Diwali 2019: Why do we celebrate Diwali? Diwali’s significance to different religions

Hinduism

Diwali’s religious significance varies throughout India and is associated with a variety of traditions, symbolism and deities.

The festival is often linked to the Hindu epic Ramayana, in which Diwali marks two pivotal events.

In Ramayana, Diwali is when the avatars of the goddess Vishnu, Lakshmi, Shesha and Shiva reached the city of Ayodhya after 14 years in exile.

On the same day during the Trete Yuga (the fourth age of mankind in Hinduism), Vishnu’s avatar Rama’s army of good defeated demon king Ravana’s army of evil.