Diwali, or Deepavali, is the Indian festival of lights that is celebrated by lighting diyas and candles, praying to Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh, and meeting friends and family to exchange Diwali greetings and gifts. The festival signifies the victory of good over evil, knowledge over ignorance. This day marks the return of Lord Raama to Ayodhya after an exile of fourteen years. The festival is also linked to Goddess Lakshmi - the Goddess of wealth and prosperity and marked as the beginning of a new year. In Jainism this day marks the nirvana, spiritual awakening, of Lord Mahavira. This is also the day when Lord Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura. We will read the story of Narakasura.
Many ages ago, in Satya
yuga, there was a powerful demon asura
called Hiranyaksha. He had defeated the Gods and overtaken heavens and thereafter
kidnapped and tried to destroy the goddess of earth, Bhudevi. This was an existential
crisis for all life on earth. All Gods went to Vishnu for a solution. When
Hiranyaksha came to know of this, he thought of a plan to hide the earth so
that Lord Vishnu cannot find it. He took the earth from its axis and buried it
deep in the cosmic ocean. Vishnu incarnated as Varaaha, a boar, dug deep with
his tusk and found Hiranyaksha deep in the ocean. This cosmic duel lasted
thousands of years, Hiranyaksha was ultimately killed. Varaaha retrieved the
earth and carried it out of the ocean between his tusks and placed it in the
right position in the universe.
There was a son born to Bhudevi. There are two
stories to his birth. One story of his origin is that, when the Varaaha was
bringing the earth out of the ocean, a drop of his sweat fell on Bhudevi and
out of which a son was born. The second story of his origin is that when
Hiranyaksha touched Bhudevi to push her into the ocean, a son was born. Once
the earth was restored, Bhudevi told Vishnu about the son and the Lord said,
"He is your son, he will reign long and be more powerful than his
father". Varaaha broke one of his tusks and gave it to the boy, "Use
this as a weapon, Vaishnavastra, when you are in danger. Do only good with your power, take the
path of dharma". Her son was
named Naraka.
Naraka grew up to be a strong, hardworking, and pious boy.
His association with another great asura
called Banasura took him to the path of evil, making him Narakasura.
Banasura encouraged him to meditate Lord Brahma. Pleased
by his penance, Brahma offered him a boon. Knowing that Brahma will not give a
boon of immortality, Narakasura asked for one where if he has to die, it will
be only at the hands of his mother; knowing that no mother would kill her own
son.
Once motivated by his desire to marry Devi Kamakhya, Narakasura
reached out to her. She playfully put a condition that if he could build a
stone staircase from the foot of Neelachal hill to her abode above before the
cock crows at dawn, she would marry him. Narakasura took up the challenge and
put all his might and was about to complete it before dawn. When Devi Kamakhya
came to know of the progress, she panicked and strangled a cock and made it
crow before it was dawn. Narakasura did not initially realize he was cheated,
but later when he came to know he chased the cock and killed it in a place
called Kukurakata in modern-day Dhemaji. This staircase is still
there for one to see if they visit Kamakhya Temple and is called Mekhelauja
Path.
Drunk with his powers, he became near-immortal bringing all
the known worlds under him. He spread terror and reigned through Treta yuga into Dwapar yuga. All Gods were wary of him and they waited for Vishnu
to reincarnate as Krishna to end his terror. But even Vishnu knew he could not
kill him on his own.
Narakasura would attack the Gods and terrorize them. He had a very powerful general called Murra, who defeated Indra a couple of times. In one
of his raids to swargalok, he put his
eyes on the kundalini earrings of
mother Aditi. She was the mother to many gods like the Sun, the gods of zodiacs, Indra, and many others. Her kundalini would
glow even at night. Narakasura snatched it out of her earlobes and left her
bleeding. He also kidnapped and brought back 16,100 princesses and imprisoned them
in his palace.
As promised to Bhudevi, Narakasura was allowed a long reign.
Vishnu took birth as purna avataar of
Sri Krishna in Dwapar yuga. His second
wife was Satyabhama, who was Bhudevi reincarnated, mother earth. Aditi having
been violated, sought Satyabhama’s help, who was related to her. She was
enraged to hear about Narakasura’s ill-treatment of women and behavior towards
Aditi. She approached Sri Krishna to avenge the war on Narakasura. Satyabhama
also insisted she would accompany him and they board the Garuda, the divine vaahana transport of Vishnu.
Narakasura's capital was Pragjyotishpur, which he founded in modern-day Gauhati in Kamrupa, Assam. His city had four layers of defense, concentric rings
made of rocks, fire, spear, and water. He possessed an army of 11 Akshauhini to protect him. When Krishna
came attacking, he destroyed the fortress and army with the help of Garuda and
Satyabhama. Murra, Narakasura’s powerful general was also killed by Krishna in
this battle. Thus Krishna is also known as Murarri, the killer of Murra.
It was left for Narakasura to fight. He soon matched
weapon to weapon with Krishna, and no side made any progress. The asura king had a response to neutralize every
weapon that was hurled at him. This battle went on for days and nights. At
last, he hurled the Varaaha’s tusk, Vaishnavastra, at Krishna's chest and he fell down with
eyes closed, unconscious. Enraged seeing her beloved on the ground, Satyabhama
picked up her bow and relentlessly attacked Narakasura. Narakasura found a
worthy warrior but did not know how to end the duel.
In some time, Krishna opened his eyes and stood. When
Narakasura saw that Varaaha’s weapon did not kill Krishna, he realized that it must
be Vishnu himself. He let his guards down and Sri Krishna used his Sudarshan
Chakra to behead him to end the fight.
In Narakasura's final moments, Krishna told him that Satyabhama is
Bhudevi herself, his mother reincarnate. She has to help kill her son as he
moved away from the path of dharma and righteousness. Satyabhama went near
Narakasura and put his head on her lap. Narakasura saw the light of dawn in his
dying moment, and asked his mother for a boon, that his death would be celebrated
as a night of lights.
The kundalini was
restored to mother Aditi. 16,100 princesses that were imprisoned were released, and these women had nowhere to go, Lord Krishna became husband to
them all. Bhagadatta, Narakasura's son, ascended the throne after his father.
This day is celebrated as Naraka Chaturdashi, a
night of lights a day before Diwali. This festival signifies that we have to
emerge from darkness to light.
The absence of light is darkness.
असतो मा साद गमय,
तमसो मा ज्योतिर् गमय,
मृत्योर मा अमृतम् गमय ||
Lead us from ignorance to truth,
Lead us from darkness to light,
Lead us from death to eternity.
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Note: These narrations are from various stories that were narrated to me and some that were read in various publications and the internet over time.