History of Choti Diwali | Narakasura - Diwali Festival

The Second Day of Diwali - Choti Diwali / Narak Chaturdasi | History of Narakasura

Deewali is a festival of joy, splendor, brightness and happiness. The uniqueness of this festival is its harmony of five varied philosophies, with each day to a special thought or ideal.

The First Day of Diwali - Dhanteras

The Second Day of Diwali - Choti Diwali / Narak Chaturdasi

The day before Diwali is celebrated as Chhoti Diwali / Narak Chaturdasi or 'small Diwali. It is Diwali on a smaller scale, with fewer lights and fewer crackers burst.

The morning after Choti Diwali, the women of the house make beautiful rangoli color in the door and the courtyard. Tiny footprints made out of rice paste are a special feature of the rangolis made for Diwali. In Hindu homes, Chhoti Diwali celebrations involve a ritual puja to Goddess Lakshmi and also to Rama in the evening. Songs in honor of the god are sung and aarti is performed.

The story goes that the demon king Narakasur, after defeating Indra had snatched the magnificent earrings of Aditi, the Mother Goddess (the rule Suraloka and a relative of Satyabhama , wife of Lord Krishna) and imprisoned 16,000 daughters of the gods and saints in his harem.

Satyabhama was enraged by Narakasura 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. Krishna granted Satyabhama a boon to fight with Narakasura. With Krishna as the charioteer, Satyabhama entered the battle field.

During the war, Krishna vanishes for some time, predestined by God to act adopted to give Satyabhama to kill the demon. After Narakasura was beheaded, women prisoners were released, and Krishna accepted to marry them. So the previous day Narakachaturdashi, divine intervention of Lord Krishna led to the death 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 early morning of the day Narakachaturdashi. Women 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 to kill Narakasura, declared that his death should not be a day of mourning but an occasion to celebrate and rejoice.

Since then, Deepavali is celebrated by people every year with joyous celebrations with lot of fun and frolic and fireworks.

In South India that victory of the divine over the mundane is celebrated in a very special way. People wake up before sunrise prepare a paste by mixing Kumkum in oil, symbolizing blood and after breaking a bitter fruit that represents the head of the demon king that was broken by Krishna, apply that mixture on their foreheads. Then they have an oil bath with sandalwood paste.

In Maharashtra also, traditional early baths with oil and "Uptan" (paste) of gram flour and fragrant powders are a `must '. All through the ritual of baths, deafening sounds of crackers and fireworks are there for children to enjoy swimming. Then steam vermicelli with milk and sugar or puffed rice with curd is served.

The Third Day of Diwali - Lakshmi Puja on Diwali
The Fourth Day of Diwali - Padwa and Govardhan Puja
The Fifth Day of Diwali - Bhai Duj