मंगळवार, ६ ऑक्टोबर, २०१५

Dasara Festival in India


Dussehra (Vijaya Dashami, Dasara, or Dashain) is a Hindu festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil.Dasara means Vijayadashami, means remover of bad fate.It is one of the important festival in India.It is also said as Dashera, Dussera and Dussehra in North India.In Nepal, it termed as Dashain while in Himachal Pradesh, Kullu Dussehra.

Dusara has background stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata times.

Dussehra celebrates the Hindu god Rama's victory over the demon king Ravana and the triumph of good over evil. The epic Ramayana tells the story of the Lord Rama who wins the lovely Sita for his wife, only to have her carried off by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka.

Ravana plays an important role in the Ramayana. Ravana had a sister known as Shoorpanakha. She fell in love with the brothers Rama and Lakshamana and wanted to marry one of them. Lakshamana refused to marry her and Rama could not as he was already married to Sita.

Shoorpanakha threatened to kill Sita, so that she could marry Rama. This angered Lakshamana who cut off Shoorpanakha's nose and ears. Ravana then kidnapped Sita to avenge his sister's injuries. Rama and Lakshamana later fought a battle to rescue Sita. The monkey god Hanuman and a huge army of monkeys helped them.

The Mahabharata is another series of Hindu stories that play a role in the Dussehra festival. The Pandavas were five brothers who fought evil forces with a set of distinctive weapons. They abandoned their weapons and went into exile for one year. They hid their weapons in a Shami tree and found them at the same place when they returned from exile. They then worshipped the tree before going to a battle, which they won. This epic is also commemorated during Dussehra.

To celebrate Dasara occasion , people do puja of household and work-related tools, such as books, computers, cooking pans and vehicles in the state of Karnataka.Performance of Ramlila happens in all parts of India specially in North part of India.

Many Hindus also believe that it is lucky to start a new venture, project or journey on Dussehra. They may also exchange gifts of leaves from the Shami tree (Prosopis spicigera) as a symbol of the story of the Pandavas brothers' exile in the Mahabharata stories.

The city of Mysore has a long tradition of celebrating the Dasara festival and the festivities there are an elaborate affair, attracting a large audience including foreigners. The Dasara festival completed 400th anniversary in year 2010.The main attraction of the ten-day Mysore Dasara festival is the Mysore Palace which is illuminated daily with nearly 1 lakh (100,000) light bulbs from 7 pm to 10 pm on all days of the festival. The traditional Dasara procession (locally known as Jumboo Savari) is held on the streets of Mysore city.

Quote Of the Day

You Are Not A Human On A Spiritual Journey.
You Are A Spirit On A Human Journey.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin