Why Is Diwali Celebrated? History, Legends and Food

Dipabali in Bengal: Kali Pujo, Bhoot Chaturdashi and the Night of Fourteen Lamps

In Bengal the Diwali night does not belong to Lakshmi, because Bengali homes worship her days earlier on Kojagori Purnima. The amavasya night, known in Bengal as Dipanwita Amavasya, belongs to Ma Kali, worshipped as Shyama in home shrines, neighbourhood pandals and the great temples of Kalighat and Dakshineswar.

The evening before is Bhoot Chaturdashi, when fourteen diyas are lit around the house to send away the spirits of the dark fortnight. Families eat choddo shaak, a plate of fourteen leafy greens, and lamps are set in every corner so that no shadow stays unlit.

Kali Pujo peaks around midnight, when the goddess is offered garlands of red joba flowers, rice and lentils, with a non vegetarian bhog in Shakta households. Alpona patterns, clay pradips and incense fill the lanes of North Kolkata until the early hours.

Many Bengali homes also raise an Akash Pradip, a lamp hung on a tall bamboo pole through Kartik to guide ancestors home. Odisha keeps a close cousin of this custom as Kaunria Kathi, when bundles of jute stalks are lit and held toward the sky with the chant Bada Badua Ho to light the path of the ancestors.

Lesser Known Diwali Rituals and Regional Traditions

Beyond the lamps and sweets, Diwali carries small rituals that belong to a single region or community. Most of them survive through family practice rather than through written guides.

Yamadeepdaan on Dhanteras

On Dhanteras a four faced lamp of wheat flour, the choumukhi diya, is lit with mustard oil and placed outside the house facing south. The lamp is offered to Yama with a prayer against untimely death, known as apamrityu.

Gharonda in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh

Girls build small houses of clay or cardboard called gharonda and decorate them with khoi puffed rice, batasha sugar toys and tiny lamps. The miniature home is a welcome to Lakshmi, who is invited to a new house for the year.

Mud Forts of Maharashtra

Children across Maharashtra gather mud and stones to build scale forts in the courtyard, modelled on the forts of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Mavla figurines stand on the ramparts, and diyas are lit along the walls on Diwali night.

Diyari in Bastar

In Bastar in Chhattisgarh, tribal communities such as the Gond and Maria celebrate Diyari over three days around agriculture and livestock. On the first day cattle are bathed and decorated with garlands of forest roots, and the community herders receive gifts for guarding the animals through the year.

Balipadyami in Karnataka

Karnataka observes Balipadyami on the day after Lakshmi Puja, welcoming King Bali back for his yearly visit rather than celebrating his defeat. Figures of Bali are made from cow dung, clay or sandalwood paste, and naivedyam is offered to him.

Buddhi Diwali in Sirmaur and Kullu

In parts of Sirmaur and Kullu in Himachal Pradesh, Buddhi Diwali arrives a full lunar month after the main festival. Local lore holds that the news of Rama's return reached the snowbound hills a month late.

Pathar Ka Mela at Dhami

At Dhami in Himachal Pradesh, two groups throw small stones at each other on the day after Diwali in the Pathar Ka Mela. The fair ends when a person draws blood, which is applied as a tilak to the goddess Kali in a custom said to have replaced human sacrifice.

Maavilakku, the Edible Lamp

Maavilakku are lamps of rice flour, jaggery and cardamom, pressed into bowls, filled with ghee and lit with a cotton wick. Once the flame burns out the lamp itself is shared and eaten as prasadam, a custom of Tamil homes at lamp festivals.

Diwali Traditions at a Glance

Why Do We Celebrate Diwali? The Legends Behind the Lamps

Rama Returns to Ayodhya

According to the Ramayana, Rama returned to Ayodhya on the Kartik amavasya after fourteen years of exile and the defeat of Ravana. The citizens lit rows of earthen lamps along the Saryu, and Ayodhya still lights lakhs of diyas every year on the eve of Diwali.

Lakshmi and the Churning of the Ocean

The churning of the cosmic ocean by the gods and demons, the Samudra Manthan, brought up Goddess Lakshmi, who is believed to have appeared on this new moon night. Homes are cleaned and lamps are left burning at the doorway so that she may enter.

Krishna, Satyabhama and Narakasura

Krishna, with Satyabhama beside him, slew the demon king Narakasura of Pragjyotishpura on the day before Diwali and freed thousands of captive women. In Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh this is the main morning of the festival, marked by an oil bath before sunrise.

Vamana and King Bali

Vishnu took the form of Vamana, asked King Bali for three paces of land and sent him to rule Patala. Bali is said to visit his people once a year, which is why Bali Pratipada and Diwali Padwa honour him in Maharashtra.

Mahavira and Bandi Chhor Divas

Jains observe Diwali as the night in 527 BCE when Mahavira attained nirvana at Pavapuri, and lamps stand in for the light of knowledge that left the world. Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas for Guru Hargobind, who in 1619 secured the release of fifty two princes from Gwalior Fort, and the Golden Temple glows with lamps on the night.

Newar Communities and Swanti

Newar communities of the Kathmandu Valley, both Hindu and Buddhist, observe Swanti, their form of Tihar, with lamps and mandala designs at the doorstep. On the fourth day they perform Mha Puja, a ritual of honouring the self that also marks the Nepal Sambat new year.

Other Reasons Tied to the Night

Tradition holds that King Vikramaditya was crowned on Diwali, and the Pandavas are said to have returned from exile on the same night. The third Sikh Guru, Amar Das, made Diwali a Red Letter Day on which Sikhs gathered for the Guru's blessing.

Followers of the Arya Samaj remember Swami Dayananda Saraswati, who passed away on Diwali day in 1883. For merchants the night closes one financial year and opens the next, which is why new account books are worshipped.

The History of Diwali Across Different Regions and Faiths

Diwali began as a Kartik harvest festival, when the monsoon crop was in and the new moon night asked for lamps. Early traces appear in the Padma Purana and the Skanda Purana, which mention the lighting of lamps in Kartik.

Vatsyayana's Kamasutra mentions Yaksharatri, a night festival of lamps, gambling and dance linked to Kubera and the Yakshas, which scholars read as an early form of Diwali. The Nilamata Purana of Kashmir describes torches raised on bamboo poles over bridges and shrines on the Kartik new moon.

In the seventh century Harsha's Sanskrit play Nagananda describes Deepapratipadotsava, a festival of lamps with gifts for newly married couples. Rajashekhara wrote in the ninth century of Dipamalika, when houses were whitewashed and lanes were lit.

The Skanda Purana tells of Parvati and Shiva playing dice on this night, and Parvati declared that those who gamble playfully will prosper through the year, which is why card games fill many homes. Fireworks joined the celebrations in later centuries, once gunpowder was in use in India.

The Persian scholar Al Biruni, writing in the eleventh century, recorded the festival of Deepali on the new moon of Kartik. Over the centuries fireworks, rangoli, gift giving and shared sweets joined the lamps, and each region added its own stories.

The Five Days of Diwali

Each day carries its own ritual, which is why Diwali reads as a chain of festivals rather than a single night. In Bengal the chain runs through Bhoot Chaturdashi and Kali Pujo to Bhai Phonta, the day sisters bless their brothers with a dot of sandal paste.

How the Regions Celebrate

North India

In the north Diwali comes twenty days after Dussehra and closes the Ramlila season with lamps, card parties and the Annakut feast of Govardhan Puja. Traders open fresh account books on Lakshmi Puja night, and mithai boxes move between households for a whole week.

Maharashtra

Maharashtra begins on Vasu Baras by worshipping cows and calves, then wakes before dawn for Abhyanga Snan with ubtan and sesame oil. Paper kandil lanterns hang from balconies, and Diwali Pahat concerts greet the morning.

Gujarat

The festival closes the Vikram Samvat year in Gujarat, so merchants perform Chopda Pujan, drawing a swastika in vermilion on new red account books and writing Shubh and Labh on the first page. The next day is Bestu Varas, the Gujarati new year, followed by Labh Pancham when shops reopen.

Tamil Nadu

Tamil households rise before sunrise on Naraka Chaturdashi for Ganga Snanam, an oil bath said to carry the presence of the Ganga. New clothes, crackers and Deepavali Lehiyam follow, and sweets are first offered to elders.

Where to Experience Diwali in India

Traditional Diwali Foods and Sweets

Ghee, jaggery, cardamom, dried fruit and gram flour carry the Diwali kitchen, and almost everything is first offered to the deity as prasad or bhog. The food is made days ahead, so that the house can spend the festival visiting and being visited.

Familiar names such as kaju katli, gulab jamun, motichoor ladoo, soan papdi, mohanthal, puran poli, rosogolla and gujiya fill most Diwali boxes. Karanji and murukku lead the savoury side, and they are only the visible part of a much longer festive table.

The faral tray adds mathri, chivda, shankarpali, nimki and ghughra, a fried pastry of Gujarat and Maharashtra filled with coconut and dry fruits. Besan ladoo sits beside motichoor in most homes, and chakli holds the savoury end.

On Annakut in the north the table holds bedmi poori, aloo tamatar and a mixed vegetable sabzi offered to Krishna. Poha chivda is a staple of the western faral, and thenkuzhal is the Tamil counterpart of murukku.

In the east, khaja, chanar payesh and rosogolla appear in Odisha and Bengal. Nolen gur sandesh arrives later, once the date palm jaggery season begins in winter.

On Kali Pujo night Bengali kitchens turn out luchi, cholar dal, begun bhaja and kosha mangsho, while sweet shops sell sandesh and rosogolla by the box. The Bengali Diwali plate leans savoury and rich, and the sweets come after midnight.

Sugar Free and Vegan Swaps

Many Diwali ladoo can be sweetened with dates, figs or jaggery instead of refined sugar, and coconut oil can replace ghee in fried snacks for a vegan version. Roasted makhana and baked mathri are the lighter savoury choices.

Gulgule: A Simple Diwali Fritter at Home

Gulgule needs five pantry items and about twenty five minutes, which makes it a good first festive recipe. The batter should fall from the spoon in a thick ribbon.

Ingredients: 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup grated jaggery, 1 cup warm water, 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder, ghee or oil for frying.

1. Dissolve the jaggery in the warm water and strain it.
2. Stir in the flour to a thick batter, then add the fennel and cardamom.
3. Rest the batter for 15 minutes.
4. Drop spoonfuls into hot ghee on medium heat and fry until golden on both sides.

Diwali Today: Green Crackers, Clay Diyas and Natural Colours

Green crackers developed by CSIR NEERI release less particulate matter than conventional crackers, and several cities fix permitted hours for bursting them. Terracotta diyas, cotton wicks dipped in ghee or mustard oil and rangoli made from flower petals and rice flour are widely used.

Diwali Beyond India

Diwali is a public holiday in Nepal as Tihar, and also in Singapore, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Mauritius, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Leicester holds the largest celebration outside India, and London lights Trafalgar Square.

Singapore lights up Little India along Serangoon Road, and Trinidad builds the Divali Nagar fairground of lamps and food stalls. New York public schools have closed for Diwali since 2023, and the festival now has its own celebrations across the United States.

Diwali is one of many festivals that shape the Indian calendar, and the wider list is covered in the most popular festivals in India. Each carries its own legends and food, much like the regional traditions above.

Diwali Questions Answered

Why do we light diyas on Diwali?

Diyas stand for the victory of light over darkness and recall the lamps lit for Rama's return to Ayodhya. They are also lit to welcome Lakshmi into clean, bright homes.

Why is Diwali celebrated for five days?

Each day marks a separate event, from Dhanteras and Naraka Chaturdashi to Lakshmi Puja, Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj. Together they form one chain of rituals around the Kartik new moon.

How long does Diwali last?

Diwali lasts five days across most of India. In 2026 it runs from Friday 6 November to Tuesday 10 November.

Is Diwali on the same day everywhere in India?

The main night is the same, but the days around it take different names in each region. Bengal worships Kali, Gujarat begins the new year and Tamil Nadu treats Naraka Chaturdashi as the main morning.

Why do Bengalis worship Kali on Diwali?

Bengal and Odisha follow the Shakta tradition, which gives the Kartik new moon night to Ma Kali as Shyama. Lakshmi is worshipped separately on Kojagori Purnima.

Why do Jains and Sikhs celebrate Diwali?

Jains remember the nirvana of Mahavira, and Sikhs observe Bandi Chhor Divas for the release of Guru Hargobind from Gwalior Fort. Both communities light lamps, though the stories differ.

What is the main food eaten on Diwali?

There is no single dish, because each region has its own festive table. Sweets such as ladoo, kaju katli and mawa kachori sit beside savouries like chorafali, kadboli and chakli.

What is the significance of Lakshmi and Ganesh Puja?

Lakshmi is worshipped for prosperity and Ganesha for the removal of obstacles, and Ganesha is invoked first. The idols are placed together so that wealth arrives with wisdom.

Why do we burst crackers on Diwali?

Noise and light are traditionally believed to drive away evil spirits and mark celebration on the darkest night. Many cities now permit only green crackers during fixed hours.

Why are sweets exchanged on Diwali?

Sweets are first offered to the deities as prasad and then shared as a gesture of goodwill. A box of mithai also carries the wish for a sweet year.