Well now we have reached the month of another big festival of our country, Tihar. It is the festival of light where we worship our beloved god and goddess, our lovely animals and also ourselves. There are many stories linked to the celebration of the festival and below are few of the reasons why it is celebrated the way it is.
First is the CROW(Kaag) TIHAR. It falls on the Kartik Triodashi and crows are worshipped as the messengers of Yamaraj (The god of death) and are also regarded as god. Another story associated with crow is that in Treta Yug, Lord Krishna had befriended crow and it is for celebrating their friendship together. On this day birthday of God Dhanuwanta also falls, who is also the founder of famous Ayurvedic Medicine around the world.
Then comes YAMA DEEP DAAN. This has an interesting story associated behind it. The story is that there was a kingdom and the prince had recently got married. Lord Yamaraj had ordered his messengers to get the soul of the prince who had just been married for 4 days. The messengers got the soul and while coming back to Lord Yamaraaj they felt very guilty of putting the family in sorrow and were disgusted by their job. They discussed with the lord and then to minimise such incidents he had ordered people to buy new utensils and to do puja in them and to give them DAAN (charity) facing in south direction. It is believed that doing this will eliminate the risk of sudden and accidental death.
It is then KUKUR (dog) TIHAR. Dogs are worshipped as a form of Lord BHAIRAV, and this day is also celebrated to be thankful of the friendship we share with the best friend of humans "DOG". Another story that can be added in here is that when PANDAVS went to heaven their dog had also followed them. This in turn proves the dogs loyalty toward people, hence we worship dogs and feed them good food.
It is then turn of GOVARDHAN Pooja. The most popular story of this day is that in Dwapar Yug Lord Krishna had saved the whole village from heavy continuous rain by lifting a govardhan hill. This also comprises of worshipping our holy animal Cow. Cow provides many sources of income by giving milk and milk products and its dung is used to fertilise soil for harvesting, hence they are regarded as Goddess Laxmi the lord of wealth. Another interesting story which surrounds this is that when Pandavs had to go heaven, they used the tail of a cow to reach there, and this is why people still tie their holy strings of JANAI PURNIMA in the tail of cows in hope of being helped to heaven after death.
Finally, its the BHAI TIKA, where sisters do puja to their brothers for their good health, better future and their life. It is strongly believed that even Lord Yamaraaj will be powerless in front of the power of sisters praying for their brothers and will not be able to take their life. So wish you all a happy Tihar and may this festival bring prosperity to everyone.
