Devalok
Festival story · 4 tellings · North India, Pan-India, South India, West India

Four Vishnu stories behind Diwali

Rama's return in the north, Narakasura's death in the south and west, Lakshmi's wedding night in Puranic lore, and Bali's return in the Deccan and Gujarat.

Who is in it

Places: Ayodhya

The story, beat by beat

  1. In the north the lamps mark the night Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman came home to Ayodhya after fourteen years away.
  2. In the south and west the eve of Diwali is the day Krishna killed Narakasura.
  3. In Puranic lore Lakshmi rose from the churning and chose Vishnu on this night, so the festival is her wedding night.
  4. In the Deccan and Gujarat the third day is the day King Bali is allowed back from the underworld.

homecoming demon slaying marriage lamps

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Encyclopedia

North India: Rama's return

North India · Ayodhya Vaishnava 🪔 Diwali

In the north the lamps are lit for a homecoming. Rama, having defeated Ravana and finished fourteen years of exile, returns to Ayodhya with Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman, and the city is said to have lit its streets to welcome the king it had lost. Every row of lamps on Diwali night repeats that welcome.

Diwali — Wikipedia

Encyclopedia

Puranic: Lakshmi's wedding night

Pan-India Vaishnava 🪔 Diwali

Puranic tradition ties the festival to Lakshmi: she was born from the churned ocean, and on Diwali night she chose Vishnu and married him, which is why the goddess of fortune is worshipped after dark and the house is lit for her coming.

What is different here:

A wedding rather than a homecoming or a killing; connects the festival to the churning.

Diwali — Wikipedia

Encyclopedia

South and West: Narakasura

South India Vaishnava 🪔 Diwali

In the south and the west the day before Diwali is Naraka Chaturdashi, the anniversary of Krishna's killing of the demon Narakasura; the early bath and the lamps mark the end of his tyranny.

What is different here:

Krishna, not Rama; a victory rather than a return.

Diwali — Wikipedia

Encyclopedia

Deccan and Gujarat: Bali's return

West India Folk 🪔 Bali Padyami

On the third day of the festival, Balipratipada, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana and Andhra welcome King Bali back for his yearly day among his people, the same return that Kerala keeps at Onam.

What is different here:

The Vamana story's aftermath rather than Rama or Krishna; kept on the third day.

Mahabali — Wikipedia

Sources: Diwali — Wikipedia; Mahabali — Wikipedia

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