When Joy Reigns – Dasara

So all of you are in the best of dresses and the greatest of splendor and enjoying Navratri to the hilt right? So how many nights have you spent reveling in the joy of dancing the dance in those gorgeously colored bright chaniya cholis and beautiful costumes? Isn’t it wonderful to celebrate this season of festival in so grand a manner?

And now it is all going to culminate with the Dasara on the 6th October 2011. Come this day and it is going to be a day of enthusiasm, happiness and a sense of victory of good over evil. This is the time when it is believed by all Hindus that Goddess Durga won over Mahishashur the demon. Dasara is a festival of triumph, of victory and of prosperity.

My friend Meena hails from Bihar and she celebrates Dasara by watching Ramlilas in her village. Yes in the northern part of India Dasara is celebrated as the time when Lord Rama comes back to Ayodhya after his 14 years of banishment. Even in Himachal Pradesh in the valley of Kulu there is actually a procession taken out with all the village deities dressed in their grandeur. My cousin in Delhi says that there Dasara is celebrated by burning effigies of Ravana, and also his brothers kumbhkaran and Meghanath.

Lavanya my friend in Chennai celebrates this festival by keeping a “bommai Kolu” which is the significant act of representing the assembly that Goddess Durga had called before going for the big battle. The Bommai Kolu similarly represents number of dolls which are kept in odd numbered steps. There is an order for the dolls to be kept. The first three are for the dolls representing Gods, the next for saints and the third for community helpers and so on. The nine days are split into three parts. The first three days are for Goddess Durga, the next three for Goddess Lakshmi, the last three for Goddess Saraswati. People are invited for the haldi kumkum and gifts and Prasad of “chundal” given. “chundal” is a preparation made out of the pulses. It is believed that these pulses are made to please the navagraha deities. The practice of making clay dolls started out of the need to reuse the excess clay that used to come out of the dredging and desilting activities in the fields. Then on the day of Vijaya Dashami there is Saraswati Puja when Goddess Saraswati is invoked. All auspicious are started on this day as it is believed it would bring good luck. In Mysore in South India a lot of decorated elephants are taken on the streets during Dasara. People in Andhra call this festival Dasara.

Dipankar my friend in Mumbai goes back to his roots in Bengal, to celebrate the Durga Puja during Dasara. This is how Dasara is celebrated in West Bengal. It is believed that Durga the god of power defeated the demon Mahishashur. She fought him for around 10 days and this is celebrated as Navratri and Dasara. The Durga Puja starts on the fifth day with the implantation of the Banana leaf signifying her husband. Then the Shashti days starts then Saptami, then Mahaashtami, Navami and then finally Dasara or Vijaya Dashami or Bijoya as they say there in Bengal. People are in full finery and wear the best clothes. There are lots of idols of Durga across the stare and there are lovely pavilions of pandals that are created by the artists and then the idols are kept in these pavilions. It is believed that the artisan fasts for two days and has a bath early in the morning before painting the eyes of Durga. After the five day celebration, the idol is immersed and they pray for her to come back amidst cries of “Bolo Durga Ma ki Joy”.

In the western part of Indian in Maharashtra where I live now, the festival of Dasara is a very elaborate and extravagant affair with lot of celebration, pomp and enthusiasm. The Dandiya Raas is danced throughout the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, and there are pavilions propitiating the Goddess Shakti. People exchange sweets on the day of Dasara and then there is the exchange of the aapta tree signifying wealth and prosperity along with success. It is believed that this was the tree where the Pandavas had hidden their weapons and retrieved them on the day of Dasara. So the Maharashtrians consider it very auspicious to exchange this leaf. Weapons and other instruments are kept in front of God and prayed for and then a new year begins for more success and prosperity.

Dasara is a time when past grudges should be forgotten and present celebrations should be enjoyed as in the function of the Dandiya dances that are held across the city.