The Story of Diwali

The best-loved story of Diwali is told in the Valmiki Ramayana. Rama, the beloved prince of Ayodhya, was sent into exile in the forest for fourteen years so that a promise made by his father could be honoured. His wife Sita and his devoted brother Lakshmana chose to go with him, unwilling to let him face the wilderness alone.

In the forest, the demon king Ravana of Lanka carried Sita away by trickery. Rama's long search for her led him to Hanuman and the great army of vanaras, the forest-dwellers, who helped him build a bridge across the sea to Lanka. There, after a fierce and terrible war, Rama defeated Ravana and freed Sita. The victory is remembered as the triumph of dharma, righteousness, over cruelty and pride.

With the exile at last complete, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana journeyed home to Ayodhya. They arrived on a night with no moon, the darkest night of the month. The people of the city, overjoyed that their true king had returned, cleaned and decorated their homes and lit rows of small oil lamps along every street, doorway and rooftop, so that Rama's path home would shine. It is from these rows of lamps, deepavali, that the festival takes its name.

Diwali is not one story but several, gathered around the same light. In many regions, especially the west and south, people remember how Krishna, with his wife Satyabhama, destroyed the tyrant Narakasura and freed the thousands he had imprisoned. This account is told in the Bhagavata Purana and marked on the day of Naraka Chaturdashi, sometimes called Choti Diwali.

The main night of Diwali honours Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and grace. The Puranas tell how she rose, radiant upon a lotus, from the churning of the cosmic ocean. On this night homes are cleaned and lamps are kept burning until late, for it is said that Lakshmi enters only where there is light and a warm welcome.

The days around Diwali also recall the humble king Bali, before whom Vishnu appeared as the dwarf Vamana and, with three measured steps, restored the balance of the worlds while rewarding Bali's devotion, another story preserved in the Bhagavata Purana.

Across every version, the meaning is one and the same: light returning after darkness, goodness outlasting evil, and those we love finding their way home.

This retelling follows The Valmiki Ramayana (Rama's return to Ayodhya); the Bhagavata Purana (Krishna and Narakasura, the churning of the ocean that brought forth Lakshmi, and Vamana and King Bali).. Godify keeps to the tradition and names its source, never inventing or distorting a sacred story.