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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