Dussehra Festival

Dussehra is one of the most significant and popular Hindu festivals in India, celebrated with great enthusiasm and devotion across the country.

Also known as Vijayadashami, it is a ten-day festival that usually falls in the months of September or October, culminating on the tenth day known as Dussehra.

The festival celebrates the victory of good over evil, symbolized by the defeat of the demon king Ravana by Lord Rama, as described in the Hindu epic Ramayana. The festival also marks the end of the Navratri festival, a nine-day period of fasting, worship, and celebration of the goddess Durga.

The festival is celebrated in various ways in different parts of India. In the northern states of India, such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, large effigies of Ravana, his brother Kumbhakarna, and his son Meghnath are erected and then burned in a dramatic display symbolizing the victory of good over evil. In some parts of India, people dress up as characters from the Ramayana and perform street plays depicting the epic story.