(This story was first published on 9 November 2015. It is being reposted from The Quint’s archives on the occasion of Dhanteras 2018.)
Dhanteras is a religious excuse to indulge in some serious metal (read mostly gold) shopping. And amidst the ceremonial shopping frenzy, the electronics market has been aggressively lobbying to join in.
The biggest electronic brands in the country have put up tempting offers and discounts. Your bank seduces you with message after message, offering attractive EMI options; advertisements encourage you with subliminal messages of how easy your life will be once you buy their electrical wonder.
But Dhanteras, the day of dhan or wealth, is celebrated with the purchase of metal, and not electrical appliances.
Utensils and gold are purchased, especially in the Hindi-speaking areas of India to symbolise the fact that “all wealth, be it agricultural or mineral, comes from under the earth”, writes Devdutt Pattnaik.
Because that is where Lakshmi resides – she is Patala-nivasini, the subterranean goddess of wealth.
Besides, metal is also believed to kill negative energies. Even the sound waves that metal produces has therapeutic effects.
Does Lakshmi reside in a washing machine? Perhaps not.
Electronics just stepped into the revelry of Dhanteras somehow – a fine mauka pe chauka (cashing in on an opportunity) by the industry-wallahs, we say!
Lord Yama: Caught in a Gold Rush
Also, apparently the lure of gold couldn’t even spare Yama, the Lord of Death.
A popular legend surrounding Dhanteras is how Yama, who came in the form a snake, intending to bite and kill the 16-year-old son of King Hima, was bedazzled by the heap of gold that lay outside his room, forgetting all about the life he had to take, and in the process missing his deadline.
This ingenious idea was devised by the young prince’s newly-wedded wife. The gold – her precious, lovely, yellow gold – saved her husband’s life.
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