Deepavali in Malaysia: the myths and real stories behind its celebrations

Like all antiquated traditions that have moulded many cultures around the world, the reasons behind why things are done a certain way usually varies. It is said that Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world and well, time has a way of distorting the origins. Deepavali and its first intentions are not exempt from this, with many regions in India choosing to remember it differently. Here are the two most popular versions according to Hindus.

Ramayana, an antiquated epic detailing a story of how Rama, an exiled prince rescues his kidnapped wife Sita with the help of his brother Lakshmana and Hanuman (a monkey god). A war breaks out, and the demon kidnapper King Ravana with his evil army is defeated. The quartet return to Ayodhya where Rama is from, and the people welcome them home by lighting the lamps we have come to associate with the celebration.

Another tale has Krishna (the popular, blue-skinned god of protection) and his wife, Satyabhama killing off a demon known as Narakasura. There’s a bit of complexity here because Narakasura was given a boon for his years of prayerful devotion. Brahma, who is known as the creator of our universe, rewarded him and granted his wish of conditional immortality; Narakasura may never die, except at the hands of his mother. Feeling invincible, he wreaked havoc upon many lands and abducted girls right from their homes. Krishna and Satyabhama stepped in, with the latter being able to mortally wound him because she’s a reincarnation of his mother – surely you get where the inspiration for soap operas come from. What follows is the release of the 16,000 girls that were taken and a ceasing of terrors.

The main difference between the two is the belief system and the insistence of the people that fuel them. The ethos is somewhat similar with both the North Indians (Rama’s return) and South Indians (Narakasura’s defeat) commemorating that goodness will always prevail. Now, etymologically speaking, many agree that ‘Deepavali’ translates to ‘illuminate in a row’ in Sanskrit. It is the term most Malaysian and Singaporean Indians use as the diaspora here are Tamilians. ‘Diwali’ is a derivation of ‘Deepavali’ and is a Hindi term.

Sagunthla Subramaniam was born on March 23, 1937. She was a hardworking woman who never ever could be remembered as being idle – her hands were always doing something, be it cleaning her large house, caring for her family, or tying flower garlands at night. Every year before Deepavali, she would be busy preparing and would have many household chores done before the sun gets to peek over the horizons. Chickens would be slaughtered and marinated, traditional sweets would be made with hand-grinded flour, and hand-sewn clothes for her seven children would be made.

On each Deepavali’s eve, Sagunthla would cook many dishes for the ancestral prayers (some Indians would choose to do this either one, three, five or seven days before). Her children would have showered by sunrise, waiting for her husband and her to bless them in front of the prayer altar. In her parents’ home, she was accustomed to the ritualistic oil bath with sesame oil and shikakai powder, but since she got married, her husband’s family have observed this as a pantang (taboo) since there were some unfortunate deaths the few times they did it. Plus, Indian women observe their husband’s customs the moment they get married and so she raised her children that way she was supposed to. The hems of the newly made clothes would be dusted with turmeric and laid to rest at the prayer altar. The children would be blessed and given the clothes along with some money, and she would continue preparing food for the multitudes that would visit her home. 

2021 marks the year Sagunthla made it to 84 and the year she passed. This year, her children are understandably not in a festive mood nor did they make preparations for all their immediate ancestors as they normally do. Instead, they prepared her favourite food and laid them out alongside flowers, fruits and oil lamps. They sat cross-legged, and they chanted mantras just for her. It is customary like it is with the Chinese, that a death of an immediate family member would result in the festivities not taking place.

Sarojanie Devi Ayavoo, Sagunthla’s third child shares, “Deepavali is a celebration made possible with a lot of work, but the family gets together to bring happiness.” She, alongside her siblings, sat down on the land they grew up in and reminisced about how Deepavali was mostly like while they were growing up. They talked about how their mother would make adhirasam (a type of Indian doughnut) the first thing on her Deepvali to-do list because it rhymes with atirstam (luck in Tamil). Sarojanie’s children, Haribala and Sageswary Gopal along with Haribala’s wife, Yugeranee Rajndran have a shop in which they sell clothes called Harinee Trendz. Collectively, they point out how important new clothes are, "Deepavali is a day of celebration and has a spiritual significance for all the Indians. Thus, everyone celebrates by wearing new clothes and there is also the belief that Goddess Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth) visits their houses.”

Each family may have some sort of quirk in how they choose to be festive and there is no way to list them all down. Sagunthla’s parents would make sure that any children that came to their house and ate meat would walk away with a piece of charcoal to deter spirits from following them. Her brother’s family had echoed the Chinese practice of fireworks and would set them off early in the morning. Some families would prefer not to wash the store-bought clothes and to dust them with turmeric instead, so they remain ‘new’. While most Hindus are cremated and thus an ancestral prayer is done with their photographs, some are buried and then depending on the belief, some families would visit the gravesite with the food.

Narakasura’s story even has some families preparing food made with oil (it is said that his last wishes were for people to celebrate with light for he had seen the error of his ways), and they would set up a separate table just for him. If you know someone who celebrates Deepavali, why not ask them how their family observes it – you might just be enlightened by this festival.