India is an incredible land of fairs and festivals. These fairs and festivals are part and parcel of Indian culture. Every season or month in India has some special festivities to celebrate. As India is a secular nation, so people of every community celebrates and enjoys their festivals with much pomp and show.
Hindu religion is one of the major religion of India and has many festivals linked to it. Dusshera is one of the significant festival of Hindu community which is celebrated through out the country. Every year during the spring season, this festival which symbolize the victory of good over evil is celebrated.
According to Hindu mythology, Lord Rama (the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu) has killed the Ravana, the great demon king of lanka (Sri Lanka) on the day of Dusshera. Lord Rama has fought this battle with the aid of his younger brother and devoted follower Hanuman to release his wife Sita from the imprisonment of Ravana. He had cut the ten heads of Ravana, due to which this festival is called 'Dasa-hara'.
Dusshera falls on the tenth day, after the Navratri (nine day of fasting). Dusshera is also known by the name of Vijayadashmi, as it marks the victory Rama over Ravana and return of Rama, Laxman and Sita to Ayodha. In the entire northern India, Ramlilas, a drama that depicts the episodes from the lives of Ram, Sita and Lakshman are staged on the occasion of this festival. People used to burn the big effigies of various demons who fought with Lord Rama and his army in open spaces such as Ravana, his brother Kumbhkarna and son Meghnath.
Some places of our country are renowned all over the world for their unique way of Dusshera celebration. Such as in Kullu valley of Himachal Pradesh, villagers do a grand procession of the village deities, whereas in Kota, people participates in Garba (folk dance of Gujrat) dance competition after the completion of nine day of fasting and in Mysore during Dusshera festival, a grand procession of decorated elephants are organize on the brightly lit streets of Mysore town etc. Even Durga puja of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura requires some special mention as both Durga puja and Dussehera celebration coincides with each other.
During these few days of merry making, people forgets all their tensions and completely immersed themselves in the festive mood. So, get ready to celebrate this year's Dusshera, which will fall on Monday, 28th September, 2009
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