दशहरा

The tradition & historical record

Vijayadashami (Sanskrit: विजयादशमी, romanized: Vijayādaśamī, lit. 'Tenth day of victory'), more commonly known as Dasara, or Dassahra, or Dussehra, and also known as Dashāhra or Dashain in Nepali, is a major Hindu festival celebrated every year at the end of Durga Puja and Navaratri. It is observed on the tenth day of the waxing moon (Shukla Paksha) in the month of Ashvin, the seventh in the Hindu lunisolar calendar, and falls in the Gregorian calendar months of September or October. Vijayadashami is observed for different reasons and celebrated in various ways in different parts of India and Nepal. In the southern, eastern, northeastern, and some northern states of India, Vijayadashami marks the end of Durga Puja, commemorating goddess Durga's victory against Mahishasura to restore and protect dharma. In the northern, central, and western states, it marks the end of Ramlila and commemorates the deity Rama's victory over Ravana. Alternatively, it marks a reverence for one of the aspects of Durga. Vijayadashami celebrations include processions to a river or ocean front that involve carrying clay statues of Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha, and Kartikeya, accompanied by music and chants, after which the images are immersed in the water for dissolution and farewell. In other places, towering effigies of Ravana, symbolising evil, are burnt with fireworks, marking evil's destruction. ¹

Vijayādaśamī (विजयादशमी) is a compound of the two words vijaya (विजय, 'victory') and daśamī (दशमी, 'tenth day'), connoting the festival on the tenth day celebrating the victory of good over evil. The same Hindu festival-related term, however, takes different forms in different regions of India and Nepal, as well as among Hindu minorities found elsewhere. The word dussehra is the British English spelling of the tadbhava Dassehrā. It is derived daśaharā (दशहरा), which is a Sanskrit compound word composed of daśama (दशम, 'tenth') and ahar (अहर्, 'day'). ¹

The celebration of this festival is founded in the epic Ramayana. It marks the day Rama is regarded to have slain the rakshasa king Ravana, who had abducted Rama's wife, Sita. Ravana kidnaps Sita and takes her to his kingdom in Lanka (identified with present day Sri Lanka). Rama asks Ravana to release her, but Ravana refuses; the situation escalates and leads to war. Prior to this, Ravana performed severe penance for ten thousand years and received a boon from the creator-god Brahma that he could henceforth not be killed by gods, demons, or spirits. However, Rama (a human incarnation of Vishnu) defeats and kills him, thus circumventing the boon given by Brahma. A battle takes place between Rama and Ravana, in which Rama kills Ravana and ends his evil rule. As a result, dharma was established on Earth because of Rama's victory over Ravana. The festival commemorates the victory of good over evil. In the Mahabharata, Vijayadashami also marks the day that the Pandava warrior Arjuna defeats the Kauravas. The epic tells the story of the Pandava brothers who are known to have spent their thirteenth year of exile under concealed identity in Matsya, the kingdom of Virata. Before going to Virata, they are known to have hung their celestial weapons in a shami tree for safekeeping for a year. It was during this time that Kauravas decided to attack the kingdom in which Arjuna retrieved the weapons from the Shami tree and defeated the entire Kaurava army. ¹

The destruction of the effigy of Ravana is an important tradition of Vijayadashami, depicting the victory of Lord Rama over Ravana or the victory of good over evil. It normally occurs on the tenth day of Navratri, concluding the enactment of Ramlila based on the Ramayana epic. The history behind the Ravana Dahan is uncertain. It is believed that the organized celebration of this custom dates back to 1948 in Ranchi, where families displaced from Pakistan during the time of Partition observed this ritual of burning effigies. In time, it evolved into a grand celebration. Nowadays, Ravana Dahan continues to be a part of Dussehra festival in many parts of India. ¹

In most of Northern India, Vijayadashami is celebrated in honour of Lord Rama. In many places, the Ramlila, a dramatic performance on story of Rama is enacted over the 9 days leading up to the festival. The performance is inspired from the Ramcharitmanas, a Hindu text written by Tulsidas. Effigies of the demons Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghnath are also created and burnt on bonfires in the evening. In other cities, such as Varanasi, the entire story is freely acted out by performance-artists before the public every evening for a month. ¹

The performance arts tradition during the Dussehra festival was inscribed by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as one of the "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" in 2008. It is celebrated across Northern India for Dussehra, but particularly in historically important Hindu cities of Ayodhya, Varanasi, Vrindavan, Almora, Satna and Madhubani. The festival and dramatic enactment of the virtues versus vices filled story is organised by communities in hundreds of small villages and towns, attracting a mix of audiences from different social, gender and economic backgrounds. In many parts of India, the audience and villagers join in and participate spontaneously, helping the artists, others helping with stage setup, make-up, effigies, and lights. These arts come to a close on the night of Dussehra, when the victory of Rama is celebrated by burning the effigies of the evil Ravana and his allies. ¹

Kullu Dussehra is celebrated in the Kullu valley of Himachal Pradesh and is regionally notable for its large fair and parade witnessed by an estimated half a million people. The festival is a symbol of victory of good over evil by Raghunath, and is celebrated like elsewhere in the Indian subcontinent with a procession. The special feature of the Kullu Dussehra procession is the arrival of floats containing deities from different parts of the nearby regions and their journey to Kullu. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Vijayadashami”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Vijayadashami is annual Hindu festival, celebrated at the end of Navaratri, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 8 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²