Hello IL's...
Thought you may be interested to know about the
significance and the
legends of the
5 most important
days of Diwali.... 1. Dhanteras 
2. Choti Diwali 3. Lakshmi Puja on Diwali 4. Padwa & Govardhan Puja 5. Bhai Duj 1. Dhanteras Legends
A very
interesting story about Dhanteras Festival says that once the sixteen year old son of King Hima. was doomed to die by a snake-bite on the fourth day of his marriage as per his horoscope. On that particular fourth day of his marriage his young wife did not allow him to sleep. She laid all the ornaments and lots of gold and silver coins in a big heap at the entrance of her husband's boudoir and lighted innumerable lamps all over the place. And she went on telling stories and singing songs.
When
Yama, the god of Death arrived there in the guise of a Serpent his eyes got blinded by that dazzle of those brilliant lights and he could not enter the Prince's chamber. So he climbed on top of the heap of the ornaments and coins and sat there whole night listening to the melodious songs. In the morning he quietly went away. Thus the young wife saved her husband from the clutches of death. Since then this day of Dhanteras came to be known as the day of
"Yamadeepdaan" and lamps are kept burning throughout the night in reverential adoration to Yam, the god of Death.
According to another popular legend, when the gods and demons churned the ocean for Amrit or nectar,
Dhanavantri (the physician of the gods and an incarnation of Vishnu) emerged carrying a jar of the elixir on the day of Dhanteras.
2. Legends behind Chhoti Diwali
The story goes that the demon king
Narakasur ruler of Pragjyotishpur (a province to the South of Nepal) after defeating Lord Indra had snatched away the magnificent earrings of Aditi, the Mother Goddess (the ruler of
Suraloka and a relative of
Satyabhama, Lord Krishna's wife) and imprisoned sixteen thousand daughters of the gods and saints in his harem.
On coming to know about this, Satyabhama was enraged by Narakasura's malevolence towards women, and she appealed to Krishna to give her the golden chance to destroy Narakasura. The legend also says that Narakasura was given a curse that he would be killed by a woman. Krishna granted
Satyabhama a boon to fight with Narakasura. With Krishna as the charioteer, Satyabhama entered the battle field. During the war, Krishna swooned for a while, a preordained divinely act adopted to empower Satyabhama to kill the demon. After Narakasura was beheaded, the imprisoned women were released, and Krishna accepted to marry them.
3. LAKSHMI PUJA
The third day of the festival of Diwali is the most important day of
Lakshmi-puja and is entirely devoted to the propitiation of Goddess Lakshmi.Despite the fact that this day falls on an amavasya day it is regarded as the most auspicious.
Lakshmi Puja consists of a combined puja of five deities:
Ganesha is worshiped at the beginning of every auspicious act as
Vighnaharta; Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped in her three forms -
Mahalakshmi (the goddess of wealth and money),
Mahasaraswati (the goddess of books and learning), and
Mahakali; Kuber (the treasurer of the gods) is also worshiped.
4. Padwa
Gudi Padwa is symbolic of love and devotion between the wife and husband. On this day
newly-married daughters with their husbands are invited for special meals and given presents. In olden days brothers went to fetch their sisters from their in-laws home for this important day.
Govardhan-Puja
This festival is in commemoration of the lifting of
Mount Govardhan by Krishna. As per
Vishnu-Puran the people of Gokul used to celebrate a festival in honor of Lord Indra and worshiped him after the end of every monsoon season but one particular year the young Krishna stopped them from offering prayers to
Lord Indra who in terrific anger sent a deluge to submerge Gokul.
People were afraid that the downpour was a result of their neglect of Indra. But Krishna assured them that no harm would befall them. He lifted Mount Govardhan with his little finger and sheltered men and beasts from the rain. This gave him the epithet
Govardhandhari. After this, Indra accepted the supremacy of Krishna.
5. BHAI DUJ
The fifth day of Deepavali or Diwali is celebrated as Bhaiya Dooj, popularly know as Bhai Dooj. The name itself denotes the day of the festival i.e it falls on Dooj, the second day after the new moon.
This day
Yamaraj went to his sister's house who put an auspicious mark on his forehead for his welfare. Thus, on this day sisters perform puja for their brothers safety and well being. Brothers in return give gifts to their sisters as a token of love.
Another version is after killing
Narakasur, Lord Krishna, went to his sister Subhadra who welcomed him in the traditional way by showing him a light and putting on his forehead a tilak of her sisterly protection.
Another myth behind this begins as when
Bhagawaan Mahavir found nirvana, his brother Raja Nandivardhan was distressed because he missed him and was comforted by his sister Sudarshana. Since then, women have been revered during this festival.
Do any of you know any more interesting legends??...
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