Diwali is an important festival in India. This festival is celebrated with great pomp throughout the country. Lights and fireworks are the hallmark of Diwali. Diwali cannot be imagined without crackers and lamps. There is evidence in mythology to celebrate Diwali by lighting lamps, but the question arises that how and when fireworks were connected to it. How bursting crackers became an important part of Diwali.
The oldest evidence of firecrackers in India dates back to the Mughal period. Some historians believe that the knowledge of the materials used in making firecrackers was present in India as early as 300 BC. According to a report by The Heritage Lab, firecrackers were first introduced in China.
Use of gunpowder started so many years ago
In China, gunpowder, saltpetre, sulfur and charcoal were used for fireworks. Firecrackers were prepared only by mixing these components. Such a substance is also mentioned in the historical document ‘Book of the Kinship of the Three’ written by Wei Boyang of the Han Dynasty in the second century. Saltpetre and sulfur were already mentioned in Chinese texts before the first century.
Indians had knowledge of gunpowder in the eighth century itself.
Regarding the use of gunpowder in India, historians believe that the knowledge of gunpowder was present here since the eighth century. A similar substance is also mentioned in Sanskrit texts like ‘Vaishampayana’s Neeti Prakasika’, compiled in the eighth century. But till that time no initiative had been taken regarding the use of gunpowder in fireworks.
However, historian Kaushik Roy believes that saltpetre was known to exist in ancient India, which was known as ‘Agnichurna’ or fire-producing powder. Saltpetre is mentioned in Kautilya’s Arthashastra (compiled during 300 BC-300 AD).
How did gunpowder reach India?
By the thirteenth century, the military campaigns of the Ming dynasty in China introduced gunpowder to Southeast Asia, East India, and the Arab world. Military strategies related to gunpowder passed from East Indian tribes to the Delhi Sultanate. In this way, gunpowder started being used in wars in India also. This substance was mainly used for war, but its use for fireworks was also learned from China.
When fireworks became part of Indian celebrations
from the 15th century Diwali And fireworks started being used in other festivals and weddings. Evidence of this is found in a large number of Mughal paintings. These depict the use of fireworks in grand ceremonies. One such evidence is in a painting depicting the marriage of the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh (son of Shah Jahan) in 1633.
In 1953, historian PK Gode, the first curator of the Oriental Research Institute, wrote a history of fireworks in India between 1400 and 1900 AD. He recorded Portuguese traveler Duarte Barbosa’s account of the use of fireworks at the wedding of a Brahmin couple in Gujarat in 1518. This indicates the wide availability of firecrackers at that time.
This is how the use of firecrackers started in Diwali
Historians believe that this was the time when fireworks started being used in festivals like Diwali. Because it was a festival of lights to celebrate happiness and people started expressing their happiness by burning crackers and fireworks.
There is much evidence of the use of fireworks
In his famous book on medieval India, historian Satish Chandra has described the wedding ceremony of Adil Shah. In the 17th century, Adil Shah, the ruler of Bijapur, spent Rs 80,000 on fireworks alone during a wedding ceremony.
Another painting from around 1675-1700 shows Radha and Krishna celebrating Diwali – although they are lighting only oil lamps. Still, it is believed that by this time the burning of firecrackers on Diwali had started. The use of fireworks in festivals was popular even during the British rule in India.
By the 18th and 19th centuries, fireworks had become common on Diwali.
By the 18th century, fireworks had become common on Diwali. By the 19th century, factories were established due to the increasing demand for fireworks. The first fireworks factory in India was established in Kolkata in the nineteenth century. Later it was shifted to Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu.
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