Diwali 2030

The story most north Indian children hear is that Ayodhya lit lamps to welcome Rama back after fourteen years. Valmiki's Ramayana does tell of the return and the coronation. The link between that homecoming and this night's lamps comes from later tradition, as far as we can establish, so it's best held as a beloved association and not a textual fact.

Lochtefeld gives the most widespread understanding of the night: Lakshmi roams the earth looking for homes that welcome her, so you clean the house and light the lamps. For many merchant families it's also the start of the financial year. Debts are cleared, new ledgers are opened, and the books themselves may be worshipped. Some Gujarati and Marwari business families still do this.

In Bengal, this new moon belongs to Kali, not Lakshmi. Bengali households keep their main Lakshmi Puja on the full moon just after Durga Puja. Kali Puja as a large public festival is usually credited to eighteenth-century patronage under Raja Krishnachandra of Nadia, and it grew further in the nineteenth century.

For Jains, this is the night Mahavira attained nirvana. The Kalpa Sutra says that kings instituted an illumination that night, saying: “Since the light of intelligence is gone, let us make an illumination of material matter!” It's an early and clear statement linking lamps to a new moon night, and it's a much firmer text than anything we could find for the other stories here.

Sikhs mark this as the day Guru Hargobind reached Amritsar after his release from Gwalior Fort, bringing 52 imprisoned princes with him. The name Bandi Chhor, “liberator of prisoners”, has been especially emphasised since the Nanakshahi calendar of 2003. Sources give different years for the release, and the link with Diwali itself rests on later accounts. The Golden Temple's lights are real, and spectacular.

In much of the south, the main day is Naraka Chaturdashi, the morning before the new moon, with an oil bath before dawn. It recalls Krishna killing the demon Narakasura, whose death is told in the Bhagavata Purana (10.59). The Purana tells the story, but the link to this date is regional tradition.