Dussehra or Vijayadashami is celebrated to show the victory of good over evil. It signifies the man’s need to overcome fear, greed and negative thinking and move towards positive thoughts and deeds. This year i.e in 2018, Vijayadashami falls on the 19th of October.

One derivation of the word Dusshera is from dash hara. ‘Dash’ means ten and ‘hara’ means defeated. Nine days before Dusshera, that is, in the nine days of Navratri, all the ten directions are saturated with the female deity’s (devi’s-Shakti) energy. ‘Shakti’ has control over creation in all the ten directions (dikbhav), attendants (gan), etc. That is why this day is known as Dashhara, Dusshera, Vijayadashami, etc. This falls on the tenth day (dashami) of the bright fortnight of Ashwin.

Since Dusshera is a festival of triumph and signifies victory and valour. Before Arjun went into hiding he placed all his weapons in the hollow of the Shami tree. But on this day when the Kourav army was herding away King Virat’s cattle, Arjun pulled out his weapons from the Shami tree and confronted the army and defeated them.

It is believed that Lord Ramachandra defeated Ravana and emerged victorious on this day. To mark all these most signifying events, this day has been named Vijayadashami. This festival is being celebrated right from the ancient times. Peasants would celebrate it after bringing home their first monsoon harvest. During the Navratri, on the day of installation of the pot (ghatasthapana) nine types of food grains are germinated in the altar (sthandil). On the day of Dusshera, the grains are pulled out and offered to the deities. In several places, the main door of the house is decorated with sheaves of rice grains. This custom also depicts that it is a festival of the peasants.

Vijayadashami forms an auspicious day to start any process of learning as it is dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, the source of all knowledge. Thus by realizing the spiritual significance of Vijayadashami and Dusshera one can lead themselves to the path of acquiring self-knowledge.