Vijaya Dasami
Vijay Dashmi or popularly known festival Dashehra is one of the most important festivals of Hindus. There are several stories related to this particular festival but the most popular of them related to Ram, the king of Ayodhya who killed Ravana the demon king of Lanka. Ravana also known as Dashanan or Dashashisha with ten heads on his shoulders although my personal belief says that he had all these names because he was a wise man equal to ten wise men therefore he was known as man with ten head.
However, this festival is all about Ram killing Ravana the symbol of victory over evil on this day and came back victorious to his kingdom. People of Ayodhya celebrated the occasion and welcomed their beloved king back. Ram, according to popular belief as per the Hindu mythology known as ideal of truth, knowledge and complete man equal to gods where as Ravana was considered false, foolish, untrue and arrogant. Therefore, the victory of Ram over Ravana celebrated as victory over evil. Ram started his campaign against Ravana worshipping goddess Vijya therefore; the festival has the name ‘Vijaya Dasami’ also.
Beliefs related to Vijya Dasami
Another popular story associated with Vijya Dasami according to religious books state that the stars rising time on the tenth day of month of Ashvin –Shukla, is best time to gain victory over most difficult jobs therefore, this particular time related to success. As they believe that if a person begins his work with proper methods of fasting and worshiping all ten directions on this particular time and day, he is most likely to achieve his targets with best results.
According to another religious belief, the river Ganges that destroys ten major evil found in humankind came to earth through the hair of Lord Shiva on this very day to bring the heavenly water to purify the earth. According to Varah Puran, the Ganges the purest river came down on earth on tenth day. Although, there are disputes about the month of its coming down on earth but every source confirms that this was a tenth day so Dashehra is associated with river Ganges as well.
There is a quote in Bhavishya Puran that reads that ‘if a person chants the following mantra ten times standing in Ganga, he gets the best results and never becomes poor.
Here is the Mantra for your kind consideration please- “Om namo Bhagwati hili hili mili mili Gange ma pavay pavay swaha”
According to Skand Puran the importance of holy dip in a river and donation to poor and Brahmins has special mention and Ganges being the holiest of the rivers has special significance. Although, this is not possible for every one to take a dip in the Ganges on this day therefore, any river or pond nearby can solve the purpose. The persons who follow the rituals as mentioned in the holy books keep away of all sins to stay clean and pure.
The importance of festival
Festival of Dashehra has more significance related to all communities especially Kshatriya who worship their arms and Vaish who worship their ledgers and balances with keeping records of expenses and prices of the commodities in a register to update it every year. People in different states have different ways to celebrate the festival but in most places, the festival is celebrated in the following manner.
How do we celebrate Vijya Dasami
People generally decorate their houses with flowers and lights and worship their respective gods as Hindus are known to have their own choices of deities but most people worship Ram on this particular day along with Goddess Vijya because Ram won the battle with the blessings Goddess Vijya. In some parts of the country, worship the tree of Shami also known as Banni, Vanni and Jand etc in different languages. The tree of Shami known for power and fire makes a good symbol for self-motivation. Some people even worship the effigy of Ravana made of cow dung with his ten heads symbol of his knowledge on different subjects.
In the evenings, people gather to watch effigies of Ravana, Meghnath and Kumbhkaran being burnt by the arrows of Ram at the schedule time at fixed places in every city, towns and villages and congratulate each other after the same. The whole atmosphere of such places takes the shape of big public gatherings with all kind of temporary shops catering to the needs of the crowd. Children find the atmosphere of the same as big source of enjoyment where they find swings and toys sellers. Chat sellers take this as big opportunity doing a fantastic business on this day. In fact, this turns out into one big fun gathering where people enjoy the evening.
Puranic value of the day
Once Goddess Parvati asked Lord Shiva the importance and significance of Dashehra , the answer given by Shiva cleared every point in detail as to why people should choose this particular day to begin their campaign against the evil and enemy. He said “ The best time to fight against your enemies start with the rising of stars on the occasion of tenth day of Ashvin Shukla. That is why Ram took the opportunity to attack Lanka to kill the demon king Ravana.”
