“Gomaye vasate Lakshmi”

which literally means…

Goddess Lakshmi who is the goddess of wealth & prosperity resides in cow dung.

Lighting diyas made of cow dung on Diwali is therefore not only symbolic but shall also enhance the effectiveness of one’s prayers.

In addition, Gomaye diyas are compostable & can be reused as excellent manure for your favourite plants.

The best thing is that we can make these beautiful natural organic diyas by hand sitting in the comfort of our homes.

Steps for making diyas –

1.) Take fresh cow dung & add a little bit of wheat flour in it.

2.) Wheat flour will give diyas smoothness & strength.

3.) Mix the dung & flour thoroughly to make a fine dough.

4.) Take some dung in your hand from this dough & make a round ball.

5.) Gently press this dung ball from the middle to make a hole in it & give it a shape of a diya.

6.) Keep this diya under the sun until it is completely dry. Diyas may take a day or two to dry completely depending on the weather.

7.) Take the dry diya & paint it with limewash to give it strength & to make it less combustible.

8.) Again keep this diya in sunlight to dry it out.

9.) Now take kumkum & mix it in water to make an organic red color.

10.) Paint these diyas with this natural color & again put them under the sun to dry.

Finally your organic natural gomaye diyas are ready to be lit.

You can also prefill these diyas with ghee or wax to make readymade pre-filled diyas.

For making pre-filled wax diyas –

1.) Take some solid wax in a pan & heat it in low flame to melt it.

2.) Once the wax is melted, pour this liquid wax in the diya & put a wick in this diya.

3.) Keep this diya in a cool shade for 5 mins to solidify the wax again.

Your readymade pre-filled wax diya is now ready to be lit.

Make sure to soak these diyas in water for 1 min. before lighting them to prevent any unexpected fire incidents.