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Folks in interior pockets of Himachal Pradesh have kept the age-old tradition of Budhhi Diwali alive. They are once again preparing with gusto to celebrate this ‘postponed’ festival of lights in Trans Giri Sirmour and remote belts of Kullu and Shimla districts on Tuesday night, exactly one month after the main Diwali.
A legend, however, is that the Budhhi Diwali is also celebrated to mark the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhyaya, the areas being far off, the news there reached late.
The locals, who are mostly marginal farmers, give a more practical reasoning. “At the time of main Diwali, we are busy with sowing of Rabi crops. In earlier times, the area used to get snowfall early, forcing us to cut and stock grass for our animals on time for use in winters. So, the locals postponed the festival for a month,” shared Kanwar Singh of Bela Banshwa village in Trans Giri Sirmour.
“The winters now come with delay and there is little snowfall in our areas due to general global warming, but the people have stuck to the tradition,” Singh said.
But nobody uses crackers to express happiness.
The festival, which warms up the beginning of winters for people in the remote areas of HP, is an opportune time for revival of culture. On Tuesday night, the villagers will assemble in their temple complex , offer prayers to their local deity, In wee hours next morning, they would do a parikrama of the village holdey (mashaals or wooden fire lights) and then gather at a common place again, dressed in their traditional attires and dance collectively to celebrate.
Every family in these villages prepare special local dishes like Askudi, Bidoli and Sidku (steamed and stuffed snacks and invite guests from neighbouring villages.
“In Trans Giri Sirmour, two main deities, Mahasu and Shirgul, are offered prayers for overall prosperity of the area. The locals dance away all the five days. It is time to promote community feeling in these backward areas, some of which have been existing in isolation for topographical constraints,” said Ratti Ram Sharma, a government employee from Nauradhar area in Trans Giri Sirmour. Sharma, who is based in Shimla, has to go home every year on Budhhi Diwali for traditional mixing.
People in border areas of Sirmour and Shimla district also visit their relatives in the adjacent Jaunsar Bawar tribal area of Uttarakhand and vice versa during Budhhi Diwali.
The administration too is on tenterhooks during the six-day festival as it results in lot of community gatherings. “We just take care of the law and order situation,”said Sub Divisional Magistrate, Shillai, Vikas Shukla.
The first day of the festival, meanwhile, is declared a local holiday in blocks in Trans Giri Sirmaur, every year to facilitate the people begin with gaiety.
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