Diwali in Dhaka

I listened to BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day this morning and was greatly struck by what Akhandadhi Das had to say as he prepared for Diwali:

“Diwali is usually described as the celebration of good triumphing over evil and that is certainly one of the themes of the Ramayan, the Hindu text relating the story of Rama and his wife, Sita. But, the actual celebration of Rama defeating the tyrant, Ravana, and rescuing Sita from captivity was held three weeks ago in the festival of Dussehra. Diwali itself commemorates the day that Rama and Sita return to Ayodhya to be reunited with their family and the citizens of the kingdom after an absence of fourteen years.

I think it’s significant that Diwali has become the more important religious event for Hindus. There may be historical and cultural reasons for this, but perhaps what Diwali symbolises – homecoming and reunion – has more resonance than military and heroic victories. The emotions of homecoming are sweet, yet often poignant. They are the fulfilment of deep longing, but are often mixed with nostalgia and regrets.

The Ramayan story has many facets, but at its spiritual heart is how relationships are characterised, even stimulated and deepened, by the contrary emotions arising from the circumstances of separation and reunion. One Vaishnava text compares these to the two banks of a river. Sometimes, we’re on one side enjoying being with our loved-ones and sometimes we are on the other bank feeling loss and pain. But, whether we’re on the bank of reunion or on the bank of separation, the river of love keeps flowing.

The separation that Rama and Sita underwent is taken as a reminder that love need not rely on physical presence or proximity. It depends on consciousness, affectionate remembrance and loving thoughts. Often, our pangs of separation are assuaged by a sweet reunion. But, there are situations when reunion on the physical plane is no longer possible. It is then, that, we may take solace that the river of love can continue to flow – and flow ever stronger.”  © BBC 2008

Inspired and sustained with those thoughts, I ventured forth this evening to visit a couple of Dhaka temples. The sense of celebration that was all around me could not lift my sadness that I was in Dhaka whilst Vin was with our family in Fiji so it was good that my friend Dipu offered to accompany me.

For Bengali Hindus, Diwali is a relatively minor festival with Durgha Puja being the main event but, nonetheless, there were plenty of people around. Unfortunately, my intrepid Dhaka Dweller flew out that night to attend a confernce in Athens and so I cannot refer you to an articulate and informative blog. The  photographs that follow are mine but Dipu took some rather better ones that I recommend looking at.

Back at the hotel, I tucked into the traditional Diwali sweets that Dhaka Dweller had given me that morning. To be fair to myself (who else will be?), I doidn’t eat them all as I had shared them at the office in afternoon!