Dhanteras – Faith or Blind Faith

Yet another deepavali or the festival of light is over. On the occasion of deepavali laxmi or the goddess of wealth and prosperity is worshiped and the houses are decorated with diyas i.e. earthen lamps, candles or electric lights. Hindus believe that darkness brings poverty. Hence, on the deepavali nights especial care is taken to light up every dark corner of ones house with a view to drive away poverty from once life and usher in riches.

It appears that India has at last been able to propitiate the goddess of prosperity and riches. The country which even a couple of decades ago, was considered to be one of the poorest in the world, has all of a sudden become a center of attraction for the rest of the world on the economic front. The awe-struck world is looking at its booming economy. The poor country of yester year is all of a sudden, throwing up crorepatis with astonishing alacrity. On the economic front the country has reasons to be proud of people like the ambanis, the premjis, the mittals, swaraj pauls and so on and so forth, the sensex has touched an all time high within a very sort period which has surprised the knowledgeable. It may be remembered that till recently Indian economy was in a very poor state and developed counties hardly used to give any importance to it in economic maters.

As of now, the scenario has undergone a sea change. Per capita income of an average Indian has gone up and with the increase of the purchasing capacity of the common Indian, the country has turned into a vast market for the rest of the world. The boom in the market is clearly discernable during the festival time, especially during the holi, deepavali, durgapuja, eid or Christmas. People on these occasions become frenzied and even don’t mind purchasing goods even at a higher price. People who can afford spend huge sums on purchasing gifts for friends and relatives. The deepavali and the occasion of dhanteras – which comes ahead of deepavali – go on to prove this clearly. Hindus believe that purchase of gold or silver on the auspicious day of dhanteras brings prosperity to the purchasers. The media – both the print media and the visual media – have gone out of their way to fan the people’s imagination by highlighting the importance of these festivals/occasions in a common man’s life. News papers, magazines and various television channels all engage various pundits or acharyas – who are supposed to be well-read in the shastras – to air there views on the importance of observing the rituals and thereby educate the poor viewer/reader as how to prosper materially in a very short cut way.

The result is of tremendous joy for the business fraternity. In not very olden days dhanteras was observed in a very normal way. People generally thronged the shops, which dealt in utensils. Purchase of utensils on this occasion was considered to be auspicious for the buyer. This suited to the pocket of the most of the people too because the range was from as low as a spoon onwards. Now people are thronging at the jewellery shops or automobile showrooms. The rush at the various shops on these occasion is so great that traffic in big towns halts to a standstill for hours as there remains little rooms on the roads for the vehicles to ply. One wonders, is it religious faith or mere lust of riches that inspires people – both highly educated as well as the illiterate – to observe such customs? The public behaviors is inexplicable.

Author: Subhash Dey
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