Diwali, or Deepavali, is one of
the biggest festivals in India. More than a billion Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and
Buddhists in the world celebrate the festival of lights in which good triumphs
over evil. “Despite its deep religious significance, Diwali today is also a
cultural festival observed by people regardless of faith.”[1]
In this regard, Diwali is like Christmas, which plenty of non-Christians
celebrate as a day of giving complete with the secularized myth of Santa Claus,
Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer, and Frosty the Snowman. To claim that Diwali is
exclusively Hindu or Christmas is only a Christian holiday—and thus in
resentment to ignore either holiday—violates the spirit that both share. The “Happy
holidays” greeting is an oxymoron, given its underlying motive of
resentment. Yet if this were the extent of human aggression, the world would be
a much better place. The Indian documentary film, A Night of Knowing Nothing
(2021), reveals much worse than the passive aggression of dismissing a national
holiday as if it did not exist. The violence unjustifiably and wantonly inflicted
by university police on students at several universities who are protesting caste
discrimination and the politically partisan coup at the Film and Television
Institute of India, goes beyond even the harm exacted by the discrimination by
caste. A Diwali celebration is shown in the film, and this raises the question
of whether we can of yet even assuming our species' “progress,” celebrate the victory of
good over evil as long as human beings in power abuse their discretion with
impunity.
The full essay is at "A Night of Knowing Nothing."
1. Harmeet Kaur, “What
to Know about Diwali, the Festival of Lights,” CNN.com, November 11, 2023.