Significance of Vijayadashami or Dussehra Festival

Importance of Vijayadashami Festival. Popularly known as Dussehra or Dasara or Dashain, Vijayadashami holds a great religious significance among Hindu devotees. Vijayadashami is a major Hindu festival celebrated every year at the end of Navaratri. It is observed on the tenth day of the month of Ashvin, the seventh in the Hindu Luni-Solar Calendar. 

Vijayadashami - Day of the Victory

Vijayadashami, the tenth day of Navratri, marks the conclusion of the nine-day festival honoring all incarnations of Goddess Durga. It is also known as the Day of Victory, or Vijayadashami. If we set aside the regional differences, the main events of this festival have one motto i.e. the victory of good over evil. In other words, this festival signifies the victory of the power of good over that of the power of evil. Vijayadashami celebrations include processions to a river or ocean front that involve carrying clay statues of Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikeya, accompanied by music and chants, after which the images are immersed in the water for dissolution and farewell. In other places, towering effigies of Ravana, symbolising evil, are burnt with fireworks, marking evil's destruction. The festival also starts the preparations for Diwali, the important festival of lights, which is celebrated twenty days after Vijayadashami. 

The northern and western states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra usually fast during the nine days of Navratri by abstaining from non-vegetarian food. The devotees break their fast only on the tenth day of dussehra or Vijaydashmi. People should not cut the trees as it is not good. Cutting trees on the day of Vijay Dashami is considered inauspicious. One must follow the path of truth and do not lie to anyone. It is the perfect day to leave the bad habit of speaking lie and people can follow the path which Sri Ram had shown us. In Kerala people celebrate this day as Vidhyarambham day. On this very da, small children introduced to the education. They learn to write their names on this auspicious day.

Timings of Vijayadashami

Dashami Tithi Begins - October 23, 2023 - 05:44 PM

Dahsami Tithi Ends - October 24, 2023 - 03:14 PM