Guyanese were at the 2024 Diwali celebration in Ayodhya, India

Dear Editor,
Guyanese celebrated Diwali at home and in the diaspora last Thursday and/or Friday.
Several Guyanese also celebrated the festival in various parts of India, the ancestral home of the Diwali festivities.
Visiting Guyanese celebrated in Delhi, Jaipur, Benares and Ayodhya. A group of almost five dozen Guyanese on tour celebrated the festival in Ayodhya and Jaipur.
I celebrated Diwali in Ayodhya and Delhi. It was a magnificent festival, with streets, buildings and temples brilliantly illuminated with electronic lights, below which were earthen diyas that were similar to those used in celebrations in Guyana and among Guyanese Hindus in the diaspora, especially in New York and parts of Florida.
Diwali is linked to Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Rama, who made his appearance on earth in the city of Ayodhya, one of the holiest cities in India. Several Guyanese trace their roots to Ayodhya and neighbouring areas. I visited Ayodhya at least a dozen times, and have conducted field research in the holy city for the first time in August 1985, as a visiting scholar.
Ayodhya is a Bhojpuri-, Hindi-, and Sanskrit-speaking district. Most indentured Guyanese spoke Bhojpuri, a vernacular of Hindi, which itself is rooted in Sanskrit — one of the oldest spoken and written languages, and is also a language of computers. Sanskrit is a language of specificity; each word has only one meaning – which is also how computers function.
Ayodhya is tied to Diwali because history has it that when Lord Rama returned from exile after fourteen years, the people of the city lit diyas to welcome their king and his consort, Goddess Sita.
Diwali is a national holiday. Because the dark moon fell on two days in November this year, the festival was observed on two days; not only in India, but in America and in several other countries. Diwali is a major Hindu festival, and is a holiday in over a dozen countries. Though it is not a national holiday in certain places, it is celebrated where large numbers of Hindus are found, including in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Holland, USA, Canada, South Africa, Paris, and Germany, among other places. The official holiday in India was on Thursday, but many businesses also observed the festival on Friday.
At any rate, Diwali, according to the scriptures, is a five-day festival – two days before and two days after the main celebration. It is celebrated similarly everywhere, with lighting of diyas and electronic lights.
Diwali is celebrated in India as it is celebrated in Guyana and other parts of the Hindu Caribbean and North America.
As I travelled around the urban and rural areas, I noticed that, all over India, people lit diyas in front of residences and businesses. Businesses, including banks and government offices, lit diyas in front of their buildings, and their light was augmented with electronic lights. The place was brilliantly illuminated with the kind of lights never seen anywhere else. Also, there were very elaborate and colourful rangolis (designs made from powder, coloured rice or some other materials) drawings, etc.) at entrances to homes, on the roads and/or near mandirs, and on spots where Pooja was conducted.
I was very fortunate to celebrate pre-Diwali (including Chota Diwali, or the night before the big one) on the banks of the holy Sirju River in Ayodhya (where Lord Rama ruled) starting the Tuesday.
On Wednesday evening, I joined other volunteers to help light some 2.5 million diyas, a record for the Guiness Book of World Records. The banks of the river came to life with brilliantly lit flames, and hundreds of thousands of people descended on the city to visit the newly opened Lord Rama Mandir and to observe the 2.5 million diyas that were lit. A Diwali celebration I attended in 2017 had some 200,000 lit diyas, the numbers have been going up every year since. A new mandir constructed in the city to Lord Rama cost some US$235 million, all obtained by donation. It is a magnificent structure, where work is still ongoing.
The Guyanese touring group, which included popular singers Terry Gajraj and Lake Persaud, visited Ayodhya and then proceeded to observe Diwali in Mathura (where Lord Krishna made his appearance) and Jaipur. Radio personality Jaskaran Persaud also celebrated Diwali in the holi cities of Haridwar, Rishkesh, and Ayodhya, culminating in a celebration in Delhi on Friday.
The Ayodhya celebration was called the grand “Deepotsav”, the biggest Diwali celebration ever in the town. It was lit up like never before. The 2017 celebration was not even close to this year’s. It was a magnificent spectacle in the evening. Before the evening lights came alive, there was a grand parade of skits (on floats) recreating scenes from the Ramayana. It was awe inspiring, with the lighting and the fireworks each being spectacles to behold. Those Guyanese who observed the celebrations in Ayodhya, Jaipur, Delhi, and elsewhere in the land of their ancestors said it was an unforgettable experience.

Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram