaning to Diwali. 

Hence I find very limiting, and actually misrepresenting, the typical colonial interpretation of Diwali as the "festival of lights", the "Lichterfest", as it is translated in to German in a very Maxmueller kinda easy-to-be-understood-to/by-the-West colonial way. Diwali, I am trying to present, and actually in our bones we anyways know it to be, is much much more than a fest of lights. It actually lights up the inner horizons, is my plea. 

With Dhanteras is associated a lovely Savitri like story of a dedicated wife who saves her husband's life against the prognosis of death. Given the boon granted to her, only on this particular day, a diya is lighted with its wick towards the South, the direction of death.

Diwali, in brief, is a festival not merely of lights, but of  a celebration of all that asserts life, wins over even death. Why diminish its glory by associating the festival with merely lights, or the day with "dhan"? 

It is believed in certain parts of India that on this day thirteen diyas should be lit. In Maharashtra, such illumination has a unique dimension to it. In Maharashtra, Diwali is inner illumination because it is food for thought as well. Yes, in Maharashtra, there is this unique practice of Diwali Ank, the Diwali Special issues of magazines. Incidentally, this tradition (which provides a Diwali Special space for the churning of ideas, thoughts, opinions) turns hundred this year. 

It is a moment of quiet satisfaction for me that this year are published two of my articles, one on Guru Dutt's filmography (as 2025 is his birth centenary year) and the other on the Mexico City Convention (a definitive moment in the awareness of women related issues as it turns fifty this year) as well as on Jane Austen who uniquely defined women's stories (as 2025 celebrates her two hundred and fiftieth birth anniversary) and on Virginia Woolf (as her radically distinct novel "Mrs Dalloway" turns hundred this year).

Actually every year there are a number of my articles in the Diwali Special issues. In June this year, when mostly decisions are finalised, I was in the Himalayas, an experience which has illuminated my inner horizon with multiple high's, literal as well as figurative.

Till 2020, it used to be Aai, who would receive, and first answer, the readers' calls of appreciation as our landline phone was right next to her bed so that communication should be very easy, as and when needed. It used to be a great feel cradling the mouthpiece from her, her face and eyes full of happiness and joy. Diwali, in brief, is a special period of such lovely memories rejuvenating my mindscape!

Pratima@ Diwali is an annually recurring fest. Yet every year Diwali is special!