L is for the oil lamp that dispels darkness #AtoZchallenge
I’m participating with over 1000 bloggers in the 7th A to Z Challenge and will be blogging the whole of April about the ‘ Things around My House’, from A to Z. Today I’d like to talk about my traditional oil lamp.
Every evening as the sun goes down and the lights come up, we light the oil lamp in our family shrine offering a prayer of thanks for a day well spent and seeking safe passage through the night. As the hand rolled cotton wick dipped in oil catches light, a sense of peaceful calm descends and fills the room with a mellow glow.
A traditional oil lamp
Our traditional oil lamp is around 18″ high and every day we light three cotton wicks . It is meant to be made of brass but I’m convinced it is made of bell metal because no amount of cleaning leaves it shining. It has instead a dull, dignified sheen.
The lamp has been in our family for generations and when our girls were growing up, they would bow to the flickering flame every evening, asking for the wisdom to help them do good , health, wealth and protection from their enemies.
Most Indian homes have an oil lamp that is lit up every night . The cotton, hand rolled wicks are are dipped in oil and are lit in odd numbers. When all the wicks are lit , the lamp burns through the night.
[tweetthis hidden_hashtags=”#lamp” remove_twitter_handles=”true”]Brassware at home is scrubbed clean with a mixture of tamarind paste and salt which takes away the tarnish and leaves it gleaming[/tweetthis]
We have many oil lamps at home, from different parts of India and in different materials but this remains favourite: I get comfort in knowing that it has been used by generations before me and will continue to be used after I’m gone.
19 responses to “L is for the oil lamp that dispels darkness #AtoZchallenge”
seena
Something very auspicious about a lit lamp. We all want it to be a part of our beginnings and our lives.
Lovely Choice!
Cheers,
Seena #AtoZChallenge -L is for Labour
Lighting the lamp is a must for me too, twice – once in the morning after a bath and at sunset. Being from the south we have a lot of attachment to lamps and I too have this hand-me-down one made of bronze. It is pretty heavy and tough to handle…so brought out on special occasions only. For every day use I have a smaller one in brass. I found this lovely and divine-smelling til-oil specially made for diyas that are enriched with camphor and other aromatic herbs.
A lovely post Sunita!
@KalaRavi16 from Relax-N-Rave
Thanks for the tip on the fragrant oil. Perhaps it will help do away with the agarbatti that can sometimes irritate the throat. What brand is it and can you buy it in Mumbai?
Beautiful post :) I love diyas of all shapes, sizes and material and we light our bronze ones for Puja twice a day. The whole thing, like you have written , fills us with peace and the soft glow calms us down and centres us too. I will be back to read more next week, since I am away running a yoga retreat the next 3 days :)
Lucky you …. It’s been my dream to go for a yoga retreat . These days I’m just down to the 5 Tibetans and sometimes if I’m lucky I can manage a few asanas. Where is the retreat? Do enjoy yourself!
that a beautiful lamp and I can imagine how much cleaning you must have done to keep it as shiny as this. We have a similar lamp back home which gets easily dirty due to regular use.
Another thing I did not know and learned from being introduced to the original Write Tribe – how beautiful. It made me peaceful just reading this post.
I didn’t know oil lamps were in common use anymore. That’s a lovely one! :) I have a small, brass one, a souvenir from somewhere (can’t remember the details), that is shaped like Aladdin’s lamp.
I’m participating with over 1000 bloggers in the 7th A to Z Challenge and will be blogging the whole of April about the ‘ Things around My House’, from A to Z. Today I’d like to talk about my traditional oil lamp.
Twenty- five Seven 
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