Diwali Greetings!

Here's wishing all my readers

a very happy Diwali 

&

a prosperous new year!!

Utkarsh

Diwali and Gambling

Diwali as we all know is a festival of lights. A festival which has its religious ceremonies, but is also marked by festivities, which involves, food, new dresses, rangolis (This is Utkarsh Speaking: Rangoli), illuminating homes and bursting crackers. However curiously, it also marks the legitimacy of gambling. On the night of Diwali, tradition has it that gambling is a must and young and old, all sit together to gamble.

Where do we look at, to find clues, but mythology?

Though not much is found as a clue, there is but one instance of Goddess Parvati playing dice with Lord Shiva on the night of Diwali. According to this myth, on this night, Lord Shiva and Parvati played the game of dice and Shiva lost, then son Kartikeya played and defeated Parvati. After this Ganesha played with Kartikeya and defeated him. Since then gambling on this day is considered to be a family past time and one day, when this is acceptable. Some legends also mention that Parvati was cheating during the game and Shiva is supposed to have caught her hand when he found her cheating. This famous episode from mythology has been beautifully carved in one of the caves of Ellora, India, shown below –

According to the legend, Parvati is supposed to said, that anybody who does not gamble on the night of Diwali, would be born as a donkey in his/her next birth!

I find this practice and its association with the legend nothing but a contradiction. Diwali is traditionally a day when we worship wealth in the form of Goddess Lakshmi. This is a day when you light diyas and illuminate your homes to enable the goddess to spot your house and step into it, thus ushering in a year of prosperity. Gambling away wealth on this day is a contradiction of sorts. How does one justify such flimsy usage (or misuse?) of wealth and that too on this day? Wouldn’t it be dangerous to spite her by ensuring that you gamble ‘her’ on this day?

Some have taken a high moral ground, by giving a philosophical interpretation to it. According to this school of thought, gambling on this day is to test one’s sense of control. One’s ability to keep dice as dice and not change it to a vice is being tested on this day. Sounds good, but just another justification for indulging in a vice, which is known for bringing down empires and the worst in mankind, and one doesn’t need to go far, mythology itself has a few obvious examples, the epic Mahabharata for one. Also, the myth referring to Shiva-Parvati playing dice does not mention anything about stakes, so justifying gambling of wealth is thus out of place.

Traditional painting depicting Shiva-Parvati playing Chaupar

Diwali is a festival which has lots to celebrate about. Let’s all do it with the right spirit. Wealth is an important but temporary resource, and it pays to value it. Hindus are probably the only community which worships wealth, and this is done out of respect for it as against a crass display of materialism. I don’t think we should look for false pretexts to abuse it. A vice is a vice is a vice and there can be no two ways about it. Needless to say, that Lakshmi, is also known as ‘chanchala’ or the restless-one – I would rather find ways to make her stay at my place for ever, than allow her to leave me by disrespecting her!!

My views on gambling are not didactic in nature, but to take recourse to mythology to justify such actions is quite unfair. Gambling, per se, is an act of individual choice, but keep it that way. Don’t look for vague justifications!

Enjoy your Diwali, and take good care of the Goddess Lakshmi and don’t bet on her!!

Govardhan Puja

During Diwali, many places in India observe what is known as Govardhan Puja. Let us go through the myth behind the puja first.

Once when Lord Krishna was a child, he saw his father make elaborate preparations for some worship. On enquiring he was told that they were preparing to worship Lord Indra, who was responsible for giving them rain, which led to the welfare of the people. Krishna reasoned with his father and all present, that it was not Indra, but mountain Govardhan who was responsible for the welfare of the people, as it was thanks to the mountain that they got grazing grounds for the cattle. It was the mountain which stopped the clouds and compelled them to rain and also gave them lots of greenery and different plants and shrubs required. Mount Govardhan was also home for numerous medicinal plants which was required for preparing local medicines. It made more sense to worship the mountain instead of Indra. At the end, Krishna convinced the people to stop the worship of Indra and start worshipping Govardhan Mountain. This angered Indra so much that he decided to punish the people of Vrindavan and sent merciless rains leading to days and nights of downpour. People got scared and went to Krishna, saying that they had angered Indra and something needed to be done.

Krishna, then came forward, worshipped the mountain as he had decided and lifted the  mountain in his last finger creating a giant umbrella to save the people from a potential deluge. Lord Indra was thus humbled, and accepted the supremacy of Krishna, and thus was started the practice of Govardhan Puja. Since this episode, Krishna was also referred to as Giridhari – the one who holds the mountain.

The myth makes a very important statement which is writ large in the theory of Mythology. No hero is forever. Indra had been a chief deity during the Vedic times, but by the Puranic age, Indra had lost considerable sheen. Gods like Vishnu (and his different avatars, like Ram, Krishna, etc.); Shiva and other gods had gained prominence. It is human tendency to demean someone to highlight the importance of another. This is exactly what happened to Lord Indra during the Puranic times. Indra who was also sometimes referred to as Devendra (Lord of the gods) was nothing but a caricature of a fallen god. There are numerous instances, where, even asuras have defeated Indra in battles and he has to seek help from Vishnu and other such gods. There is also the famous instance of Ravana’s son defeating Indra and earning the epithet of Indrajeet (literally - one who has achieved victory over Indra) in Ramayana. Such cases of old heroes making way for new are not unheard of in mythology. Many also see this conflict as a conflict of two cults, one gaining prominence at the expense of the other. Subsequently, Indra was relegated to a relatively smaller position of a smaller deity, that of being a god of rains.

Why only Mythology, isn’t the same visible in our real lives too? People who were heroes for our parents were not for us and our idols are not the ones our children look up to. But it is important to mention here that during the Vedic times, and in Rig Veda, Indra had occupied a prime position and a number of myths talk of his bravery and valour.

Chhoti Diwali or Narak Chaturdashi

The day prior to the actual Diwali is known as Chhoti Diwali (Small Diwali) or sometimes Narak Chaturdashi.

The myth concerning this day is related to a fierce demon king by the name of Narakasur, who was the king of Pragjyotishpur, a place south of the present day Nepal. He had defeated Lord Indra in a fierce battle and taken away the earrings of Goddess Aditi. Goddess Aditi happened to be related to Lord Krishna’s wife, Satyabhama. Besides the earrings, Narakasur had also imprisoned sixteen thousand girls who were the daughters of different gods and saints.

When Satyabhama came to know about it, she was furious and sought the help of her husband, Lord Krishna. She asked for the empowerment, so that she could vanquish the demon herself. Lord Krishna was aware that Narakasur was cursed to die in the hands of only a woman, so this empowerment was necessary. Krishna, empowered her, and also decided to act as her charioteer in the battle against Narakasur.

On the day prior to Narak Chaturdashi, with the help of Lord Krishna, Satyabhama manages to not only kill Narakasur but also recovered the precious earrings. She also releases the sixteen thousand girls. However, to save the girls the embarrassment of being in the confines of a demon, Lord Krishna decided to marry all of them, and grant them legitimacy.

As a mark of victory, Krishna smeared his forehead with the blood of Narakasur and when he arrived the next day, his wives massaged him with perfumed oils and gave him a royal bath.

Since then it has become a custom in parts of Maharashtra, to get up early on the day of Narak Chaturdashi and have an oil-bath before sunrise. Many apply kumkum on their foreheads, as a ritual before the bath, imitating the smearing of the blood of Narakasur by Lord Krishna.

The myth further states that Bhoodevi (Mother earth) who was the mother of Narakasur, declared this day as a day of celebrations and not mourning. Thus this day is celebrated as Chhoti Diwali!