Incense wafted over students as a priest chanted prayers in Sanskrit and laid large yellow dahlias on an intricate altar. Flower garlands and flickering diyas lined the Hendricks Chapel stage. Hindu students sat in a semicircle on small cushions, following along with the prayer.
"Having a community you can go to and feel that sense of home, at least for someone like me who's always done these growing up, is huge," Rajan Joshi, co-president of the Hindu Student Association, said. "We always want to make sure our Hindu students have that opportunity to celebrate and keep that tradition going, even when we leave for college."
On Tuesday night, Syracuse University's HSA organized a puja, or prayer, to celebrate Diwali. Diwali focuses on the triumph of good over evil, celebrating the story in the Ramayana, a Hindu epic. The poem follows Prince Rama's return to his town after a 14-year exile, with Diwali marking the date of his homecoming. The celebration changes every year due to the lunar calendar, but is a five day celebration from Oct. 29 to Nov. 3 this year.
The puja included a prayer led by a priest hired by the HSA and individual prayer time for attending students. After removing their shoes to show respect, students approached the altar while clapping and singing in unison with the priest. After the prayers concluded, students enjoyed Indian food and lit sparklers and fireworks.
Sophomore Nina Davey, the education and advocacy chair of the HSA, said a key element of Diwali celebrations are the diyas, which symbolize the triumph of light over darkness. The diyas are meant to help guide Prince Rama home after his exile. Davey said since SU isn't a predominantly Hindu school, participating in and organizing the event was meaningful.
"I grew up going to the Hindu temple and volunteering there and setting up for these events," Davey said. "So to be able to do the same exact thing here and then make new friends and just be really, really engaged in that community just means so much."
Students celebrate Diwali with sparklers and diyas outside Hendricks Chapel. Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights, celebrating the triumph of good over evil.
HSA co-president Alekhya Rajasekaran also grew up celebrating Diwali and said she has found it fulfilling to continue celebrating the holiday at SU. Her happiness at HSA events motivated Rajasekaran to become president of the organization. She said she experienced a sense of community that she hadn't felt outside of her family.
Though the celebration at SU was meaningful, Rajasekaran said it still can't quite replicate the scale of Diwali at home. She described the Diwalis of her childhood as all-day celebrations with weeks of preparation. These rituals at Rajasekaran's home included washing hair in the morning, putting on new clothes, offering sweets at family and friends' houses and fireworks at night.
The Hindu chaplain at Hendricks Chapel, Sanjay Mathur, said one main demographic for Diwali at SU is Indian graduate students, some of whom arrive in Syracuse directly from India and feel disconnected from their culture. Mathur said Thanksgiving can be difficult for these students, who don't celebrate the holiday and miss Diwali celebrations at home.
"(Hindu students) feel lost and a little lonely, and that's a time to collaborate and offer an opportunity to get together," Mathur said.
Mathur said Diwali is a unique opportunity for Hindu students to connect because it's celebrated everywhere across the ethnically and culturally diverse country of India.
Rajasekaran also emphasized the opportunity Diwali provides to connect between age groups and cultural backgrounds. She said during the puja, HSA tries to include songs in different languages to acknowledge the multiple cultural groups that celebrate Diwali.
"No matter how each person individually prays we can come together, and that collective experience of hearing the prayers, seeing the flowers distributed and eating food together really makes us feel at home," Rajasekaran said.