Liberation by light

Pre-Diwali nights have been largely untainted by the din of fireworks. The calm will no doubt be shattered once the festival of the lights starts. It wasn’t always so. In the days of the Ramayana, for instance, the display of fireworks with real fire power was confined to the battlefield alone. Here sparks flew and how when Sri Rama’s fearsome Agneya Astra met with and destroyed Ravana’s equally awesome missiles.

In contrast, Phalguni Arjuna’s divine rockets overpowered those of the Grand sire and other mighty hosts of the Kuru clan: During the Ghosha-Yatra of the Virata Parva in the Mahabharata, decibel levels suddenly drop as fires lit by the Kurus turn into damp squibs.

That’s when a storm of winds scented with intoxicating sprays envelopes the entire battlefield; it’s flowing from the Sammohana Astra of the Pandava archer’s rhino-horn-rainbow-hued Gandiva. The Kuru warriors all fall down in a swoon and the battle is won without firing a shot! How’s that for an eco-friendly encounter?

After Ramayana’s epic battle too, there is mangal-dwanior auspicious sound and no cacophony of mindless fireworks. That’s when Rama’s victorious army of monkeys and bears enters the fabled city of Sri Lanka after defeating Ravana and his demonic host. Imagine how crass it would have been to celebrate the occasion by lighting up the skies with imported dragon fireworks!

Diwali also coincides with another sublime liberation in the Sikh tradition. The release of Sri Guru Hargobind Singh from Gwalior Fort from Mughal custody is celebrated with a festival of lights in Amritsar in 1619. This is commemorated as Bandi chod diwas: because the Guru refused to accept Mughal Emperor Jehangir’s release unless 52 Indian princes incarcerated in the fort were also released with him. Jehangir relented with what he thought was a clever ruse: “Whoever can hold on to the Guru’s cloak may be released too,” he ordered.

Not to be outwitted, the Guru got a special cloak woven with fifty-two long tails, which enabled all the royal prisoners to literally trail their way to freedom. The fifty–two princes had been detained for political reasons and or for defaulting on large sums of tribute allegedly owed to the Emperor.

Like Sri Krishna, who sprang princess from north-eastern jails in the puranas, Guru Hargobind also became renowned as a Bandi-Chhor or the Great Liberator.