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| Sunday, 3 November 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Deepavali - festival of lights by Ananth Palakidnar
According to ancient spiritual scripts of Hinduism, human beings were scared of rain, lightning, and thunderstorms, when they first appeared. To get rid of the fear lamps were lit and prayers were offered to the cosmic forces. Deepavali, falls in the latter part of the year, the period where most of the areas in the Indian sub continent experience the heaviest monsoon often with thunderstorms, resulting in weather conditions being gloomy . However, the celebration of Deepavali in the present hi-tech era is more a social affair than spiritual. And Hindus celebrate the occasion with their kith and kin and with people of different ethnicity and religion. Predominantly Muslim and Chinese countries such as Malaysia and Singapore also respect the festive spirits of Deepavali and the day is declared a holiday in Malaysia and Singapore where a large number of Hindus of Indian and Sri Lankan origin are domiciled. Though Deepavali is a significant festival in the Hindu calender of events, celebrations were toned down during the past two decades due to unrest in the North and the East, where a majority of Hindus live. But now with the ceasefire in progress and the re-opening of important land routes such as the A-9 to the Jaffna peninsula, the Deepavali festival has regained the status and the season is welcomed in the truest sense where the light of peace is finally being lit in the war ravaged North and the East. |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
Deepavali, the festival of lights is both spiritually and socially
significant to the Hindus, all over the world who believe the earth, sky,
fire, water and the air are the five main elements which form the planet.
Deepavali is celebrated as a festival of lights, worshipping the five
cosmic elements to protect the planet and all the living beings on it .
