The University of Minnesota’s official Diwali event was held on November 10, 2023. It was organized by the Bharat UMN, a South Asian student group dedicated to bringing rich Indian culture and festivities to the UMN community. It was preceded by a fine dinner in the halls of the Lind Hall, followed by the Dance and party at the McNamara Alumni Center.
The event was the biggest of its kind in the entire university as it witnessed unprecedented footfall and brought together people of various cultures, nationalities, and faiths in one place. People shared food, danced, and rejoiced every moment of the glorious night. The darkness of the night was dispelled by the lights of the McNamara and the enthralling energy of the crowd inside. The attendees wore colorful clothes and lined up with their friends for a photo session at the photo booth to capture every second of their joy with their loved ones. The night was made spectacular by a DJ who played the tunes of different shades of the Indian culture, be it, Punjabi songs by Yo Yo Honey Singh, Diljit Dosanjh, Guru Randhawa, Parmish Verma, Hindi rap songs by Badshah, the breathtaking soundtrack of the movie Pushpa, its popular Telugu number – Oo Antava, and the various item songs of the Bollywood.
Every soundtrack invited shoutouts and cheering from the crowd in an already charged atmosphere and forced them to break the dance floor with their grooves and moves. The beating of Dhol (a Punjabi cultural drum) added Punjabi flavors to the night. A reader from the West might wonder about the enthusiasm with this festival? Well, Diwali roots its existence in a city of India, named Ayodhya, the birthplace of the Hindu god Ram. The tale centers around him and his family. His father, the King of Ayodhya, Dashrath, had four wives, out of which Lord Ram was the son of one of his wives Kaushalya, and was the eldest of all his issues, which made him an obvious successor to his throne after him. His other wife Kakai was jealous of him and wanted her son Bharat to ascend the throne instead. She coerced the king to banish him and his wife Sita to the woods for fourteen years. The decision was met with widespread disapproval from the family members; however, Lord Ram decided to obey his father’s words at once. Accompanying the couple was his younger brother Lakshman. The trio renounced their royalty and adopted nature as their lives.
Their life story was progressing smoothly until the arrival of the villain in the storyline, i.e., Ravan, the demon king of Sri Lanka. His sister Shroop Nakha, met Ram, while on a joyride into the woods, and proposed to marry him. He declined her proposal citing that he was married already to Sita. Shroop Nakha, upon seeing her, got jealous of her beauty and advanced to attack her; however, Lakshman intervened and sliced off her nose with his sword in the heat of the moment. That followed the disappointed and angry Shroop Nakha, running back to his brother, who decided to avenge her injury by kidnapping Sita from the woods.
This initiated a war between Ravan and Ram, who, with the help of the Monkey god Lord Hanuman, created a bridge to the sea-locked Lanka, known as Ram Setu bridge, which is a present-day geographical bridge- the Adam’s Bridge, separating the mainland India from Sri-lanka, to kill Ravan and rescue Sita.
The couple returned after much ordeal, to Ayodhya and the people welcomed them with great pomp and show, lighting their houses with earthen lamps and candles. Thus, the tradition of Diwali was formed since then and is celebrated every year in the month of October-November. The people exchange greetings, and sweets, and cherish the hospitality of their company with their friends and loved ones every year. The night sky is illuminated with crackers, with people praying for their prosperity and good health for everyone. The festival is also celebrated by the people of different faiths within the Indian subcontinent, e.g., the Sikhs celebrate it as Bandi Chor Diwas, the day of the release and return of their Guru Hargobind Singh Ji from the incarceration by then-Mughal Emperor Jahangir, to the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs. Diwali highlights three events in Sikh history: the founding of the city of Amritsar in 1577, the release of Guru Hargobind Singh Ji, and the day of the martyrdom of Bhai Mani Singh in 1738, for failure to pay a fine for trying to celebrate Diwali and thereafter refusing to convert to Islam.
In Jainism, Diwali is celebrated in observance of “Mahavira Nirvana Divas” , the physical death and final nirvana of Mahavira. Newar Buddhists of Nepal also celebrate Diwali and name it as Tihar event. Interestingly, the Tihar event was also observed on the UMN campus, in Lind Hall on November 9. It was organized by the Nepalese Student Association. The people enjoyed painting Diya and eating sumptuous Dumplings, aka, Momos. 
Thus, Diwali being an inclusive event, unites the people of different faiths and cultures. Its core message remains the same: the prevalence of light over darkness, or goodness over evil, and a day to celebrate new beginnings in one’s life.
