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Story behind Dussehra

Dussehra is one of the major festivals celebrated by many religions in India which usually falls in the month of October. Dussehra is also known as ‘Vijaya Dasami’ which indicates the celebration of victory over evil.


Story of Dussehra:
In ancient times, there lived a demon called ‘Mahishasurudu’. Mahishu means buffalo. As he was in the form of a buffalo, he got that name. He was one of the strongest among all demons. He had a firing desire to triumph all the three worlds (Trilokya). So, he went on to do yoga vigorously for Brahma without considering scorching sun, rain, coldness, hunger. Finally, after many years of yoga, Lord Brahma had to appear before him and asked him what he desired for to which Mahishasura wished that he should be killed by no man thinking that women would do no harm to him. Brahma granted his wish and disappeared. From then onwards, Mahishasura went to the three worlds and started torturing the people. He made all the people suffer. Though the triods i.e., Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu, Lord Maheswara watched all this, they couldn’t do anything as they were men.
Then the triods thought of an idea and wanted to put an end to him. As his death was in the hands of a woman, all the gods started creating the strongest woman using their powers. This was the origin of Goddess Durga who was ready to face the war with Mahishasura with eighteen hands. Then the gods gave her their weapons. Lord Vishnu gave her his Sudharshana Chakra (handsome cycle), Lord Shiva handed his trident and Lord Indra, his Vajrayudham. Then Goddess Durga headed towards the war with Mahishasura by holding all these powerful weapons making lion as her vehicle. Knowing this, even Mahishasura got ready to face war with Durga with his ally of hundreds of thousands of men. He sometimes changed himself to lion, elephant and buffalo during the war to fight with goddess Durga but even Durga was not a common woman. She and her lion fought with his ally vigorously for nine days. On tenth day, she finally killed the demon Mahishasura.
All gods celebrated this which is the start of vijaya Dasami. As the war went on for nine days, we call them as Navratris and we call tenth day as Vijaya Dasami because goddess Durga succeeded in killing Mahishasura on this day. People who celebrate Dussehra worship Durga in different avataras on these nine days. Idols of goddess Durga are placed in the streets for these nine days. Especially, people in West Bengal set up these idols in every street and worship her. Even Mysore people celebrate this festival with great pomp. Telangana people celebrate ‘Bathukamma’ along with Dussehra.

The story of Lord Rama killing Ravana:

Many people believe that Lord Rama had killed Ravana on the same day. The Story dates back to ‘Treta yuga’ in which Sri Ram was born who was a great king of Ayodhya. On the other side, Ravana was the king of Lanka (now Sri Lanka). Once it so happened that Ravana’s sister Soorpanka, the ugly demoness saw Lord Rama and attracted to him. She changed herself into a beautiful woman and went to Rama. She asked him to leave his wife Sita and come with her. As Rama showed no interest on her, she grew angry and revealed her original form. She tried to harm Sita but Laxman, Rama’s brother quickly drew out his sword and cut off her nose and ears. Crying Soorpanka went to his brothers Kara and Dhushana and narrated the whole story, asked them to take revenge against the two brothers Rama and Lakshmana. At the sight of their dear sister’s state, both of her brothers grew angry and immediately went to fight against Rama and Lakshmana with an army.
Rama fought against the army where as Lakshmana stood guard Sita. At the end of the war, Rama destroyed their army and killed both Kara and Dhushana. Soorpanaka watched all of this and terrified. She then flew once to Lanka and narrated everything to her brother Ravana. She also told Ravana that Sita was very beautiful. Ravana, having seen her sister without nose and ears, decided to avenge on them by abducting Sita. He thought of a plan. Ravana headed towards Rama’s place in his vehicle Pushaka Vimana. He approached the demon Maricha, master of disguises and asked him to take the form of a golden deer. When Maricha took the form of a golden deer and roamed in front of Sita, She saw the deer and asked Rama to get it for her. Rama agreed and went to catch the deer asking Lakshamana to guard Sita.
When Rama couldn’t catch it after chasing a lot, he decided to kill it and get it. He then hit a sharp arrow onto the deer to which the deer gained its original form as Maricha and screamed by imitating Rama. Sita heard the voice and began to panic. She asked Lakshmana to go and see what happened. Lakshamana first refused but upon being insisted, he drew a circle around Sita and told her not to cross it at any cost. He then went into the forest in search of Rama. On the other hand, Ravana who watching all this, came down from his Pushpaka Vimana, changed himself into a beggar and came near Sita’s hut. He started begging for food. Sita heard this and came out with alms but she remembered Lakshmana’s warning of not crossing the line that he drew. So, she stood inside the circle and offered the food to the beggar. Ravana sensed that the circle was powerful that he couldn’t cross it. So he asked Sita to come out of it otherwise he wouldn’t accept the food. Sita, being a humble and generous woman, came out of the line to offer him food. Then Ravana revealed his demonic form and even before she realised, he abducted her and started heading towards Lanka.
 On their way, Jatayu, the great eagle king saw Sita and fought against Ravana but the powerful Ravana took his sword and hit it hard that it fell down at once. Sita tried to escape but all her efforts went in vain. Ravana took her to his empire and asked her to marry him. When she refused, he left her in his palace garden with ugly she-demons. Finally, when the brothers couldn’t find Sita, they came to know that they had been tricked. Rama and Lakshmana saw Jatayu struggling with pain and came to know that Ravana abducted Sita through it. After saying this, Jatayu died. They both felt indebted to it and prayed for the peace of its soul. Then they both went in search of Sita.
Lord Hanuman takes a crucial role in searching Sita. It is believed that Rama took the blessings of Lord Durga before killing Ravana and he killed Ravana on the Vijaya Dasami. So, many people believe that this is also one of the reasons to celebrate Dussehra.

According to Mahabharata, Pandavas, after finishing their vanavasam took their weapons which they hid on the Shami tree. Commemorating this, people worship Shami tree on Dussehra. They take the leaves of Shami tree and give them to each other on Dussehra evening.

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