Houston Matters

Houston-area organizations celebrate Indian culture as Diwali draws near

Diwali is known as the festival of lights, celebrated by Hindu, Jain, and Sikh Indians. The festival can last up to five or six days.

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Pictured is a performance from the International Diwali and Dussehra Festival held in 2017 at Constellation Field in Sugar Land.

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Diwali is the largest Indian festival, with an estimated 1.4 billion people celebrating worldwide.

The president of Shri Sita Ram Foundation, Arun Verma, said this year Diwali will be on Monday October 24, but his organization has been organizing events since last weekend.

Verma spoke on Houston Matters with Craig Cohen on Thursday and said the tradition of Diwali started after the residents of the capital, New Delhi, lit up oil lamps to rid the world of demons.

"One of the avatars of God... had to birth [India] and after killing the demon, he came back to his kingdom," Verma said.

The Shri Sita Ram Foundation serves as a public charity with two goals: the first is to assist people in their community on occasions such as Hurricane Harvey.

"The second function of the foundation is promoting Vedic culture or moral values to education discourses," said Verma.

There will be a Diwali Bollywood party in the Woodlands on October 23 and another event at the ISKON of Houston on the day of Diwali.

Patricia Ortiz

Patricia Ortiz

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Patricia Ortiz is a daily reporter for News 88.7. Her work includes a variety of topics including transportation, technology, energy, immigration and education. Patricia graduated from the University of Houston in Fall 2022 with a Bachelor's in Journalism. She spent most of her college career at the university's literary magazine,...

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