How the Diya Chain works
- Light the first diya. Type your name (and a short wish if you like), then tap the diya.
- Send the link. WhatsApp, Instagram story, X or anywhere else.
- They light the next one. Your friend sees every diya lit before theirs, adds their own, and passes a new link on. The chain grows with every person, up to 200 lights.
There’s no account. Each chain is kept on our server under a short link, and it’s signed, so names and the count can’t be edited along the way. Anyone who has a link can read the names in it, so share it with people you’d be happy to see them.
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What is the Diya Chain?
The Diya Chain is a Diwali wish that grows. You light one diya with your name and a short wish, then send the link. The person who opens it sees your lamp burning on a dark night sky, lights their own beside it, and passes a new link on. Every link shows the whole string of lights so far – “Salman → Priya → Amit → you” – and tells the next person which light they are. When a diya is lit, the view pulls back and every flame in the chain rises into the sky as a paper lantern.
Why diyas at Diwali
Diwali, the festival of lights, falls on the new-moon night (Amavasya) of the month of Kartika, usually in October or November. Homes, doorways and courtyards are lined with diyas – small clay lamps filled with ghee or oil and a cotton wick – because the festival is about light winning over darkness. In much of North India it marks Lord Rama’s return to Ayodhya, when the city lit lamps to welcome him; many families light diyas to welcome Goddess Lakshmi on the night of Lakshmi Puja; Jains remember the nirvana of Lord Mahavira, and Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas on the same day. The celebration usually runs across five days, from Dhanteras and Choti Diwali to Lakshmi Puja, Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj.
A single diya is also traditionally used to light the next one, so one flame becomes many without the first growing any smaller. That is the idea behind the chain: your light does not get used up by passing it on.
How to use it
- Type your first name (and, if you like, a wish of up to 140 characters). Hindi names and wishes work too.
- Tap the diya. The flame catches, and you get your own link.
- Send it with the WhatsApp button, share it from your phone, save a story image for Instagram, or copy the link anywhere.
- Whoever opens it sees the chain, adds their diya, and gets a new link to pass on. A chain holds up to 200 lights; after that, lighting a diya begins a new chain.
Privacy, honestly
There is no account. Each chain is kept on our server under a short link (a2z.tools/g/…), and it is signed by our server so that nobody can edit a name or inflate the count along the way. That also means anyone who has a link can read the names in it, so share it with people you would be happy to see them. To show a picture when the link is shared, our server draws a preview image with the latest sender’s first name and keeps it in a cache; like any web address, the link can also appear in ordinary server logs.
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Frequently asked questions
Is the Diya Chain free?
Yes. There is no sign-up and no payment: type your name, tap the diya and send the link.
Do you save my name or message?
There is no account, but each chain is kept on our server under its short link so the link keeps working, and anyone who has the link can read the names and the latest wish in it. To show a picture when the link is shared, our server keeps a cached preview image with the latest sender’s first name, and like any web address the link can appear in ordinary server logs.
Can someone change the names or fake the number of lights?
No. Every link is signed by our server. If anyone edits a name or the count, the signature no longer matches and the link is refused; the person who opened it is invited to start a fresh chain instead.
How many people can join one chain?
Up to 200. The page shows the 20 most recent lights by name and counts the rest as earlier lights. When a chain reaches 200, the next person to light a diya starts a new chain.
Can I write my name and wish in Hindi?
Yes. Names and wishes in Hindi (Devanagari) and other scripts appear on the page as written. The preview picture that WhatsApp shows uses a general message for names that are not in the Latin alphabet, while the preview text still shows the name.
Why does WhatsApp still show an old preview for my link?
WhatsApp and Facebook remember the preview of a link for a while. Each new diya creates a new link with its own preview, so send the newest link you got after lighting your diya.