A very Happy Diwali to all!!

With huge regards, the team of India Daily wishes it’s readers a very happy Diwali, the festival of lights. Remembering Diwali, you all would get a picture of crackers and colourful lightnings all over.

Diwali or Deepavali is a significant festival in Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism & Jainism, and also an official holiday in India. In India Diwali is celebrated as “Festival of Lights”. As per Hindu calendar, the 5 day festival of Diwali is centered on the new moon day that ends the month of Ashwin and begins the month of Kartika, beginning on the 13th day of the dark half of Ashwin (Ashwin 28th) and ending on the 2nd day of the bright half of Kartika (Kartika 2nd). The main day of celebration varies regionally.

Many children like to celebrate Diwali as they like to burst crackers, wear new clothes and share sweets with their friends.  Some North Indian business communities start their financial year on Diwali and new account books are opened on this day.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh greeted Indians on the eve of Diwali, saying it was an occasion to strengthen “The bonds of friendship and goodwill“.

In his message, the Prime minister said that ” Diwali symbolizes the victory of good over evil “and brings joy and hope to people all over the country. It’s an occasion for strengthening the bonds of friendship and goodwill between us. The festival of lights inspires us to fight darkness in all spheres of life”.

“May Diwali bring increased happiness, peace and prosperity to our people,” he added.

Barack Obama, the president of United states greeted Indians A very happy Diwali to all!!

Barack Obama’s Diwali message

Even we, the team behind India Daily thought of celebrating!! We thought that the best way to celebrate was to redesign our logo and greet our readers!!

This year Google  India didn’t design a Diwali doodle as the last years, instead it’s social networking site Orkut, celebrated this day by changing their logo to wish their user A very Happy and Prosperous Diwali!

The reason for celebration of Diwali varies from people to people and their religion:

1.In Hinduism, across many parts of India and Nepal, it is the homecoming of Rama after a 14-year exile in the forest and his victory over Ravana.

2.In south India many people celebrate Diwali as a Naraka Chaturdashi, a demon who was killed by Kriahna’s wife Satyabhama which took place in Dwapara-yuga.

3.In Jainism, Diwali marks the attainment of Nirvana by Lord Mahaveera in 527 BC.

4.In Sikhism it is the illumination of the town of Amritsar commemorating the return of Guru Har Gobind Ji (1595-1644), the sixth Guru of Sikhism, who was imprisoned along with 52 other Hindu kings at Fort Gwalior by Emperor Jahangir and many more…

The festival is also celebrated by Buddhists in Nepal, a majority-Hindu country, particularly the Newar Buddhists.

The festival of light is not only celebrated in India, but also in many other parts of the world like United Kingdom, Netherlands, New Zealand, Suriname, Canada, Guyana, Kenya, Mauritius, Fiji, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Australia, much of Africa, and the United States by the people of Indian origin. This tells that the people over there still remember and follow our culture and festivals, which makes every Indian feel proud.