Thread about DIWALI & WHY I DON’T CONSIDER IT AS “CASTEIST.”

So I come from NE where most of the people are Gorkha and Nepali.

People call it “Tihar”, the Festival of Lights. 1/12

5 day festival of lights also known as Tihar honors “Yama” the God of Death. 1 day is Kaag Tihar, is the day of the crow, the informant of Yama is worshipped. The 2 day is Kukur Tihar is for worshipping the dogs as the agents of Yama. On the 3 day is Gai Tihar & Laxmi  Puja. 2/12

After having all these people from all the caste and communities go to play “Deusurey Failo…. Deusurey Failo.” 3/12

Most of the people are indigenous and they believe that there were a indigenous kind called Yakthumba king Bali Hang and his most trusted soldiers were Magars. 4/12

One day the king/nation was got attacked by an enemy nation but it was thwarted/ defeated by his loyal Magar warriors who after the enemies fled chanted, “Deusurey Failo…. Deusurey Failo…” which means WE SAVED. 5/12

Later, when the king Bali Hang came to know about the brutal attack & how his brave Magar warriors had saved it, he ordered that every house in the kingdom be made aware of the incident. 6/12

So after the king Bali ordered the army to tell the story of brave Magar warriors who had saved the attack the soldiers went from “door to door” sharing how they had saved the kingdom and the practice continued at the same date every year. 7/12

And they say — “Hami aafai aayeko hainau, Bali Ma Raja ko Hukuma Hunda, Aayeko Deuse. “We are not here of our own accord, we are here following the orders of Bali Raja.” 8/12

This was the only story behind Tihar and why people celebrate it and there is also one where indigenous people believe that Bali Maharaj was banished by Lord Vishnu due to some misunderstanding yet the king find his way to visit his people once a year. 9/12

So those people who are loyal to the King would go from door to door, telling the people the date on which the King would visit their village. 10/12

Mainlanders who always decides everything need to stop generalising each and every thing. The question about the casteist nature of Diwali itself got refuted when the different caste and communities get together to play deusi failo. 11/12

Eventually, I think people need to look beyond what some UC people claim or what you read. When you say it’s only a UC festival and Bahujans should not celebrate it you’re ignoring all those indigenous people from NE who sees this festival as RESISTANCE against oppressors. 12/12

By NE I meant Darjeeling/Sikkim and all those places where Gorkha and Nepali are in majority.