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Dussehra - the Hindu festival of victory
With the advent of Mahalaya Paksha in India, people across the country come in a festive mood and start their preparations for the most popular festival known as Dussehra. In this article I would like to mention the importance and significance of this festival.
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India – the land of festivals
India is a country that is popular for its festivals and the people of the country are ever busy celebrating various festivals, both at national as well as at regional level, round the year. The festivals that are celebrated are Makara Sankranthi in the month of January which is followed by Mahashiva Ratri in February, Holi in March, Sree Raama Navami and New Year's Day of various regions in April, Askhay Tritya or Akha Teej in May, Guru Poornima in July, Raakhi in August, Janmaastami and Ganesh Chathurthi in September, Mahaalaya, Dussehra and Deepavali in October, Kaarthik Poornima in Novemeber and Christmas Day in December.
The other festivals of great importance that are celebrated in the country with great enthusiasm are Ramadaan (Ramzan), Id-ei-Milad, Id-ul-Zuha, Guru Purb and many more such festivals are also celebrated by the people of different regions with great pomp and pleasure.
Each and every festival is unique in its own way and has its own importance and significance. Each and every festival is celebrated by the people of different regions of the country in their own way according to their culture and tradition. However, the people of India enjoy celebrating these festivals with great fervor and enthusiasm.
Festival of Dussehra
Dussehra is one such very popular festival in India that is celebrated with great enthusiasm by the people all over the country for a continuous nine-days period and hence it is popularly known as Dussehra Navaratri (the meaning of nav is nine in Sanskrit language and that of ratri is night).
With the advent of Mahalaya Paksha people across the country come in a festival mood and start their preparations for this most famous festival Dussehra with full swing. This is one of the most important festivals of the Hindus which is celebrated with great pomp and pleasure as well as with great zeal and enthusiasm throughout the country.
Mythology / history behind the festival
According to mythology it is believed that it is on this day in Treta Yuga Lord Raama killed the ten-headed demon king Raavana and after that made his younger brother Vibheeshana, the King of Lanka. And hence Vijaya Dasami day is considered to be the most auspicious day during the Dussehra festival and of the year as well by the people of India as it symbolizes the victory of 'Good over Evil'.
According to some other puranas the kings during the ancient times used to participate in the feast of Dussehra to cross the frontier and fight against their neighboring kingdoms. Such a crossing of border is known as Simollanghan (seema ullanghan).
As per Devi puraanam, it is believed that some of the Aasuras or demons particularly Mahishaasura - the buffalo-headed demon became very powerful and ambitious and hence continuously tried to defeat the Gods, particularly Indra and thus capture the Heaven or Indraloka. Mahishaasura's power grew day by day and he became very powerful, thus creating havoc on the Earth. He became so powerful that he along with the other Asuraas even defeated the Devas or Gods. And thus all of these Devas including the Holy Trinity - Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara became absolutely powerless. And the world was getting under Mahishasura's tyranny and all the creatures on the Earth became helpless, thus approached the gods for rescue.
To redeem the people on the Earth from the clutches of Mahishaasura all the Devas collectively contributed their individual energy which helped in the formation of the most powerful Shakti which is a single mass of incandescent energy produced by the collective energies of all the gods to fight against Mahishaasura and thus it was provoked to kill the asura.
As a result a very powerful streak of light dazzled from the Holy Trintiy -Brahma, Vishnu & Maheswara and thus appeared a beautiful, magnificent, radiant young virgin with ten hands. All the Devas praised this newly evolved Goddess and they gave their special weapons to her. This great Shakti took the form of Goddess Durga who took the weapons in her ten hands and riding on a ferocious lion, who assisted her in the fight, took on to Mahishasura. The battle was quite fierce which raged for continuous nine days and nights.
And finally on the tenth day of Ashwin (Aasweeja) after the no mmon day, the most powerful demon Mahishasur was defeated and killed by Goddess Durga. And there was rejoice everywhere and everyone praised and worshipped Goddess Durga for her victory over the evil demon. And people on the Earth rejoice this victory by celebrating the festival of Dussehra
In the Dwapara Yuga, when the Pandavas lost their kingdom to Kauravas in the game of Dice, they had to spend 12 years in exile in the forest followed by an year of Angyatwas - secrecy. Pandavas, before entering and taking shelter in the Kingdom of Viraat to complete the last one year of Angyatwas, they hid all their weapons on the branch of a Shami tree.
After the completion of one year on Vijayadashmi day, when the Kauravas attacked the Kingdom of Viraat to steal his cattle, Prince Arjuna in the disguise of Brihannala along with prince Uttara kumar - the son of Viraat king, took the weapons from the Shami tree, fought with the Kauravas, defeated them and thereby Pandavas declared their true identity on Vijaya Dasami day. And Princess Uttara - daughter of King Viraat requests her brother Uttar Kumar to get the pieces of colorful clothes from the main people of Kaurava sena after defeating them in the war which she wanted for her dolls. And hence it became a tradition in some parts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu as well to arrange the dolls in a beautiful way called Bommala Koluvu.
Thus it became a culture, since then, to worship all weapons including machinery in the modern day in many parts of the country and this is known as Ayudha Pooja.
Festival celebrations in different parts of the country
The festival is celebrated by the people all over the country in their own way as per the culture and traditions of the particular region of the country.
In North India
In some parts of the country, during the nine-day festival of Dussehra, the entire story of Raamayana is enacted by the stage artistes and on the Vijaya Dasami day - the tenth day after the no moon day (Amaavasya) in the month of Ashwin or Aasweeja as per the Hindu calender, people participate in a street procession and sing or chant the glory of Lord Raama and they also enact the war between Lord Raama and Raavana.
And finally they set fire to the effigies of Raavana, Kumbhakaran and Meghnaath and thus rejoice the victory of good over evil. And such an act of burning the huge effigies of Raavana, Kumbhakaran and Meghnaath takes place with great enthusiasm in the Raam-leela maidan which has become world famous and is the highlight of the celebrations.
In fact Ramleela is an important part of Dussehra celebrations in the Northern part of India where the important scenes of Raamayana are depicted like Bharat Milap (the reunion of Raama with his younger brother Bharat) and destruction of Raavana which is the highlight of Dussehra celebrations. This is a way of reminding people of the fact that truth always triumphs and thus people get motivated to follow the path of Dharma or truth.
In Mysore - Karnataka
The festival of Dusshera is celebrated in a unique way in Mysore in the state of Karnataka which has gained popularity across the country and abroad as well. It is very famous for the way it is celebrated with grandeur and splendor and with the involvement of the Royal family and the gala procession of highly bedecked elephants on the illuminated streets of the city, made it a special event to watch and celebrate as well.
In West Bengal
And the celebrations of this festival in the state of West Bengal need no description. The people of the entire state will be celebrating this festival as Durga Puja with high spirits and worship Goddess Durga. The beautiful and colorful hand-made idol s of Goddess Durga and the special poojas that are performed across the state are unique in its own way which has gained special popularity in the country. After worshiping the goddess for continuous nine days, the idols are ceremoniously immersed in the nearby water bodies on the 10th or 11th day.
In Andhra Pradesh
In some regions of Andhra Pradesh, it has become a tradition to arrange the dolls in a beautiful manner by the unmarried girls and this is known as Bommala Koluvu which is celebrated as a part of Dussehra festival. And the married women are involved in mass recital of Lalita Sahasranaamam and Kumkumaarchana to Goddess Lalita Devi.
And during these nine days of Dussehra, the annual Brahmostavams of Lord Sri Venkateswara (Balaji) are celebrated in Tirumala when the festive deity is taken in a huge procession that is heavily crowded round the main temple and this special event is witnessed by innumerable devotees. It is even telecasted live in many of the TV channels.
In Gujarat
In Gujarat the Navaratri - nine day festival is celebrated with high spirits particularly by the ladies who are engaged in the typical dance called Raas Garba every night which is quite enjoyable.
The festival is celebrated with great fervor by the people of each region of the country in a special and their own way. However, celebrations of the festival in Mysore procession, burning the effigy of Raavana's and the most beautiful huge idols that are put on the streets of Kolkata and the whole of West Bengal have gained popularity all over the country.
Moreover as Vijaya Dasami day is considered the most auspicious day of the year, people start their new ventures or businesses on this day as it is believed that they would be successful when started on this day. On this day parents perform the first writing called Aksharabhyasam of their young kids who are about to start their schooling. Even people buy new vehicles particularly on this day and start using it after performing pooja to it.
Generally on the seventh day during the Dussehra festival, Goddess Saraswati – the goddess of learning is invoked and special pooja are performed to her. And in a many parts of the country, text and note books of the school/college going children are kept in front of Goddess Saraswati and special prayers and poojas are formed to the goddess seeking her blessing for their children's good education. In some parts the Holy texts like Geeta are kept in the pooja room and special pooja is offered to these texts on this special day.
Dussehra festival is an epitome of victory and symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. It is a day that is celebrated with great fervor by the people of India. Dussehra and Vijaya Dashami is one of the most important, fascinating and most awaited festival of India. This festival is the National festival of Nepal.
Dussehra is also known as Navaratri as the Divine Mother Goddess Durga is invoked in different manifestations in these nine days and is worshiped with great devotion by the people.
In most of the temples in India, Goddess Durga or Parvati is worshiped continuously for nine days with different names in nine different forms and dressed according to the particular manifestation each day during Dussehra Navaratri. These forms are called Navdurga and the 10th day is, i.e, Vijayadasami day is celebrated in honor of Goddess Durga Devi popularly known as Mahishaasura Mardini.
Significance and importance of the festival
The main significance of the festival is the conquest of good over evil. Dussehra symbolizes victory or success. Hence the period of Dussehra is considered very auspicious. The celebrations of the festi al symbolize the power of truth and humanity.
Vijayadasami is considered the most auspicious day of the period and as the name indicates it is the day of victory or success. In many parts of the country during Dussehra Navaratri the first three days are dedicated to Goddes Durga and the second three days are dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi while the last three days to Goddess Saraswati with special poojas to these goddesses on those days.
True to the name Vijayadasami is the day when people are supposed to have victory over the darkness or ignorance of their mind and become self-conscious. They come to know their true self which is nothing but Cosmic Bliss which can be experienced by a true seeker on this Vijayadasami day. Thus the festival has a great significance whence a person's ignorance is completely shaken out and the person awakens spiritual to his / her pure self.
By understanding the true significance of the festival a person can lead the path for acquiring self-realisation and thus have spiritual awakening.
Let the great Shakti in the form of Goddess Durga remove the darkness or ignorance from the minds of the people and bless them with self-knowledge / self-realization so that they can awaken to higher standards of life by the experience of Cosmic Bliss.
Happy Dussehra to all the readers.
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