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 Narak
Chaturdashi or Chhoti Diwali
The Second day of Diwali Festival is called
Naraka chaturdashi or Chhoti Diwali which falls on the
fourteenth day after full moon in the Hindu month of Kartik.
The story goes that the demon king Narakasur ruler of
Pragjyotishpur (a province to the South of Nepal) after
defeating Lord Indra had snatched away the magnificent
earrings of Aditi, the Mother Goddess and imprisoned sixteen
thousand daughters of the gods and saints in his palace. On
coming to know about this, Satyabhama (Lord Krishna's wife)
was enraged by Narakasura's malevolence towards women, and
she appealed to Krishna to give her the golden chance to
destroy Narakasura. The legend also says that Narakasura was
given a curse that he would be killed by a woman. With
Krishna as the charioteer, Satyabhama entered the battle
field. During the war, Krishna swooned for a while, a
preordained divinely act adopted to empower Satyabhama to
kill the demon. After Narakasura was beheaded, the
imprisoned women were released.
So on the day previous to Narakachaturdashi,
Lord Krishna's divine intervention led to the killing of the
demon Narakasura and liberation of the imprisoned damsels as
well as recovery of the precious earrings of Aditi. As a
symbol of that victory Lord Krishna smeared his forehead
with the demon king's blood. Krishna returned home in the
very early morning of the Narakachaturdashi day. The
womenfolk massaged scented oil to his body and gave him a
good bath to wash away the filth from his body. Since then
the custom of taking bath before sunrise on this day has
become a traditional practice specially in Maharashtra.
It is interesting to note that Bhudevi,
mother of the slain Narakasura, declared that his death
should not be a day of mourning but an occasion to celebrate
and rejoice. Since then, Deepavali is being celebrated by
people every year with joyous celebrations with lot of fun
and frolic, and fire works.
In South India that victory of the divine
over the mundane is celebrated very symbolically. People
wake up before sunrise prepare blood by mixing Kumkum in oil
and after breaking a bitter fruit that represents the head
of the demon King that was smashed by Krishna, apply that
mixture on their foreheads. Then they have an oil bath using
sandalwood paste.
In Maharashtra also, traditional early
baths with oil and "Uptan" (paste) of gram flour and
fragrant powders are done. All through the ritual of baths,
deafening sounds of crackers and fireworks are there in
order that the children enjoy bathing. Afterwards steamed
vermiceli with milk and sugar or puffed rice with curd is
served.
Another legend is about King Bali of the
nether world who became very powerful and a threat to the
gods. In order to curb his powers Lord Vishnu in the guise
of a Batu Waman- a small boy- visited him and begged him to
give him only that much land which he could cover with his
three steps. Known for his philanthropy King Bali proudly
granted him his wish. That very moment that small boy
transformed himself into the all-powerful Lord Vishnu. With
his first step Lord Vishnu covered the entire heaven and
with the second step the earth and asked Bali where to keep
his third step. Bali offered his head. Putting his foot on
his head Vishnu pushed him down to the underworld. At the
same time for his generosity Lord Vishnu gave him the lamp
of knowledge and allowed him to return to earth once a year
to light millions of lamps to dispel the darkness and
ignorance and spread the radiance of love and wisdom.
This Narakachaturdashi day therefore is
dedicated to lights and prayers heralding a future full of
joy and laughter.
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