Reasons Why Diwali Is Most Celebrated Festival: – Why Diwali is celebrated? Why diwali is celebrated for what reasons? Why Diwali is celebrated in India?

What are the reasons to celebrate Diwali festival in Hindu? Why do we celebrate Diwali festival in India and it’s several states? Why Tihar is celebrated in Nepal? All these question are same. The best answer of this question is given below.

Tihar or as it is called in India Diwali is one of the biggest festivals for Hindu religion or say, Diwali is called in Nepal Tihar, is the second biggest festivals for Hindu religion. This festival is celebrated for five days continuous mainly in the month of October sometimes November.

The festive environment along with the eve of long winter to come is cherished by the Hindu people at the time of Tihar celebration. Tihar in Nepal and India both are celebrated for five days.

They both have an individual reason for each day while someday has more than one reason to be celebrated. In Nepal, Tihar swiftly follows one of the biggest festivals, Dashain.

Being based on mythology and other social and cultural beliefs about the festival there are many reasons to celebrate Tihar or Diwali. The reasons why Diwali is the most celebrated festival in India or reasons why Tihar is the 2nd biggest festival of Nepal can be as follows:

29 Reasons Why Diwali Is Most Celebrated Festival in India

Day 1 of Diwali / Deepawali / Deepavali (Tihar) Festival

1.The first day of the festival is called Dhanteras. This day of Diwali indicates the day of birth of Goddess Laxmi – Goddess of wealth and prosperity. On the day of Kartik against or new moon day (Amavasya) of Kartik month i.e., the new moon of October is Goddess Laxmi incarnated herself at the time of Samudra Manthan.

Samundra Manthan is the time when the cosmic ocean of milk was churned by the forces of Good and forces of evil to get Amrit, a potion that will preserve life till infinity. So, we can say that this is indicative of link of Tihar with worshipping of Goddess Laxmi.

2. This day also symbolizes the birthday of another goddess named Dhanvantari. She is the goddess of health and healing. She is believed to be able to cure all the diseases and worshipping her will grow on her influence to save people and mankind from deaths and diseases.

Thus, many people on this day start to invest in clothing shopping and investments plans, commencing business due to Goddess Laxmi and spend on health for Goddess Dhanvantari.

3. Day 1 of Tihar is known as Kaag Tihar it means Tihar or festival of crows. Since crows are a symbol of news coming to our houses, Nepalese Hindus take this day of the year to worship Kaag or crows and to pray them to always bring good news to their houses and every time crow crows in their backyard, the news is good.

This worshipping of Crows is also because they also inform of any natural disasters headed our way beforehand giving time to prepare. This is why the first day of Tihar is also called Kaag Tihar or Festival of Crows.

In Nepal, crows are worshipped in the morning and Goddess Laxmi birthday and Goddess Dhanvantari birthday is celebrated at night with lighting.

Day 2 of Diwali / Deepawali / Deepavali (Tihar) Festival

4. The second day of Diwali is called Narak Chaturdashi. Krishna, Satyabhama, and Kali the three major Gods of Hindu religion combined their effort to kill demon Narakasura.

Around 16000 women were rescued from the captivity of Narakasura after his death. This day is generally renowned as Diwali in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Goa, and Karnataka.

On this day, the House is decorated and the special bathing rituals are conducted from fragrant oil baths. Many households also prepare sweets.

5. In Nepal day two of Tihar is special treat towards our loyal domestic animals dogs. The day is celebrated because the dogs are a symbol of loyalty and faith. They can be trusted and are very loyal.

To symbolize this as a blessing and acknowledging their effort as the best friends of mankind, Nepalese Hindus celebrate this day as Dogs’ Day. The dogs are given their most liked food, worshipped with garlands and taken out for walks and play.

Also, dogs are the guardian of our house when people are not at home. This day also is celebrated thanking them for being guardians of the house and keeping humankind safe.

Day 3 of Diwali / Deepawali / Deepavali (Tihar) Festival

6. In Hindu religion, Goddess Laxmi is also believed to be Goddess of Wealth. In this auspicious day of her birthday, Nepalese Hindus also celebrate this day to appraise Goddess Laxmi and make Goddess Laxmi happy.

They also pray to Goddess Laxmi to always be blessed by her so that no unfortunate things would happen to their family and relatives due to lack of wealth. Goddess Laxmi is believed to be the protector of wealth and that she will always guide her worshippers to the better use and mutual and social growth from the wealth.

7. According to mythology one of the trinity of Hindu religion, Lord Vishnu, the preserver of the world is the better half of Goddess Laxmi. On this very special day of Diwali or Tihar, it is believed that Lord Vishnu took the avatar of Vaman-Avataara.

This was his fifth avatar and he took it to rescue Goddess Laxmi from prison of King Bali. This thus is one of the other reasons to celebrate Diwali, the union of the greatest Goddess with Lord Vishnu.

Also, on this third day of Tihar or Diwali, Goddess Laxmi is said to roam the earth. And every house that she sees to be beautiful and well lighted, she will bless those houses and those houses will never have issues on wealth and will always prosper.

This is why this day is celebrated with lights and candles and earthware lamps called diyas. There is also some fireworks done to welcome Goddess Laxmi visit on earth.

8. In Nepal, on this third day of Tihar cows are also worshipped. Primarily, cows are considered to be an avatar of Goddess Laxmi. The other reason is that cows provide us with milk and are believed to be a gateway to heaven.

It is said that the ‘doro’ sacred thread worn at the time of Rakshya Bhandhan if tied to the tail of Cow on this day, the gateway to heaven will open easily for that person. This is another reason to celebrate Tihar in Nepal.

9. According to Hinduism religious books, once King Bali was performing the ashamed yajna. At the moment, Lord Vishnu took his fifth incarnation in the form of Vamana and approached King Bali. King Bali was famous for giving alms to anyone begging or asking for help in his palace.

Lord Vishnu in the form of Vamana went to his palace and asked if King Bali would fulfill his wishes. King Bali agreed to fulfill his demand. Vamana as his demand asked for three paces of land. Once King Bali agreed Vamana started to pace.

To the great surprise of King Bali, Vamana with only two steps covered the entirety of Earth and the Universe. With no place to put his third step, Vamana asked where to place his third step. King Bali then offered his own head and asked Vamana to take his own head as part of the demand.

Lord Vishnu, seeing this devotion of King Bali was very impressed. Lord Vishnu thus blessed King Bali and raised him to the supreme position in heaven called Suthala. He also gained Lord Vishnu’s favor and attained salvation.

So, in this month of Kartik (the month when King Bali sacrificed his own head) is celebrated as almsgiving and anyone who gives alms will get the position in heaven.

Also, it is believed that whoever asks for alms in this month in the name of King Bali, will not be returned without help. So, it is a tradition in Nepal singing the greatness of Mahabali small children and teenagers visit houses and ask for tips and alms.

Day 4 of Diwali / Deepawali / Deepavali (Tihar) Festival

10. This day is called Goverdhan Puja and this is particularly celebrated because Lord Krishna defeated Lord Indra – God of lightning and rain in the battle of duty versus sacrifice.

Lord Krishna debated to farmers that farmers need only to perform duties and gods should help them rather than sacrifice and worship gods, and farmers did so.

This, in turn, upset God Indra and continuous rain and thunder in the village. It rained for seven days and seven nights. To overcome this Lord Krishna lifted the Govardhan Hill and gave space for farmers and villagers to shelter in. hence the name is also Goverdhan Puja.

Picture, Image, Photo of Hindu Culture -Worshiping Cowdung (10) — a Nepali woman with her daughter is worshiping cow dung in the Govardhan puja day in tihar festival

11. This day is also celebrated as it marks the beginning of a new year which is just after the birthday of Goddess Laxmi.

12. This day in some parts of India is celebrated as Balipatiprada. This means the day of husband and wife. They exchange gifts and spend time with each other on this day. This day celebrates the mutual love and devotion between husband and wife.

13. In Nepal, this day is also the day for the worshipping of Ox. This is to thank ox for helping farmers in their farms to plow the fields. The material used to plow field called “halo” in Nepali is also the weapon of Lord Balram who is the brother of Lord Krishna. He is also a symbol of power like Ox and this day is celebrated to commemorate his efforts in Mahabharata and Krishna Lila too.

14. The majority of the Newar community of Nepal on the night perform Mha Puja (worship of self). In this day the Newars worship themselves for all the goods they have come and show self-respect and build on oral and social confidence.

Day 5 of Diwali / Deepawali / Deepavali (Tihar) Festival

15. This day is called BHAI TIKA or BHAI DHUJ. This is one of the most important days in the whole of Tihar. This day is celebrated to commemorate and celebrate the love and respect between brothers and sisters. It celebrates the lifelong bond of siblings and performed with prayers, puja and food sharing, gift giving rituals. It is more celebrated in Nepal.

16. Mythologically, this day is celebrated because commemorating the length of Yamuna to save her sick brother for the God of death. Yamaraj – God of Death when visited the Yamuna, she performed a ritual with garlands and oils and foods and tika.

In the ritual, the Yamuna worshipped his brother as well as Yama. She drew the line of oil around her brother and prayed that her brother remained unharmed until this line is dried.

Next, she took small twigs and broke them in half and asked God to break her brothers’ enemy like these twigs. Next, Yamuna made a garland of turfgrass and flower that doesn’t wilt.

The Yamuna asked Yama to not take her brother’s soul until the flower wilts. She then put tika on the forehead of her brother with seven different colors depicting the life of her brother to be as wondrous as a rainbow. Yama waited for the pray to be fulfilled.

But the oil took time to dry and the garland didn’t wilt. It was not until next year that the flower wilted. Seeing this devotion and great lengths of Yamuna Yamaraj was very pleased and said that whoever receives Tika on this day will not be killed or will not have to face death on this day.

Thus, this day is called Bhai Tika. Each and every day is contributed by social factors and reasons and also by religious and mythological stories and reasons.

New Year reasons

17. The Marwari New Year is celebrated on the day of the festival of Diwali, which is the last day Krishna Paksha of Ashvin month and also last day of the Ashvin month of Hindu calendar.

18. The Gujarati New Year is celebrated the day after the festival of Diwali which occurs in mid-fall – either October or November, depending on the Lunar calendar.

The Gujarati New Year is the first day of Shukla paksha of the Kartik month -, which is taken as the first day of the first month of Gujarati lunar calendar. Most other Hindus celebrate the New Year in the spring – Baisakhi. Gujarati community all over the world celebrates the New Year after Diwali to mark the beginning of a new fiscal year.

19. The Nepal Era New year is celebrated by the ethnic Newari in the Kathmandu valley. The new year occurs on the fourth day of Diwali. The calendar was used as an official calendar until the mid 19th century. Although, most Nepalese celebrate the traditional new year in April i.e. Baisakhi.

20. Pandavas return to rule their Kingdom in the great epic ‘Mahabharata’ on the day of Diwali. Pandavas were unjustly defeated by the Kauravas at the game of dice. The Pandavas lost their land Kingdom and all of their wealth.

They were also required to stay in the forest as an exile for 12 years and for 1 year they should keep their living secret. On the day of Diwali or Tihar, i.e. ‘Kartik Amavashya’ Pandavas after completing their vanishment and defeating Kauravas in the battle of Kurukshetra returned home to rule their Kingdom.

Their public and people celebrated the return of their Kings and lightened the surrounding as the part of the celebration and home welcoming.

21. Lord Ram from the epic ‘ Ramayana’ is one of the greatest incarnation of Lord Vishnu was sent to forest living for 14 years by his father on the request of Lord Ram’s stepmother Keikei.

It was considered one of the greatest unfair treatment in the history of ages as Lord Ram was the eldest son and he deserved the Kingdom Ayodhya to rule but was banished to the forest without mistake rather only to fulfill the long ago made promise of King Dasrath to his wife.

In the time of banishment, Lord Ram’s wife was kidnapped by Ravan a demon king of Lanka. His cruelty had troubled lots of people and Lord Ram as to rescue his wife attacked Lanka and conquered its city made of gold.

Thus, people of Ayodhya celebrated the return of their banished king and his win over Ravan in Lanka by lighting the city with lamps and it is believed to be illuminated like a bright day. His return was on the new moon day of Kartik i.e. the time for Diwali. Thus, this is also considered as a major reason to celebrate Tihar or Diwali.

22. One of the greatest Hindu King Vikramaditya was coroneted on the Diwali day, hence Diwali became a historical event as well.

23. Special Day for the Arya Samaj: It was the new moon day of Kartik (Diwali day) when Maharshi Dayananda, one of the greatest reformers of Hinduism and the founder of Arya Samaj attained his nirvana.

24. Special Day for the Jains: Mahavir Tirthankar, considered to be the founder of modern Jainism also attained his nirvana on Diwali day.

25. Special Day for the Sikhs: The third Sikh Guru Amar Das institutionalized Diwali as a Red-Letter Day when all Sikhs would gather to receive the Gurus blessings. In 1577, the foundation stone of the Golden Temple at Amritsar was laid on Diwali.

In 1619, the sixth Sikh Guru Hargobind, who was held by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, was released from the Gwalior fort along with 52 kings. Each and every day is contributed by social factors and reasons and also by religious and mythological stories and reasons.

26. The Pope’s Diwali Speech: In 1999, Pope John Paul II performed a special Eucharist in an Indian church where the altar was decorated with Diwali lamps, the Pope had a ‘tilak’ marked on his forehead and his speech bristled with references to the festival of light.

27. Diwali or Tihar is also considered important occasion in the timeline of Hindu because on the new moon of Kartik. Swami Dayananda Saraswati attained enlightenment i.e. Nirvana. He was one of the greatest reformers of Hindu religion.

After Nirvana, he became Maharshi Dayananda. Maharshi means sage who knows all of the worlds. He is also known as the founder of Arya Samaj “Society of Nobles” in 1875. This society was a revolutionary movement to purify Hindus of many evils it has endured and faced.

28. The Enlightenment of Vardhamana Mahavira: For Jains, Diwali commemorates the enlightenment of Vardhamana Mahavira(the twenty-fourth and last Tirthankaras of the Jains and the founder of modern Jainism) which is said to have occurred on Oct. 15, 527 B.C.

This is one more reason to engage in Diwali celebrations for pious Jains and other than the purpose of commemoration, the festival stands for the celebration of the emancipation of human spirit from earthly desires.Diwali or Tihar lies at the beginning of fall season.

This is the time when the crops of rice are ready to be harvested. India and Nepal both being country rich in the agricultural cultivation of rice considers this day as biggest significance to harvest their new reap. So, this Diwali or Tihar is also considered the festival of Harvesting.

This gives another social and cultural value for the celebration of this great festival.Each and every day is contributed by social factors and reasons and also by religious and mythological stories and reasons.

So, we can conclude that Diwali or Tihar is the festival of joys and happiness. Many of the celebration rituals include the sharing of joys and happiness for various reasons like return or Lord Ram, the return of Pandavas, the rescue of Goddess Laxmi, the birthday of Goddess Laxmi, and of Goddess Dhanvantari, and many other happy reasons.

To add to that Tihar is also celebrated to thank all the domesticated animals like cow, dogs, oxen, crows, etc. this thus, indicates the beautiful ritual of giving importance to animals and their contribution to our life.

Then, there is a celebration of love and trust between husband and wife on Day 4 and celebration of sibling love and appreciation on the Day 5. Each and every day is contributed by social factors and reasons and also by religious and mythological stories and reasons.

Some communities celebrate a little different from one other like self Puja by a Newar community of Nepal, the new years of Gujrat, special days for Sikhs and Jains, etc. this says that this festival is the festival for almost every person that is one way or other related or influenced by Hindu religion.

The beauty of this religion is that it is a well covered and backed by reasoning. This is why this festival is celebrated such largely by all the communities of Hindu religion.