Dear Editor,
Last Wednesday evening I had the (mis)fortune of listening to Pandit Jagmohan, Vice President of the Dharmic Sabha, on GTV trying to explain or prove that Diwali should be celebrated on the 11th. In doing so, he mentioned (through a diagram which I am still trying to understand), that it is better to celebrate Diwali 4 hours after the end of Amavasya than 20 hours before (sic). He has thereby admitted that Amavasya ends at 13:47 hrs on the 11th. He has not denied that Amavasya begins at 11.52 hrs on the 10th. Amavasya therefore, ‘runs’ for approximately 26 hours.
I wish to remind the learned Pandit that to celebrate Diwali on the evening of the 10th is not “20 hours before”, but within the 26-hour time-span. There is no other evening within this time-span. To accept that the evening of the 11th is after Amavasya and yet insist that it is the “right time” is incomprehensible, to say the least. It is such a hare-brained statement that has us all in this imbroglio.
Yours faithfully,
Pandit R Balbadar
