Divali glitters at Bundi
Moushumi Sen

The illuminated Garh Palace during the Divali season is a feast for the eyes. Photo by the writer

Bundi, famous as Kipling’s Destination of Rajasthan, celebrates the festival of Divali in a grand fashion. It is a celebration of light, both literally and metaphorically, with all the inputs of tradition. People in this sparsely populated district assemble together and take a break from their otherwise busy lives.

Beginning with Dhan Teras and followed by Choti Divali, all jewellery and sweet shops at Indra Market, Azad Park area and the old city get jam-packed with shopping fervour catching up with the old and the young.

During the Divali season, the entire marketplace as well as the city gets illuminated with innumerable diyas, candles and lights. The illuminated Taragarh Fort, Garh Palace and Moti Mahal (Rawla) are a visual delight. Entrances of business premises are decorated in colourful traditional motifs and rangoli designs to welcome the goddess of wealth and prosperity.

Shiv Prasad Tripathi, a local historian, says, "The Divali festival at Bundi is celebrated in a traditional way. The entire family holds a special pooja to appease Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha followed by a fireworks extravaganza.

Special parties are also organised at farmhouses on the outskirts of the district headquarters. Special Divali is also observed 10 days later on Dev Uthani Gyaras when the Dev or the lords wake up to celebrate the festival. It is then that the wedding season takes off.

Of special mention here is the famous Bail ki Divali or the Ghaas Bheru ki Sawaari (a special stone is worshipped as Ghaas Bheru) held on the Bhaiya Dooj day especially in nearby farming villages. Barodia, Thikarda, Dei and Hindoli and other rural areas celebrate it in a special way. The village bulls yoke the specially decorated Ghaas Bheru moving from one end of the village to the other. The event is considered auspicious by the farmers.

The Balchand Para locality of Bundi, known as the tourist zone of the city, too makes merry in style, with foreign guests enjoying the delight of the celebrations. Many tourists reach the fort and the vicinity of the TV tower to get a bird’s eye-view of the glitterati during this period.