Vijayadashami 2017

Vijayadashami is celebrated as victory of Lord Rama over Demon Ravana and also triumph of Goddess Durga over the buffalo Demon Mahishasura. A 10 day fast, rituals and celebrations are observed in the months of Ashwin and Kartik celebrating the victory of good over evil. Vijayadashami is also known as Dussehra or Dasara. In Nepal Dasara is celebrated as Dashain.

Shami Puja, Aparajita Puja (अपराजिता पूजा) and Seema Avalanghan (सीमा अवलंघन or सीमोल्लंघन) are some of the rituals which are followed on the day of Vijayadashami. According to Hindu division of the day, these rituals should be done during Aparahna time.

Being a universal festival, Hindus celebrate Vijayadhashami at the same time in different ways in different parts of India as well as around the world.

In the northern part of the country, the first nine days of this festival, called Navaratri, is commonly observed as a time for rigorous fast, followed by celebrations on the tenth day (Dusshera). Especially in Varanasi of Northern India, Dusshera overlaps with “Ramlila” or “Rama Drama” – traditional plays in which scenes from the epic saga of the mythical Rama-Ravana strife are enacted by professional troupes.

In the south, Vijayadhashami or the tenth day is celebrated with a lot of fanfare, especially the celebration in Mysore is a veritable extravaganza! It is a festival to celebrate the triumph of good over evil, and marks the defeat and death of the demon king Ravana in the epic Ramayana. Huge effigies of Ravana are burnt amidst the bangs and booms of firecrackers.