/\ Dussehra - Celebration of Color, Beauty and Triumph! /\

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Shivangi.

@caffeineaddict

Trailblazer

+ 6

Posted: 8 years ago

Dussehra or Vijaydashmi is a hindu festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil. It falls on the 10th day of the month of Ashwin and the nine preceding days mark the nine days of Navratri (nine divine nights).Navratri is dedicated to the Hindu Goddess Durga and her nine forms. Although there are total of five Navratris over the year, the Navratri during the month of Ashwin is the most popular and commonly called as Sharad Navratri or the Maha Navratri.

The Navratri is a celebration of nine nights, each dedicated to one form of Goddess Durga. The dates are determined by the lunar calendar and the tenth day of Sharad Navratri culminates into Dussehra. Twenty days after Dussehra, the festival of Diwali is celebrated. The month of Ashwin and Karthik are the months of festivities in the Hindu religion.

Pratipada: The first day of Navratri is dedicated to Goddess Shailputri.She is believed to be the daughter of the mountains and also called as Bhavani or Parvati. She rides a bullock and carries a lotus in Her hand. It is believed that she symbolizes the powers of a Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva.

Dwitiya: The second day of Navratri is dedicated to Goddess Brahmacharini. She is also known as Tapashcharini, Uma or Aparna. It is this form of Goddess Parvati who took various births to attain Lord Shiva as her husband. She holds a rosary in one hand and a water container in the other.

Tritiya: The third day is dedicated to Goddess Chandraghanta. She is also known as Chandika or Ramchandi. Her name is derived from a crescent moon and she rides a tiger. It is believed that this angry form of Durga appears when She is provoked and bestows Her devotees with courage and bravery.

Chaturthi: The fourth day of the festival is dedicated to Goddess Kushmanda. Ku means little and anda means a cosmic egg. It is believed that She created the universe with Her divine smile. She bestows health and wealth to Her devotees.

Panchami: The fifth day is dedicated to Goddess Skandamata. She is the Goddess of Fire. Skanda in her name means Kartikeya (Her son) and Mata means mother. She bestows the devotees with wealth, power and wisdom.

Shashthi: The sixth day of Navratri is dedicated to Goddess Katyayani or the Warrior Goddess. She killed the demon Mahishasura and rides a lion.

Saptami: The seventh day of the festival worships Goddess Kalratri, the violent form of Goddess Durga. She removes darkness from the universe and destroys ignorance. She licked the blood of demon Raktabeej, whose blood was believed to create new demons.

Ashtami: The eighth day of the festival is dedicated to Goddess Mahagauri. She is the symbol of purity because of the number of Tapas she did without moving her body.

Navami: The ninth day of the festival worships Siddhadatri. She bestows knowledge to her devotees. She is regarded as the supreme power of the universe. She is seated on a lotus flower and holds a conch, a lotus, mace and discus among other things.

The tenth day culminates into Vijayadashmi. As the name suggests, it means victory on the tenth day. According to the mythologies, on this day, the Goddess Durga defeated and killed Mahishasur. Mahishasur was a demon combination of asura and mahisha (buffalo). He wanted to destroy the Devas because they were the arch enemies of the Asuras. He performed tapasya in devotion to Lord Brahma and got a boon. According to the boon, Mahishasura's death could only happen in the hands of a woman.
Mahishasura was elated because in his opinion, no woman stood a chance against his mighty power. So, he started his atrocities on the people and the Devas. When they couldn't hold their defense, the Devas went to the Tridev for help. Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva combined their divine powers and gave birth to a supreme power, Durga. She led the Devas in the war against Mahishasura and on this day of Dussehra, she killed him. Hence, Durgaji is also fondly referred to as Mahishasurmardini or the killer of Mahishasura.

-RD- | caffeineaddict. | .LilGreenRobot.

Edited by caffeineaddict. - 8 years ago

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Frequent Posters

@-RD-

Stunner

+ 9

Posted: 8 years ago

Dusshera is celebrated with much excitement and fervour across the country. People revel in the festive tide by wearing new clothes, put on tilak or kumkum on forehead, exchange gifts, prepare delicacies, watch Ramlila plays and later in the evening burn huge effigies of Ravana. However, every state in India has its own story behind the festivity and its own unique idea of celebrating it.

In North India, the sprouted barley seeds that were sown during Navratri are plucked. Sisters tuck the plucked leaves on the caps or behind the ears of their brothers to wish them well for the coming year. The Khetri or sprouted leaves are deemed to bring in good luck and prosperity.

Plays based on Ramayana where Rama; an incarnation of Vishnu is victorious over the evil king Ravana. It goes that Lord Rama worshiped Goddess Durga in nine aspects, for nine days, in order to gather the strength and power to kill Ravana. He wanted to release Sita from the clutches of powerful demon king Ravana, who had abducted her. Those nine nights became to be known as Navratri and the tenth day, on which Lord Rama killed Ravana, came to be called Vijayadashmi or Dusshera, signifying Rama's (good) triumph over Ravana (evil) are staged on huge grounds as crowds gather to watch them. In the evening, huge effigies of Ravana, Kumbhkaran and Meghnath are burnt thus marking the end of evil and the spreading of prosperity.

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1023403

Hibernated

Posted: 8 years ago

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Mahi

@Mannmohanaa

Trailblazer

+ 3

Posted: 8 years ago

Happy VijayaDashmi to all IFians!🤗

May Good Always triumph over Evil 😃

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222149

Hibernated

Posted: 8 years ago

Happy Dussehra/VijayaDashmi😃

awesome thread👏⭐️

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CarpediemRose

@CarpediemRose

Stunner

+ 6

Posted: 8 years ago

Happy Dussehra people😳

LOvely thread Shivangi 👏

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Manveer

@ManVeer8495

Navigator

Posted: 8 years ago

Wishing you all a very Happy Dussehra and Vijaya Dashami!!!

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Zaara

@zaaratq

Sparkler

+ 6

Posted: 8 years ago

Beautiful write up and tags girls! <33 Unfortunately for me Dussehra and Navratri only reminds me of my close friend who passed away in this period 2 years back. She used to talk so happily about the way she is celebrating. She was most excited about the 9 nights. She passed away on the 7th night. 😭😭 This post brought tears to my eyes! 😭