On Friday, approximately 50 students joined Namaskar, Brandeis' Association for Hindu, Jain and Sikh students, to celebrate the festival of Diwali in Ridgewood A Commons. Those in attendance included members of Namaskar, students and other members of the Brandeis community.

Diwali is a major holiday celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs around the world. Translated as "row of lamps" in Hindi, Diwali holds a different significance for each religion observing, according to an email sent to the Brandeis Community by the Interfaith Chaplaincy. Sikhs celebrate Diwali on the anniversary of the day the sixth Sikh Guru Hargobind ji was freed from imprisonment. For Jains, Diwali marks the Nirvana, or spiritual awakening, of Mahavira, a major spiritual leader. In the Hindu tradition, Diwali represents the return of Ram, a form of the god Vishnu, after he defeats the demon Ravana, who had kidnapped his wife. More broadly, Hindus celebrate Diwali as a triumph of good over evil and light over darkness.

At Brandeis, Namaskar celebrated Diwali with food and festivity. Ridgewood A Commons was decorated with strings of lights and fabric artfully draped over the walls. A small shrine with candles and photos of various religious figures from the different traditions was prominently displayed in the center of the room.

Before dinner, there were two different crafts offered. The first was a station where students and community members could decorate white paper with patterns made of glue and rice. Students drew on the paper with glue and then sprinkled colored rice over the top. The other craft option was lamp decorating. Lighting lamps is a significant part of Diwali and everyone was invited to paint on simple clay lamp holders. Some designs were simple with dots and stripes but other lamps had intricate drawings of plants or flames.

The Indian dinner was one of the highlights of the evening. According to Shruti Vaidyanathan '16, the Namaskar public relations coordinator, the dishes served were aloo sabzi, a spicy potato dish, and paneer makhani, a buttery dish with chunks of Indian cheese, rice, mango juice and naan, Indian flatbread. For dessert, students could choose from an array of options including gulab jamun, a sweet dumpling, peda, a sweet made out of milk, sugar and flavorings like cardamom, and jaggery, a brightly colored hard sugar treat.

During dinner, coordinator of the Interfaith Chaplaincy and the University's Catholic Chaplain Rev. Walter Cuenin said a few words on behalf of the Interfaith Chaplaincy and formally introduced the University's new Hindu adviser, Vaishali Gupta. Cuenin told the group that "almost all religions have a sense of light in a world of darkness." This marked the first year that Brandeis has had a spiritual adviser for the Hindu, Jain and Sikh community. In years past, students ran the prayers and explained the holidays themselves. When discussing Diwali, Gupta expanded upon the theme of openness to many faiths and cultures when she spoke about Diwali. She said that regardless of faith, everyone has "inner spiritual light."

Following the delicious dinner, members of Namaskar and Gupta led the group in two rounds of prayers, or aarti. The first was a traditional Jain prayer done in honor of Mahavira, while the second was a Hindu aarti. During the prayers, Hindu, Jain and Sikh members of the community approached the altar and partook in traditional ceremonies with candles. Every student who so desired was blessed by Gupta.

To end the spiritual occasion, Namaskar President Sharada Sanduga '14 invited all the guests to light ceremonial lamps that symbolized the triumph of light over darkness. It was a fitting end to a beautiful ceremony.
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