Celebrations for Dusshera Festival |
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Rama, accompanied by his consort Sita and his brother Lakshmana, arrive and shoot arrows of fire at these effigies, which are stuffed with explosive material. |
In burning the effigies the people are asked to burn the evil within them, and thus follow the path of virtue and goodness, bearing in mind the instance of Ravana, who despite all his might and majesty was destroyed for his evil ways. It must be remembered that Ravana was a great scholar and an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva, but the very powers that were bestowed on him for his steadfast devotion proved to be his undoing, due to his gross misuse of the same. |
In Punjab, Navaratri is taken as a period of fasting. In Gujarat, the evenings and nights are occasions for the fascinating Garba dance. The women dance around an earthen lamp while singing devotional songs accompanied by rhythmic clapping of hands. |
Ravana and Bharat Milap, that is the reunion of Ram and his estranged brother Bharat, on the former's return to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile. |
grand mass ceremony wherein village deities are taken out in elaborate processions. |
Like other festivals in the country, Dussehra / Durga Puja is an occasion for festivities on a grand scale, which emanate a genuine feeling of bonhomie and warmth.
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The festival is also celebrated with intense fervour and zest, in
West Bengal and Beautiful idols of the Mother Goddess are worshipped in elaborate pandals for nine days, and on the ninth day, these are carried out in procession for immersion (visarjan) in a river or pond. |
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On the tenth
day, the Vijayadasmi day, colossal effigies of Ravana, his brother Kumbhkarna and
son Meghnath are placed in vast open spaces. 
The result is a deafening blast, Ravana's effigy, to the
encouraging shouts of "Ramchandra ki
jai", "Victory to Rama", and a
large explosion ripples through the sky. 
In northern India, the festival wears the colorful garb of Ramlila
wherein various incidents from Rama's life are enacted, as is the destruction of 
In the Kulu valley in Himachal
Pradesh, the hill- folk celebrate Dussehra with a
The
Dussehra of Mysore, is also quite famous where caparisoned elephants lead a
colorful procession through the gaily dressed streets of the city.
Bengalis nationwide, in the form of Durga Puja.