Aashish Mishra

Kathmandu, Apr. 7: There was hardly anything special about the day of Sunday, April 5. A normal quiet Sunday, made quieter by the ongoing nationwide lockdown. Empty streets, closed markets; the day wore a deserted look. But all that changed once the night fell.
Even as the night descended across the country, the brightness did not fade way. The sun had set, but something was still illuminating Nepal’s communities. That something was the earthen lamps people had lit in their houses.
From hills to plains, east to west, houses were lit with diyos placed at their front doors, on roofs and even on windows. Those who didn’t have diyos lit candles, those without candles lit torches, some even used the camera flashes on their cell phones; it was like Deepawali had arrived in April.
But why though? Why were people lighting lamps on a day with little religious significance? Why were people seemingly celebrating while the country is fighting the threat of COVID-19 outbreak?
Well, Bhagirath Chitrakar who lives in Lagankhel, Lalitpur Metropolitan City–5, said that he lit the lamps to ward off the coronavirus. “I came to know that lighting earthen lamps tonight would prevent the coronavirus from entering our houses,” he said.
His view was echoed by many others across the Kathmandu valley that The Rising Nepal talked to. And this notion that lighting traditional earthen lamps would keep the highly contagious virus at bay seems to have spread outside the valley as well.
Tiku Yadav and many of his neighbours also lit diyos on the roofs of their houses in Piparadhi, Loharpatti Municipality–4, Mahottari because they heard that it would prevent an outbreak in their locality.
Similarly, Samundra Joshi said that he and his extended family, who live in various parts of Dhangadhi, also lit the lamps and chanted mantras to keep themselves safe against the virus. “We don’t normally believe in these sorts of things, but in light of the first local transmission of the coronavirus in Nepal, we took this step to remain safe,” he explained.
When asked how they got the information that lighting lamps would keep them safe from COVID-19, they pointed to a video circulating on Facebook. But the video, produced and posted by Pragyik Vidyarthi Parishad (PVP) Nepal, mentions nothing about COVID-19 or any other disease.
According to their Facebook page, PVP is a group of academicians and students working together to realise their common ideal and goal of reconstruction of the nation and they produced that video under their ‘National Lamp Lighting Campaign for World Welfare 2076’.
In fact, Ramesh Kadel, National Joint Organising Secretary of PVP Nepal, explicitly stated that the video was not related to the coronavirus. “Sunday was an astrologically significant day because of the special alignment of the stars and the planets,” said Kadel, who added, “It was also a Ravi Pradosh which is an auspicious occasion in Hindu culture. So, we asked everyone to light diyos at exactly 7.07 PM to mark the occasion and wish for the welfare of everyone in the world.”
The video, itself, features a well-known astrologer Basudev Krishna Shastri explaining the significance of the day and time and calling on everyone to light the lamps in their houses. He went live on Facebook on Sunday night detailing the importance of lighting diyos and teaching people about the various mantras to chant.
In the video, he talked in great length about ‘Ravi Pradosh’. He also explained how the light from the lamps symbolises the end of darkness in our lives and he prayed for world peace and welfare of everyone, but he said nothing about the coronavirus and its relationship with the earthen lamps.
“The day, the lamps and our video are related to the ongoing pandemic in any way,” Kadel clarified.
Yet, that did not stop hundreds of people from using the video as a reference to light lamps.
However, there were many people who were unaware of the video, but still lit diyos.
There were people like Astha KC who just did it because everyone else did. “I lit lamps too but I don’t know why,” she said, chuckling, “I just saw everybody else doing it and didn’t want to be left out.”