Festival of Dussehra
Vijaya Dashami also known as Dasara, Dashahara, Navaratri, Durgotdsav… is one of the very important & delightful festivals of India, which is celebrated in the lunar month of Ashwin (often in September or October) from the Shukla Paksha Pratipada (the next of the New moon day of Bhadrapada) to the Dashami or the tenth day of Ashwin.
This festival is celebrated not only in India but in almost all eastern countries like Java, Sumatra, Japan etc… Dussehra is Nepal’s national festival.
Word DASARA is derived from Sanskrit words “Dasha” & “hara” meaning removing the ten (10). This is the most auspicious festival in the Dakshinaayana or in the Southern hemisphere motion of the Sun. In Sanskrit, ‘Vijaya’ means Victory and ‘Dashami’ means 10th day. ‘Thus Vijaya Dashami’ means victory on the 10th day.Dasara is also known as Navaratri, as in the first nine days the Divine Mother Goddess Durga is worshipped and implimanted in different manifestations of her Shakti. The 10th day is in honor of Durga Devi.
The basic reason behind this festival is to worship feminine principle of the Universe in the form of the divine mother to remind the teachings of the Taitareeya Upanishad, “Matru Devo Bhava.” gist of the navaratri celebration at social level is to remind & respect all the women, who are the guardians of the family, culture, and national integrity, cordiality to take lead in times of crisis to guide the humanity towards the path of social justice, righteousness, equality, love, and divinity.
Durga is worshipped as the main deity of Navaratri by all the segments of society including tribal communities. Dasara coincide with the period of rest & leisure of the farmers after their emphatic hard work in their farms & fields, hence they apply blessings of Durga in order to have a rich harvest in the next coming season.
In India harvest season begins at this time and as mother earth is the source of all food the Mother Goddess is applied to start afresh the new harvest season and to reactivate the vigor and fertility of the soil by doing religious performances and rituals which invoke cosmic forces for the rejuvenation of the soil.
On the day of Dussehra, statues of the Goddess Durga are submersed in the river waters. These statues are made with the clay & the pooja is performed with turmeric and other pooja items, which are powerful disinfectants and are mixed in the river waters. This makes water useful for the farmers & yields better crops.
Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the founder of the Hindawi (Hindu) Swarajya used to always worship Lord Shiva & Goddess Durga in the form of goddess Bhawani before any military expedition. Goddess Bhavani had blessed Shivaji Maharaj with her own sword called “Bhavani Talwar”.
Buses, trucks and huge machines in factories are all decorated and worshipped as Dasara is also treated as Vishwakarma Divas – the National Labor Day of India.
Veda Vyasa is considered as the foremost Guru and Vijayadasami is also celebrated as Vyasa puja.