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 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 Teohar or 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. 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, delicious
meal is provided. 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.
In the evening goddess laxmi is worshipped. Days before the individual
houses are cleansed and decorated. For goddess likes clean and
tidy places. In the evening a small potion of the house outside
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
(Bhaileni) 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 a 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 'Govhardan
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 Govhardan 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. On this very day the
Newar New Year also starts.
The last day of tihar is 'Bhai tika'. The royal astrologer gives
the appropriate time to put the tika through the radio (Kurseong
radio) a day before and the entire hills abides by it. 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.
Article by Avigya Karki
