More than 175 Boston University students crowded into a festive Photonics Center on Saturday night to celebrate the Hindu New Year, Diwali, through prayer, song and story-telling, at an event sponsored by the BU Hindu Student Council.
“Diwali is about light,” BUHSC Co-President Neema Shah, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, said. “In Hinduism, darkness signifies ignorance, while light signifies knowledge.”
Students clad in colorful garments — kurtas for men and saris for women — sat cross-legged in front of the “diya,” or “light” in Sanskrit, which consists of two round trays of small candles adorned with red flower petals. On the lunar calendar’s darkest night last Saturday, the diya illuminated the conference room.
CAS senior Vidhya Balu led the group in singing “Aarti,” a popular Hindu hymn, as CAS junior Anu Hazra drummed a quick beat on his Thabla, a set of North Indian drums.
After about one hour of song and meditation, each worshipper acknowledged the diya in his or her own way. Many knelt in front a framed painting of Durga, a goddess who represents womanhood and is the focal deity of Diwali, before fanning the diya’s flame or kissing the ground where it rested.
“A lot of students go home to celebrate the holidays with their families,” Hazra, a BUHSC coordinator, said. “For those who can’t, this is a home away from home.
“BUHSC’s not a club, organization or a team,” he continued. “We’re a family. I think that was displayed tonight.”
The group held a reception after the ceremony, where members served North Indian food from India Quality in Kenmore Square. Although the BUHSC celebrates Diwali annually, this is the first year they have served dinner.
“I’m glad we had seconds and thirds for everybody to show our Indian hospitality,” Hazra said. “We love feeding people.”
Started in 1995, the BUHSC holds Socratic seminars each Tuesday night and prayer sessions each Saturday morning, drawing 15 to 20 people to each session. Diwali, which Hazra said took about seven weeks to plan, is one of the group’s largest events.
“There are 300 to 400 Hindus on campus,” he said. “We bridge the gap between those who are religious and those who aren’t.”
Hazra said “Raas Leela 2006,” held in the George Sherman Union Ballroom on Friday night, drew more than 600 students, appealing to both the secular and the religious.
“Diwali is a lot like Christmas in America,” CAS sophomore Vivek Ashar said. “If you were in India, you’d have a week off right now.”
Hazra and Shah said they were impressed and surprised by the turnout for the event.
“You’re supposed to see the Lord at all times, which was tough from some angles, because so many people showed up,” Ashar said, referring to the table of crystal and papier-mché sculptures in the front of the room. “But I guess they couldn’t have anticipated the turnout.”