Diwali – Festival of Lights

TAASA Queensland Sepcial Event

DIWALI – Festival Of Lights

Saturday 21 October, 7pm

We will be delighted to gather for a home cooked vegetarian meal at a member’s home in Brisbane, for what promises to be a highlight of the year. RSVP to taasa.qld@gmail.com by 8 October please. $20 for TAASA members and $30 for non-members. Fruit platters, desserts and drinks welcomed. Diwali is a time for togetherness, so come to have fun. People are asked to take off their shoes at the door (please feel welcome to bring slippers if needed).

Manu P. Sobti will present a brief vignette of his ongoing research on historical geographies along the Silk Road. Titled “Medieval Riverlogues’, this will be an audio-visual, animated narrative of migrating Arab tribes crossing Eurasia’s legendary Oxus River (the Amu Darya). As numbers for this event are limited – early RSVP is appreciated. On receipt
of RSVP then event address details will be forwarded.

The name of the Diwali festival comes from the Sanskrit word deepavali, meaning row of lights. The festival celebrates the victory of good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance. The legends vary in different parts of India (one of them being the return of Rama and Sita to their kingdom after fourteen years of exile, as told in the Ramayana, and another is the slaying of the demon Narakasura by Krishna to free 16,000 abducted women). People decorate their houses, shops and public places with lights and especially small earthenware oil lamps called deeyas.

The Times of India summed up the modern meaning of Diwali:

“Regardless of the mythological explanation, the festival of lights is a reaffirmation of hope, a renewed commitment to friendship and goodwill, and a celebration of the simple – and some not so simple – joys of life.”