VIJAYADASHMI

Oct. 25, 2020

The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind greeted people on the eve of Vijayadashami.

About:

  • Vijayadashami is a major Hindu festival celebrated at the end of Navratri every year i.e. on the tenth day in the Hindu calendar month of Ashvin.

  • The festival also starts the preparation for Diwali, which is celebrated twenty days after the Vijayadashami.

  • It is observed for different reasons and celebrated differently in various parts of the Indian subcontinent.

Durga Puja:

  • Region: Eastern & North-Eastern India.

  • Reason for observance: It marks the end of Durga Puja. It remembers goddess Durga's victory over the buffalo demon Mahishasura.

  • Celebrations: It includes processions to a river or ocean front that carry clay statues of Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikeya, accompanied by music and chants. After this the statutes are immersed into the water.

Dussehra:

  • Region: Northern, Southern & Western India.

  • Reason for observance: It marks the end of "Ramlila." It remembers God Rama's victory over the demon Ravana.

  • Celebrations:
    • Here the festival is also known as Dasara or Dussehra. The towering effigies of Ravana symbolizing the evil are burnt with fireworks marking evil's destruction.

    • The performance arts tradition during the Dussehra festival was inscribed by UNESCO as one of the "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" in 2008.