A light carried through the centuries

This evening, millions of homes across India will light their diyas. The lamp lit this evening has been lit, in some form, for well over a thousand years, and its record runs through India’s literature and the accounts of travellers to India.

Why Deepavali is celebrated. Deepavali celebrates the victory of light over darkness and good over evil. In the north of India, it marks the day Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya after fourteen years of exile, with Sita and Lakshmana, after his victory over Ravana. The people of Ayodhya lit lamps throughout the kingdom to welcome him home, and every diya lit on Deepavali repeats that welcome. In the south, the festival honours Lord Krishna’s victory over the demon king Narakasura, and the freedom of the thousands of women Narakasura had held captive. On the main night, families pray to Goddess Lakshmi, who brings prosperity and good fortune, and to Lord Ganesha.

The 7th century. Emperor Harsha’s Sanskrit play Nagananda speaks of a festival of lamps, one of the earliest references to the festival in Indian literature.

Around 1030. In his account of India, the scholar Al-Biruni recorded Deepavali among the festivals of the land.

Around 1420. The Venetian traveller Niccolò de’ Conti reached Vijayanagara, the great city of the south. He described a festival when countless oil lamps were lit inside the temples and on the roofs outside, and kept burning day and night. Historians link it to Deepavali.

Today. The festival those travellers saw is still recognisable. Homes are cleaned for days. Rangoli, patterns of coloured powder, rice and flower petals, appear at the entrance. In the evening, families gather for Lakshmi Puja, praying to Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha. Then the diyas are lit along every window and wall, sweets and gifts are carried to relatives, neighbours and friends, and the sky fills with light. At Govardhan Puja, which follows the main night, devotees offer Annakut, a “mountain of food”, in thanks for nature’s abundance; in Gujarat it is also the first day of the new year. The festival closes with Bhai Dooj, a celebration of brothers and sisters.

It is carried forward by people: the potters who shape the diyas, the lantern makers and the weavers whose crafts fill India’s markets each autumn, and families in villages, cities and homes far from India.

December 2025. On 10 December, at the 20th session of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee, held at the Red Fort in Delhi, Deepavali was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The Government of India spoke of a festival that fosters “unity within diversity” through mutual respect, and India’s Culture Minister of “the eternal human longing for renewal, peace and the triumph of good.”

What has lasted all these centuries is not a monument but a gesture: a home made ready, a lamp lit, a door left open. It is passed from parent to child, and from one flame to the next, and it loses nothing in the giving.

May this Deepavali bring peace, unity, love and happiness to you and to everyone you hold dear.