Tihar,
the festival of lights is one of the most dazzling of all Hindu
festivals. In this festival we worship Goddess Laxmi, the Goddess of
wealth. During the festival all the houses in the city and villages are
decorated with lit oil lamps. Thus during the night the entire village
or city looks like a sparkling diamond. This festival is celebrated in
five days starting from the thirteenth day of the waning moon in
October. We also refer to tihar as 'Panchak Yama' which literally means
'the five days of the underworld lord'. We also worship 'yamaraj' in
different forms in these five days. In other words this festival is
meant for life and prosperity.
Goddess Laxmi is the wife of almighty Lord Vishnu. She was formed
from the ocean and she has all the wealth of the seas. She sits on a
full-grown lotus and her steed is the owl. On the third day of the
festival at the stroke of midnight she makes a world tour on her owl
looking how she is worshipped.
There is a story, which tells why this revelry is celebrated so
widely. Once there was a king who was living his last days of life. His
astrologer had told him that a serpent would come and take his life
away. The king did not want to die so he has asked the astrologer if
there was any way to escape death. The king was advised to sleep with
lit oil lamps all around his bed and decorate the palace with oil lamps
on laxmi puja day. So goddess laxmi would talk to the serpent not to
take his life. It did happen, the serpent was convinced by goddess
laxmi. The serpent took the king to Yama Raj and told him that it was
not yet the king's time to come to the underworld. So Yama Raj opened
his ledger and in it the kings remaining age was written zero, but the
serpent cleverly put seven before zero. Thus the king lived for seventy
more years. So onwards tihar is widely celebrated worshipping the
underworld and goddess laxmi.
The first day of tihar is known as 'Kag tihar', crows day. Crow is
an underworld henchman. On this day crows are offered food on a plate
made out of leaves in the morning before anyone in the house takes in
food. In the kingdom of Nepal crow is not killed cause as a legend says
that one crow had happened to drink the water of life. Thus you can see
crows everywhere sitting without the fear of human beings. Crow the
messenger of death is honoured on the first day of tihar.
The second day is called 'Kukur tihar', dogs day. A dog plays many
roles in our society. We have dogs in our houses as guardian of the
house. As the legend also says that there is a dog at yama's gate
guarding the gate to the underworld. The dog is also the steed of the
fearful Bhairab, the god of destruction. So on this day a big red tika
is put on a dog's forehead and a beautiful garland around the neck.
After worshipping the dog, it is given very delicious meal. This day the
saying 'every dog has his day' comes true; for even a stray dog is
looked upon with respect. We pray to the dog to guard our house as he
guards the gate of the underworld and to divert destruction away from
our homes. On this day you can see dogs running around with garlands on
their neck.
The third day is the most important day of the festival. It is
called 'Laxmi puja', The day when we worship goddess of wealth. On this
day, early in the morning the cow is worshipped. Tika is put on her head
and a garland around her neck then she feasts with delicious food. A
cow also symbolises wealth and she is the most holy animal for Hindus.
Cow is the national animal of Nepal.
In
the evening goddess laxmi is worshipped. Days before the house are
cleansed and decorated. For goddess likes clean and tidy places. In the
evening a small potion of the house out side the main door is painted
red with red mud and an oil lamp is lit on it. A pathway is made from
here to the place where the old money box and valuables are kept in the
house that is the puja room. All the Nepalese have a box where from
generation to generation money is put every year worshipping goddess
laxmi. This money is never used unless extreme emergency. The entire
house is decorated with lit oil lamps in every doors and windows. Laxmi,
goddess of wealth is worshipped performing the traditional rituals and
when the rituals are over then gambling in the house starts. This is a
festival when gambling is not illegal. On this day throughout the
evening groups of girls come to houses singing song of praise of the
goddess and they are taken as guests and given gifts. This day the
entire place is lively through out the night.
The fourth day is bit different. Today the things you worship depend
on your specific cultural background. Normally most of the people
perform 'Guru puja', ox worshipping. The ox is worshipped with tika,
garland and then a delicious meal is fed to it.
On the other hand people who follow lord Krishna perform 'Gobhardan
puja'. These people build a small hill made out of cowdung and put some
grass on it then do puja on it. This puja symbolises the act of lord
Krishna when he lifted the gobhardan hill and saved millions of people
and cows from floodwater.
If you belong to the Newar community, you perform 'Mha puja' which
literally means worshipping yourself. The newar community people are
worshipping life by doing puja on themselves. On this very day the newar
New Year also starts. Nepal has many minor community calendars and
newar calendar is one of them but the nation follows the Bikram Sambat
calendar.
The last day of tihar is 'Bhai tika', putting tika on your brothers
by your sisters. The royal astrologer gives the appropriate time to put
the tika through the national radio a day before and the entire nation
abides by it. Even his majesty receives tika from is sisters. When his
majesty receives tika a thirty-one-gun salute is given to honour the
function. At this moment the entire nation will be observing bhai tika.
The main theme behind bhai tika is the sisters praying for their
brother's long life from Yama Raj, god of the underworld.
The most exotic and dazzling festival comes to an end after
these five magnificent days of worship and honour to the goddess laxmi
and the underworld kingdom.
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