The epic win of good over evil..
We Indians have always believed that all good souls always defeat the evil ones, so the festival of Ram winning over Ravan is especially dear to us because Ram was/is symbolic of the king who ruled over the minds of all his citizen natives and Ravan was/is the evil Asura who tried to usurp the wise king Ram’s most devout and pious asset, his wife Sita, the daughter of the righteous and religious king Janak, himself the righteous king of Mithila. This fable is so divine that most Hindus would like it to be played out to this day, hence, the use of present tense in its descriptive narrative.
The start of the Navratras begins with a lot of celebration and gaiety especially after the festival of Ganpati or the ruler of wealth and knowledge, Shiva’s son, namely the king of the ganas or attendants of the Gods in Hindu culture and theosophy. The Navratras are 9 days of the worship of the feminine divine namely several forms of the Goddess Durga- like the goddess Shailputri, the goddess Brahmcharini, goddess Chandraghanta and several other divine forms of the Goddess Durga primarily.
These goddesses are 9 in number and they are worshipped just ahead of the festival of Dussera- the day when the victorious arrival of Ramji from Lanka is celebrated with a lot of devotion and feisty religious activities. This Dussera day was when Ram killed Ravan and brought his captive wife Sita back after killing the evil King of Lanka, Ravan who had forcefully fled away from Ayodhya with Ram’s beautiful and divine consort Sita, the daughter of the king of the Himalayas, namely Janak, who was known to be the only realized family-man, householder or king of any country or state within the country.
On Diwali the Hindus of India and also all over the world, and especially in the Indian subcontinent, India celebrate the victory of good over evil- they burst fire crackers and light up their homes for the visitation of and out of respect of the royal King of Ayodhya, namely Ram, the 7th reincarnation of none other than Vishnu himself, assisted by Hanuman, or the avatar of Shivji born to help Ram with the arduous task of killing and winning over the king of Lanka, or the 10 headed monster Ravan.
Goddess Kushmanda is the 4th goddess of the 9 divine ones, the 5th and sixth being goddess Skandamata, Goddess Katyayani, Goddess Kalratri, Goddess Mahagauri, and lastly, the goddess Siddhidhatri being the seventh, eighth and ninth reincarnations of Goddess Durga, or the fierce and fiery wife of Shivji, namely Sati or Parvati. On Diwali day, many Hindus cook a lot of their favorite foods like many sweetmeats, many Hindu delicacies like Gulab Jamuns, Rosogullas, and many sheeras and halwas of all flavors and textures most excitingly. On Dussera day, many devout Hindus burn the image of a large Ravan in their colonies or in their neighborhoods ever so devotedly.
On Diwali day, we burn a lot of crackers so that any evil spirits present in and outside our homes are driven away- we burn diyas as symbols of the light in the land of Ram, also of the light present in our hearts that pays homage and worships the divine king Ram. Our worship and remembrance of Ram highlights the fact that we must always work and walk on the path of truthful righteousness no matter how many hardships and trials and tribulations, we should never give into our lower and evil selves ever even out of sheer necessity.
An effigy of Ravan burning
