Story of Diya & My Diya Decoration for Diwali

Story of Diya & My Diya Decoration for Diwali

In an  ancient times when early man discovered the fire his entire life had been changed since then he used the fire for to cook the food especially raw flesh, roots of plants etc. as well as to get light during night & warmth in winter. After that early man thinks how to use this fire for other purposes too. Needs of primitive man was very limited as he used sharp stone for hunting,  simple stones for to make a hearth, clay to make a pots to store food & water etc. at that time he developed the art to make diyas of clay so as to keep fire burning. Diya is known with several names like in various languages like Diyo, Deya, Divall, Deepam or Deepak.

As all of us know that diwali means festival of diyas during this festival we decorate our home, working place i.e office with various shapes of diyas. Now a days importance of  earthn diyas only restricted during diwali festival  but as time goes many changes occurs in its shapes, materials in olden time early man used stone diyas as time flies we used metal diyas, glass diya, terracotta ( a fired clay)  diyas N in modern times we used Ceramic diyas the main purpose of these diya is only to give light. ( stone diya, glass diya, metal diya) etc. 

Earthen diyas of my home 

                                                        Brass Diyas of my home 

Steel Diya of my home

Golden Polish Diya my favourite 

Image from google glass diya (link : https://www.google.co.in/search?q=image+of+glass+diya&tbm=isch&imgil=ruxw3OVnNgIMVM%253A%253BBPAclZ6pLzao-M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.indiamart.com%25252Fpigmentoindia%25252Fdiya-products.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=ruxw3OVnNgIMVM%253A%252CBPAclZ6pLzao-M%252C_&usg=__RZ662Jj67gN8SJUalxdn6YbI9BQ%3D#imgrc=ruxw3OVnNgIMVM%3A

Image from google stone diya ( Link : https://www.google.co.in/search?q=image+of+stone+diya&tbm=isch&imgil=0tnIJ4SC3e5CkM%253A%253B1GM8EIqainnpkM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Ftestingindsie.in%25252Futility%25252Fstone-diya&source=iu&pf=m&fir=0tnIJ4SC3e5CkM%253A%252C1GM8EIqainnpkM%252C_&usg=__4GXYb_bL79a1yzfYgJ9rOxlZG38%3D#imgrc=0tnIJ4SC3e5CkM%3A

Image from Google Terracotta diya 

 In mythology, Primitve man used stone diyas & mixture of  animals’ fats & alga  to keep the fire burn. Indian knows the art of making diya since ancient time great saint Valmiki who wrote Ramayana in his writing of Sundarkand he mentioned about diyas of precious stones. One of the legend  of celebration of Diwali is that when Lord Rama defeated Ravana & killed him & get back to his kindom Ayodhya at that time people of Ayodhya welcome lord rama my decorating paths of Ayodhya with diyas 

Diya has a significant place in our hindu culture though story of diyas commenced with stone diyas but as soon as man discovered the art of making earthen diyas with the help of wheel since then we find various attractive shapes of disyas later artisan develop the art  of diya making on higher level the birth of actual diya took place. The profession took root to make earthen diya where early man gets easy availability of clay it had been developed in that region & gain the importance.

In India we find various, skillful earthen diyas particularly in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Goa, West Bengal states. In Maharashtra too we get nice diyas but potter used clay of Rajasthan to make diyas.

Diya attract our mind as we light it but the art of diya making is not a simple one it needs skillful hands to make it attractive, needs lots a hard work though now a days wheel of diya making runs on electric machine but still it is one of the source to get bread n butter in far villages. It is different that new generations doesn’t want this as their profession due to poor earnings. link of google shows how earthen posts makes on wheel runs on  electricity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI2XfyIS72U 

traditonal making of Diya on wheel link of google : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acr9XRCgNps

Earthen diya looks very beautiful but making these diyas is really painstaking work.

Clay is main ingredients while making Diya. Simple Clay has not too much costly but the clay form which diyas are making needs a lots a money to buy as it has different quality from simple clay which we find around.

In India Gujarat & Rajstan states are famous for special clay for diyas. Clays has to under go several process first of all potter mixes 4-5 kinds of clays which are in impure state then all impurities get separated by sieving methods, blocks of clay get separated into clay by adding water into it  potter make sample diyas if this goes right, then actual process of making of diyas on large scale takes place. Making of diyas depends on skills of artisan.

On this diwali as I made to decorate earthen diya with eco-friendly colours  & decorate with glass, beads to make it more attractive.  My diya is not only the decorative article of home but also reminds us to give up materialistic desire N spread the jyot (i.e. flame) of knowledge by defeating ignorance that is darkness. 

diya decorated by me 

another decorated diya by me

In our Hindu culture every day we light a diya twice a day in front of tulsi & gods’ idol. It is not mere our old practice but it is way to get connect our soul with Supreme Power i.e. God.

The oil in the diya represents our ill desires i.e. ( greed, lust, malice, jealous) that we human nurture N the cotton wick symbolic of  our soul i.e. aatman. Light of diya mean to get connect with god who is supreme power. my video of colouring of diyas. 

The Importance of diya or light has mentioned in our Sanskrit Mantra which is as fallows every lines tells us about Jyot or diya.

Asato maa sad-gamaya (Lead us from Untruth to Truth)
Tamaso maa jyotir-gamaya (From Darkness to Light)
Mrityor-maa-mritan gamaya (From Death to Immortality)
OM shaanti shaanti shaanti (OM peace, peace peace) 

My wish : “May Every diwali brings Tonns of Joy, peace, tranquility in your life, Spread the Jyot of Knowledge across the world”

“Light the whole world with prosperity, there will be no space for terrorism, insecurity, starvation, child labour.”