divali. 93
Now let us get to the ceremonial side of Divali, so as to make it an attractive oc-
casion for the family. Even if no one is invited, it is a busy day in itself. The puja
starts on Chhoti Divali itself, when the place of worship is decorated with a small
chauk made with wet kharia matti. Most Indians know how to decorate the floor with
colors, but the quickest one is with kharia matti. Flowers and leaves can be the mo-
tifs of the floor decorations; or else geometrical designs can be made. A chauki or a
patta (low stool or leaf ) should also be decorated and placed against the wall of the
place of worship to seat the gods, namely, Ganeshji and Lakshmiji along with (idols
or pictures of ) Ram, Sita, Lakshman, and Hanuman. Empty diyas or unlit candles
are decorated before the puja, and everyone then does the pujan.(See figure E at the
Web site http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/vasu/loh.))
On the main Divali day, a morning bath is essential. In South India to bathe be-
fore sunrise, after a good oil massage, is considered very auspicious. A bath in
starlight, before sunrise, is accepted as a bath in the holy Ganga (since the Milky
Way is considered the river’s heavenly form). In North India, gambling is freely al-
lowed during the festival; usually card games are played. The children are also given
money to play and join in the fun. They are even allowed to gamble in front of their
parents so that they don’t do it in secret. They then understand that there is a time
and place even for gambling, but it must have certain limitations. These children sel-
dom grow up to be gamblers. Gambling goes on for about a week or two, in one
house or the other, and then it stops until the next Divali.
Regarding the ceremony itself, during my grandmother’s time, we always used to
get the whitewashing of the house done before Divali, especially the place where the
pujawas to be performed. Usually, a more open place than thepujaroom (a covered ve-
randah is ideal) is used for thepuja.A Madhubani type of painting was made, depict-
ing several episodes of Lord Ram, Sita, Lakshman, Hanuman (and even Krishna with
his Gopis andraas leelas), and the other gods. These depictions were all confined to a
square or oblong limited space. A border of flowers was used to frame the painting. The
painting was made by attaching cotton wool to small sticks and taking ordinary colors
mixed with water in smallkatoris.The women and children all got together and filled
the colors into the forms already made by the artist of the family. This kept everyone
busy for a week or two preceding Divali. The drawings of the faces of the gods, Gopis,
and animals were always a side view. At the center of the painting, Lakshmiji was de-
picted in the Madhubani style, formed by joining a number of dots together so that a
face appeared with achunni(spangle) on top of it. The dots were all prearranged. Of
course, one can draw Lakshmiji or glue down a picture of her, but the joining of dots