Tihar (Deepawali)
Tihar, the festival of lights is one of the most dazzling of all
Hindu festivals. In this festival we worship Goddess Laxmi, the Goddess
of wealth. During the festival all the houses in the city and villages
are decorated with lit oil lamps. Thus during the night the entire
village or city looks like a sparkling diamond. This festival is
celebrated in five days starting from the thirteenth day of the waning
moon in October. We also refer to tihar as 'Panchak Yama' which
literally means 'the five days of the underworld lord'. We also worship
'yamaraj' in different forms in these five days. In other words this
festival is meant for life and prosperity.
Goddess Laxmi is
the wife of almighty Lord Vishnu. She was formed from the ocean and she
has all the wealth of the seas. She sits on a full-grown lotus and her
steed is the owl. On the third day of the festival at the stroke of
midnight she makes a world tour on her owl looking how she is
worshipped.
There is a story, which tells why this revelry
is celebrated so widely. Once there was a king who was living his last
days of life. His astrologer had told him that a serpent would come and
take his life away. The king did not want to die so he has asked the
astrologer if there was any way to escape death. The king was advised
to sleep with lit oil lamps all around his bed and decorate the palace
with oil lamps on laxmi puja day. So goddess laxmi would talk to the
serpent not to take his life. It did happen, the serpent was convinced
by goddess laxmi. The serpent took the king to Yama Raj and told him
that it was not yet the king's time to come to the underworld. So Yama
Raj opened his ledger and in it the kings remaining age was written
zero, but the serpent cleverly put seven before zero. Thus the king
lived for seventy more years. So onwards tihar is widely celebrated
worshipping the underworld and goddess laxmi.
The first day
of tihar is known as 'Kag tihar', crows day. Crow is an underworld
henchman. On this day crows are offered food on a plate made out of
leaves in the morning before anyone in the house takes in food. In the
kingdom of Nepal crow is not killed cause as a legend says that one
crow had happened to drink the water of life. Thus you can see crows
everywhere sitting without the fear of human beings. Crow the messenger
of death is honoured on the first day of tihar.
The second
day is called 'Kukur tihar', dogs day. A dog plays many roles in our
society. We have dogs in our houses as guardian of the house. As the
legend also says that there is a dog at yama's gate guarding the gate
to the underworld. The dog is also the steed of the fearful Bhairab,
the god of destruction. So on this day a big red tika is put on a dog's
forehead and a beautiful garland around the neck. After worshipping the
dog, it is given very delicious meal. This day the saying 'every dog
has his day' comes true; for even a stray dog is looked upon with
respect. We pray to the dog to guard our house as he guards the gate of
the underworld and to divert destruction away from our homes. On this
day you can see dogs running around with garlands on their neck.
The
third day is the most important day of the festival. It is called
'Laxmi puja', The day when we worship goddess of wealth. On this day,
early in the morning the cow is worshipped. Tika is put on her head and
a garland around her neck then she feasts with delicious food. A cow
also symbolises wealth and she is the most holy animal for Hindus. Cow
is the national animal of Nepal.
In
the evening goddess laxmi is worshipped. Days before the house are
cleansed and decorated. For goddess likes clean and tidy places. In the
evening a small potion of the house out side the main door is painted
red with red mud and an oil lamp is lit on it. A pathway is made from
here to the place where the old money box and valuables are kept in the
house that is the puja room. All the Nepalese have a box where from
generation to generation money is put every year worshipping goddess
laxmi. This money is never used unless extreme emergency. The entire
house is decorated with lit oil lamps in every doors and windows.
Laxmi, goddess of wealth is worshipped performing the traditional
rituals and when the rituals are over then gambling in the house
starts. This is a festival when gambling is not illegal. On this day
throughout the evening groups of girls come to houses singing song of
praise of the goddess and they are taken as guests and given gifts.
This day the entire place is lively through out the night.
The
fourth day is bit different. Today the things you worship depend on
your specific cultural background. Normally most of the people perform
'Guru puja', ox worshipping. The ox is worshipped with tika, garland
and then a delicious meal is fed to it. On the other hand people who
follow lord Krishna perform 'Gobhardan puja'. These people build a
small hill made out of cowdung and put some grass on it then do puja on
it. This puja symbolises the act of lord Krishna when he lifted the
gobhardan hill and saved millions of people and cows from floodwater.
If
you belong to the Newar community, you perform 'Mha puja' which
literally means worshipping yourself. The newar community people are
worshipping life by doing puja on themselves. On this very day the
newar New Year also starts. Nepal has many minor community calendars
and newar calendar is one of them but the nation follows the Bikram
Sambat calendar.
The last day of tihar is 'Bhai tika',
putting tika on your brothers by your sisters. The royal astrologer
gives the appropriate time to put the tika through the national radio a
day before and the entire nation abides by it. Even his majesty
receives tika from is sisters. When his majesty receives tika a
thirty-one-gun salute is given to honour the function. At this moment
the entire nation will be observing bhai tika. The main theme behind
bhai tika is the sisters praying for their brother's long life from
Yama Raj, god of the underworld.
The most exotic and dazzling festival comes to an end after
these five magnificent days of worship and honour to the goddess laxmi
and the underworld kingdom.
Article by Avigya Karki
Photographs collected from Deependra Bajracharya
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