Vijayadashami known as Dussehra is a major Hindu festival celebrated at the end of Navaratri every year in India and Nepal.
Vijayadashami is observed on the tenth day in the Hindu calendar month of Ashvin, the seventh month of the Hindu Luni-Solar Calendar, which generally falls in the Gregorian months of September and October.
In the southern, eastern, northeastern, and some northern states of India, Vijayadashami celebrates the end of Durga Puja, remembering goddess Durga’s victory over the buffalo demon Mahishasura to restore and protect dharma.
In the northern, central, and western states, the festival is called Dussehra (also spelled Dasara, Dashahara). In these regions, it marks the end of Ramlila and remembers god Rama’s victory over Ravana. Alternatively, it marks a reverence for one of the aspects of the goddess Devi, such as Durga or Saraswati.
Vijayadashami celebrations include processions to a river or ocean front that involve carrying clay statues of Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha, and Kartikeya, accompanied by music and chants, after which the images are immersed in the water for abolition and farewell. Elsewhere, on Dasara, towering effigies of Ravana, symbolizing evil, are burnt with fireworks, marking evil’s destruction. The festival also starts the preparations for Diwali, the important festival of lights, which is celebrated twenty days after Vijayadashami.
Vijayadaśamī is a compound of the two words vijaya ‘victorious’ and daśamī ‘tenth’ connoting the festival on the tenth day celebrating the victory of good over evil. The same Hindu festival-related term, however, takes different forms in different regions of India and Nepal, as well as among Hindu minorities found elsewhere.
The word Dussehra is a variant of daśaharā, which is a Sanskrit compound word composed of daśama, ‘tenth’) and ahar ‘day’.
In this epic, Ravana kidnaps Sita and takes her to his kingdom in Lanka (present-day Sri Lanka). Rama asks Ravana to release her, but Ravana refuses; the situation escalates and leads to war. After performing severe penance for ten thousand years, Ravana receives a boon from the creator-god Brahma; he could henceforth not be killed by gods, demons, or spirits. Lord Vishnu incarnates as the human Rama to defeat and kill him, thus circumventing the boon given by Lord Brahma.
A fierce battle takes place between Rama and Ravana in which Rama kills Ravana and ends his evil rule. Finally, Dharma was established on Earth because of Rama’s victory over Ravana. The festival commemorates the victory of Good over Evil.
Mahabharata
In the Mahabharata, the Pandavas spent their thirteenth year of exile under concealed identity in the kingdom of Virata. Before going to Virata, they are known to have hung their celestial weapons in a Shami tree for safekeeping for a year. During their exile, Bhima kills Kichaka for harassing the Pandava wife, Draupadi.
Hearing about the death of Kichaka, Duryodhana suspects that the Pandavas were hiding in Matsya. A host of Kaurava warriors attacks Virata, likely to steal their cattle, but in reality, desiring to find the Pandavas. Brave Virata’s son Uttara tries to take on the Kaurava army by himself while the rest of the Matsya army has been lured away to fight Susharma and the Trigartas.
As suggested by Draupadi, Uttar takes Arjun (in his disguise as Brihannala the eunuch) with him, as his charioteer. When he sees the Kaurava army, Uttara gets scared and attempts to flee. Then Arjuna reveals his identity and those of his brothers.
Arjuna takes Uttar to the tree where the Pandavas hid their weapons. Arjuna picks up his Gandiva after worshipping the tree, as the Shami tree safeguarded the Pandavas’ weapons for that complete year. Arjuna reties the thread of Gandiva, simply drags and releases it – which produces a terrible twang.
The Kaurava warriors were eagerly waiting to spot Pandavas. A tiff takes place between Karna and Drona.
Karna told Duryodhana that he would easily defeat Arjuna and is not threatened by Drona’s words since Drona was intentionally praising Arjuna, as Arjuna was the favorite student of Drona. Ashwathama supports his father by praising Arjuna. Then Arjuna arrives to the battlefield.
In Northern India, Dasara is observed with the burning of Ravana effigies. In most of northern and western India, Dasha-Hara (literally, “ten days”) is celebrated in honour of Rama. Thousands of drama-dance-music plays based on the Ramayan and Ramcharitmanas (Ramlila) are performed at outdoor fairs across the land and in temporarily built staging grounds featuring effigies of the demons Ravan, Kumbhakarna, and Meghanada. The effigies are burnt on bonfires on the evening of Vijayadashami or Dussehra.
While Dussehra is observed on the same day across India, the festivities leading to it vary. In many places, the “Rama Lila” or the brief version of the story of Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana, is enacted over the 9 days before it, but in some cities, such as Varanasi, the entire story is freely acted out by performance-artists before the public every evening for a month.
The festival and dramatic enactment of the virtues versus vices-filled narrative is organized by communities in hundreds of small villages and towns, attracting crowds from different social, gender, and economic backgrounds. In many parts of India, the audience and villagers join in and participate spontaneously, helping the artists, others helping with stage setup, make-up, effigies, and lights. These arts come to a close on the night of Dussehra, when the victory of Rama is celebrated by burning the effigies of evil Ravan and his colleagues.
The performance arts tradition during the Dussehra festival was inscribed by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as one of the “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” in 2008.
Credits to Hindu religious sources and Wikipedia