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Diwali symbols

The diya, the rangoli and the other symbols of Diwali, the festival of lights kept by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains.

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About diwali symbols

Diwali, or Deepavali (dee-VAH-lee and dee-PAH-va-lee, as the Hindu American Foundation gives them), is the festival of lights of October or November, kept by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs, and by some Buddhists, each for reasons of their own. The name is the Sanskrit dipavali, a row of lights, and the first symbol here is the lamp that makes the row, the Diya (oil lamp). The pages also follow the Rangoli drawn at the threshold, Lakshmi’s lotus and coins and the footprints painted to bring her in, the lantern hung high outside the house, the Toran (door garland) over the door, the sweets given and offered, and the Fireworks, which came last.

The Hindu stories

Hindus do not all tell the same story of Diwali. In northern India, Britannica says, the festival celebrates Rama’s homecoming to Ayodhya after his victory over Ravana; in southern India it marks Krishna’s defeat of the demon Narakasura; some keep it as the wedding of Lakshmi and Vishnu, others as Lakshmi’s birthday. After killing Narakasura, the BBC’s account goes, Krishna came home early in the morning and was bathed with scented oils, and an early-morning oil bath is still a Diwali custom. For most Hindus the main night is Lakshmi Puja, on the new moon, though in Bengal the goddess worshipped that night is Kali. In some regions, the Hindu American Foundation notes, Diwali is also the new year.

Bandi Chhor Divas

For Sikhs the day is Bandi Chhor Divas, Prisoner Release Day. In 1619, the Sikh tradition holds, Guru Hargobind, the sixth Guru, was released from Gwalior Fort, where the Mughal emperor Jahangir had held him, and refused to leave unless 52 imprisoned princes went free with him. Told that only those who could hold on to his cloak might go, he had a cloak made with long panels, and the princes walked out holding them, 26 on the right and 26 on the left. When he reached Amritsar the city was lit for Diwali. SikhNet dates the first Bandi Chhor Divas to the autumn of 1619; Britannica dates Sikh observance of Diwali from the 18th century. The Harimandir Sahib is still lit with candles and floating lamps on the day.

Mahavira’s nirvana

For Jains Diwali is the night Mahavira, the 24th Jina, attained final liberation at Pavapuri, in what is now Bihar. The Kalpa Sūtra tells how eighteen kings lit lamps that night because “the light of intelligence is gone”. The Śvetāmbara tradition dates the liberation to 527 to 528 BCE and counts the Jain era from it; the Digambaras date it to 510 BCE. The same night, in the Kalpa Sūtra’s account, his disciple Indrabhūti Gautama attained enlightenment, which Jains remember the next day, the first of their new year. Jains keep the festival more quietly than Hindus; RE:ONLINE’s Jain entry notes that the songs, dances and noise of Hindu celebrations are not common among them.

The oldest records

Britannica finds the earliest mention of the festival in the Kamasutra of the 3rd century CE, as Yaksharatri, the night of the yakshas. The Puranas describe a festival of lamps in autumn, and it appears in the Jain monk Somadeva’s Yashastilaka of the 10th century. Around 1030 al-Bīrūnī recorded that on Dibali people bathed, dressed festively, gave each other betel leaves and areca nuts and lit “a great number of lamps in every place”. Discussions of which community first kept a festival of lights on this date, Nalini Balbir writes for Jainpedia, “can be considered relevant or pointless”; the traditions share the date, and each has its own reason for it.

Newer customs

Some of what Diwali looks like now is recent. Fireworks came after about 1400, by the historian P. K. Gode’s reckoning, and became a household custom only after Independence; the courts have restricted them around Delhi since 2017. Uttar Pradesh’s ninth annual Deepotsav at Ayodhya, in 2025, set a world record of more than 26 lakh lamps.

Sources

  1. HAF's Diwali Resources & Toolkit, Hindu American Foundation, Diwali resource page, Hindu American Foundation, Diwali; Why is Diwali celebrated?
  2. Diwali (Encyclopaedia Britannica), Britannica Editors; revised and updated by Shatarupa Chaudhuri, Encyclopaedia Britannica (Wayback Machine copy, 22 September 2026), History; Festivities; Beyond Hinduism
  3. Diwali (BBC Religions: Hinduism), BBC Religion and Ethics, archived page, last updated 20 October 2010, BBC, Some Diwali legends
  4. Diwali (BBC Religions: Sikhism), BBC Religion and Ethics, archived page, last updated 20 October 2011, BBC, Diwali for Sikhs
  5. DIVALI (Bandi Chhor Divas), RE:ONLINE festivals calendar, Sikhi, RE:ONLINE, Culham St Gabriel's, entry
  6. Bandi Chhor Divas (S.S. Gurukirn Kaur Khalsa, SikhNet, 2012), S.S. Gurukirn Kaur Khalsa, SikhNet, 11 November 2012, SikhNet, article
  7. Dīvālī (Nalini Balbir, Jainpedia), Nalini Balbir, Jainpedia, Festivals, Jainpedia, Institute of Jainology, Festival date and key events
  8. Kalpa Sūtra, Life of Mahāvīra, lecture 5 (Jacobi translation), Bhadrabāhu, Kalpa Sūtra, translated by Hermann Jacobi, Sacred Books of the East vol. 22 (1884), §§127–128 and note 46, Wisdom Library, §128
  9. DIVALI / DEEPAVALI (Jain), RE:ONLINE festivals calendar, Jain, RE:ONLINE, Culham St Gabriel's, entry
  10. Alberuni's India, vol. 2 (Sachau translation, 1888), al-Bīrūnī, written about 1030, translated by Edward C. Sachau; London: Trübner, 1888, vol. 2, chapter LXXVI, p. 182, Internet Archive (University of Toronto copy), chapter LXXVI, p. 182
  11. If not pollution, Hindu groups still have 2 good reasons to support firecracker ban on Diwali, Mohana Basu, ThePrint, 14 November 2020, ThePrint, history
  12. Diwali Fireworks Are Limited In India Over Toxic Smog Concerns, Bill Chappell, NPR, The Two-Way, 13 October 2017, NPR, report
  13. Uttar Pradesh Lights 26 Lakh+ Diyas, Sets Guinness World Record at Ayodhya, Akashvani News (All India Radio), 19 October 2025, All India Radio (Prasar Bharati), report

Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 8, 2026. How we research