Metaphor for unity

By Sumit Paul

What's wrong with calling Deepavali or Diwali as Jashn-e-Riwaj, festival of traditions, Jashn-e-Charaghaan, festival of lamps, or Shab-e-Charaghaan, night of lamps? Didn't the Bard of Avon say, what's in a name?

No festival belongs to a specific community or religion. In a composite culture like ours, Eid was celebrated by Hindus, and Muslims wholeheartedly participated in Deepavali, or Shab-e-Charaghaan. There was never any discrimination. Arab mystics called Deepavali, Noor-e-Tanveer, light of enlightenment. Urdu poet Yaas Yagana Changezi wrote, 'Roshan hai jahan, roshan hai nihan/ Lau-e-chiragh mein nahin zulmat ka koi nishan' - the world is glittering and the effulgence is inside me/ In the light of a lamp, darkness vanishes.


The spirit of Deepavali or, for that matter, any religion, is universal. Dovetailing Deepavali to Hindus only is akin to arresting the rays of sun for a specific group.

Every festival has an emblematic message and relevance. It's a metaphor for unity and bonhomie. Deepavali is the celebration of lights, outside and inside. The cardinal objective of Deepavali is spreading the light and removing the darkness. 'Tamso ma jyotirgamaya' - May the light of knowledge remove the darkness of ignorance - is the universal message of this great festival. Why vitiate it?