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Vijayadashami |
Vijayadashami is a festival celebrated across India. It is celebrated on the tenth day of the bright half of the Hindu month of Ashwayuja or Ashwina, and is the grand culmination of the 10-day annual festival of Dasara or Navaratri. The legend underlying the celebration, as also its mode of conduct, vary vastly by region; however, all festivities celebrate the victory of the forces of Good over Evil.
Celebration
Interestingly, the legend associated with the Shami tree finds commemoration
during the renowned Navaratri celebrations at Mysore, which otherwise strongly
emphasizes the Durga legend described above, as may by expected in the city
built at the very site of the events of the Durga legend. On Vijaydashami day,
at the culmination of a colourful 10-day celebration, the Godessess Chamundeshwari
is worshipped and then borne in a Golden Ambari or elephant-mounted throne,
in a grand procession, through the city of Mysore, from the historical Mysore
Palace to the Banni Mantapa. Banni is the Kannada word for the Sanskrit Shami,
and Mantapa means "Pavilion".
The festival is celebrated with much much fervour and splendour in Southern India. Please see also the dasara and Mysore Dasara pages for further details.
In Northern India, the festival commemorates the victory of Rama, prince of Ayodhya and avatara of Vishnu, over Ravana, the lord of Lanka who had abducted Rama's wife, Sita Devi. The festival is celebrated with much gusto. Crackers are burnt, and huge melas or fetes are organised. The Ramlila - an abriged dramatization of the Ramayana - is enacted with much public fervour all over northern India during the period of the festivities. The burning of the effigies of Ravana on Vijayadashami, signifying the victory of good over evil, brings the festivities to a colourful close.
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