The celebration of Deepavali is celebrated in different parts of India for different reasons. The most popular account involves Narakasura, a monster who ruled the kingdom of Pradyoshapuram. His arrogance and anarchic temperament was evident in his crooked behavior. He was a trouble-maker to the gods and the pious sages and would disturb their penance or create havoc during the rituals. To prove his power, Narakasura usurped some territory belonging to Aditi, the king of Suraloka and a relative of Satyabhama, Lord Krishna's wife. Not only this, he carried away 16000 women and imprisoned them in his palace. Vexed with this harassment, the gods led by Indra approached Lord Krishna and pleaded with him to protect them from the demon "Narakasura".

On coming to know about this, Satyabhama was enraged by Narakasura's malevolence towards women, and she appealed to Krishna to give her the golden chance to destroy Narakasura. The legend also says that Narakasura was given a curse that he would be killed by a woman. Krishna granted Satyabhama a boon to fight with Narakasura.

With Krishna as the charioteer, Satyabhama entered the battle field. During the war, Krishna swooned for a while, a preordained divinely act adopted to empower Satyabhama to kill the demon, Narakasura. After Narakasura was beheaded, the imprisoned women were released, and Krishna accepted to marry them.

The killing of Narakasura was a victory of good over evil. It is interesting to note that Bhudevi, mother of the slain Narakasura, declared that his death should not be a day of mourning but an occasion to celebrate and rejoice. Since then, Deepavali is being celebrated by people every year with joyous celebrations with lot of fun and frolic, and fire works.
 

The festival of Deepavali is unique to India. It signifies the advent of joy and happiness. Every year, people look forward to this occasion which is celebrated for two days. The children await this festival to rejoice with fire crackers, wear new clothes and savor delicious eats. The adults take this occasion as an ideal time for gatherings, exchange of gifts and, of course, invest in gold, silver and new acquisitions for their homes.This is also the time when houses are given a fresh coat of paint.
Factories and shops remain open on Deepavali day and Lakshmi pooja is performed in the evenings. It is believed that Goddess Lakshmi graces the shops and houses on this day and showers her blessings and bestows good fortune upon her worshippers.
 

In South India, Deepavali celebrations begin at dawn as early as around three in the morning. The family members are given an oil massage, followed by aarti and then the children burst crackers to mark the joyous day. New clothes and exchange of gifts goes without saying.

On Deepavali day, everywhere in India, at dusk when darkness unfolds itself, you can see the spectacular illumination of tiny flickering lamps adorning in rows - at homes, buildings and streets. And watch out as you look up to the sky! Hundreds of fire crackers can be seen glowing and then bursting as though it was a battle of glows and sparks in the skies.

Deepavali is incomplete without the multi-colored and noisy fire crackers. From simple colored sparklers, pencils, flower pots, ground chakras (wheels), Vishnu chakras, rockets to the long ladi / garland crackers, you have a wide range to choose from.

A new change every Deepavali is the shift in the lifestyles of the people because of the increase in the purchasing power as they receive bonus and festival advance. Purchase of simple home appliances has given way to costly items like Compact Disc players, new television sets costing between Rs.25,000/- to Rs.175,000 new refrigerators, washing machines and also vehicles.