Buddhi Diwali, a festival celebrated a month later

Shriniwas Joshi

People believe that Buddhi Diwali, which is celebrated in the interiors of Himachal Pradesh, is due to the fact that the information about Rama’s return to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana in the battle reached them late and they, in olden times, celebrated Diwali in their villages about a month after Diwali on the mainland. The same tradition is being followed today and Buddhi Diwali is celebrated in Anni and Nirmand areas of Kullu district, Shillai, Sangrah and Rajgarh of Sirmaur and Chopal in Shimla district.

In Sirmaur, it is celebrated by the name of Manshaari in less advanced areas across the Giri in Sirmaur. The story attached to it in Kullu district is that the people here commemorate and celebrate the death of Dano and Asur, the demons in the form of snakes. One notices that the snakes on the earth are hardly seen after the day. I believe it is because of the winters that they prefer to stay in their dens and then come out after Holi.

No research has been conducted on how and why the festival is celebrated in the interiors of Himachal Pradesh. This year a team has been formed by the State Academy of Arts, Language and Culture which will go into details and may provide us an authentic insight.

I was surprised to know that Panjiyali village of Khatnol panchayat, hardly 50 kilometres from Shimla, also celebrates Buddhi Diwali. Mela Ram Sharma, who hails from Khatnol, informed me that the festival was being celebrated for the past 200 years and the temple of Bathelnu Devta is decorated on the day (See photo) and the celebrations continued for a couple of days around this temple.

The temple of Bathelnu is 139-year-old whose wooden structure got decayed and replaced. Bathelnu arrived here about 200-year ago from Dharampur, a principality near Theog where he was resting with Kalu Naag at Pargana Chadhara in Jadon. The legend of Bathelnu is that the people of Bhajji State used to visit the place to propitiate the Devta. Once they had a fight with those living in the area and so lifted the Devta from there.

While they were bringing it, it disappeared near Bandinaag. The people were afraid and they reported the matter to the Prince of Bhajji State. The Prince, who could be Balbhadra Chand or Prithvi Chand in 1740, ordered the people to find out the Devta wherever He was. While making a search, people observed that a cow used to milk a plant of Bathua (Chenopodium album or goosefoot) daily. They dug the spot and found something like a round stone. They brought it to the present place in Panjiali and started revering it. They named it Bathelnu because they had found it under a Bathua plant.

Bathelnu is propitiated in Panjiyali as a form of Lord Shiva. And Buddhi Diwali is celebrated here on a plane space. It starts with Barlaaj, which says, “The first is the name of Almighty God, who has created the Earth, / The whole Earth was drowned in the water, Mansa Devi (a Goddess who sprang from God’s mind) was kept as guard/ There were no men, no sages, only the Supreme God was king.” And so on. After this song they sing a brief account of the Ramayana, the adventures of Raja Ram Chand in the Pahari language. At night, Gaisar, small pieces of Chil (Pine) tree, are burnt and thrown in the air in thousands. It is a spectacle that everybody likes to watch.

The celebrations are carried out in different places in different manner. The evil side of the event is that animals in numbers are sacrificed and every household has to give an animal for sacrifice because the poor cannot afford. The animal sacrifice in Panjiyali has been banned since 1993. It is good that associations elsewhere have been formed who propagate that there is no compulsory dictates to contribute even after going into debt. The festival also has brighter side and that is that the people clean their houses and purchase goods worth their utilisation.

Tailpiece

Do you know why Diwali is festival of lights? Rama and Sita returned to Ayodhya on Amavasya -- dark night. People showed them the way by lighting lamps. We copy our ancestors.

— The writer is a retired bureaucrat