Dussehraਦੁਸਹਿਰਾ

Dussehra is the day the autumn festivals turn toward their climax: nine nights of fasting and worship end in a public declaration that good has won. In the north the declaration is theatrical, with the demon king Ravana going up in flames before cheering crowds; in the east it is emotional, as the goddess Durga, after her victory, is carried to the river and bid farewell. Both festivals share one day and one meaning.

What is Dussehra?

Dussehra falls on the tenth day of the bright half of the month of Ashvina, in September or October. The name is usually explained from the Sanskrit dasha, ten, and hara, defeat: the defeat of the ten-headed Ravana. Its other name, Vijayadashami, means the tenth day of victory. The two names are used interchangeably across India, though regions lean on different stories, and the day closes the nine nights of Navratri. For many families Dussehra also begins the countdown and preparation for Diwali, which follows twenty days later. Teachers often read Ravana's ten heads symbolically as well: the ten faces of the inner enemy, anger, pride, greed, delusion, envy and the rest, which the festival's victory is meant to defeat in the worshipper too, so the day works on two levels at once, a public story from the epic and a private audit of conduct.

Ram, Ravana and the Ramlila

In the Ramayana, Ravana, the learned and mighty king of Lanka, carries off Sita, the wife of Ram, and Ram crosses the sea with an army of monkeys and bears to win her back. The war ends with Ravana's fall. Through the Navratri nights, towns across northern India stage the Ramlila, open-air plays that retell the epic episode by episode, often by neighbourhood troupes whose actors are local boys. On Dussehra evening the play reaches its end in a public ground, where towering effigies of Ravana, his brother Kumbhakaran and his son Meghnad, stuffed with fireworks, are shot with a flaming arrow and burn to the ground amid cheers.

Durga and Mahishasura

In Bengal, Assam and the east, the day is Vijayadashami, the victory tenth that ends Durga Puja. The goddess Durga, created by the combined power of the gods when none of them could defeat the buffalo demon Mahishasura, fought him through the festival's days and destroyed him, restoring the order of the world. On the tenth day her clay images, with Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartikeya, are carried in procession with music and chanting to a river or the sea and immersed, as the goddess departs for Mount Kailash until next year. Kolkata's Durga Puja was added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021.

How is Dussehra celebrated?

Forms vary by region. In the south, the day carries Ayudha Puja, when tools, instruments, vehicles and weapons are cleaned, garlanded and worshipped, and Vidyarambham, when small children are guided to write their first letters. Mysuru's Dasara, led by the royal family's procession, is famous across India. In the hills of Kullu in Himachal Pradesh, Dussehra runs the other way: a week-long festival that begins on Vijayadashami just as the plains finish, with village gods carried in palanquins to the fair ground. Everywhere, the day is considered auspicious for new beginnings: new work, new study and new ventures are started under its sign of victory.

Dussehra in Punjab

Punjab keeps Dussehra in the northern style: Ramlila grounds in Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala and smaller towns host nightly plays through Navratri, and on the tenth evening the effigies burn before large crowds, with fairs, swings and food stalls around them. The festival was just as much a part of the undivided Punjab: a photograph from 1923 shows the great Ravan Dahan at Minto Park in Lahore, with the effigy towering over the crowd, evidence that the same autumn night was celebrated across the Punjab of a century ago. Dussehra is a public holiday in the state, and its end turns every bazaar toward Diwali.

Why do Kullu and Mysuru stand apart?

Kullu, in the Himachal hills, reverses the pattern of the plains: its Dussehra begins on Vijayadashami itself and runs for seven days at the Dhalpur Maidan. Its history is traced to the 17th century, when Raja Jagat Singh installed an idol of Raghunath, Ram in his royal form, on his throne as an act of penance, after which Raghunath was declared the ruling deity of the valley. No effigy of Ravana burns here. Instead, village gods from across the valley are carried in palanquins to pay court to Raghunath, and the fair around them draws an estimated four to five lakh visitors. The state government has accorded the festival international status.

Mysuru, in Karnataka, keeps Dasara as a royal state festival, its Nada Habba. The Wodeyar kings carried forward the grand Mahanavami celebrations of the Vijayanagara Empire, and Raja Wodeyar I began the Mysuru observance at Srirangapatna in 1610. On Vijayadashami the Jamboo Savari procession carries the idol of Chamundeshwari, the form of Durga who slew Mahishasura and gave Mysuru its name, seated on a golden mantapa of about 750 kilograms on a decorated elephant, from Mysore Palace to Bannimantap, where the banni tree is worshipped. Through the festival the palace is lit each evening with nearly 100,000 bulbs.

When is Dussehra?

Dussehra falls on the tenth lunar day (dashami) of the bright half of Ashvina, the day after the ninth night of Navratri. In the Gregorian calendar it comes in September or October, and it stands twenty days before Diwali, on the new moon of Kartika.