On the tenth day after Navratri begins, two great victories are remembered at once. In the north, effigies of the demon king Ravana, tall as buildings and packed with fireworks, are set alight at dusk before roaring crowds. In the east and elsewhere, the day marks Durga's triumph over Mahishasura. The festival is Dussehra, also called Vijayadashami, the tenth day of victory, and its meaning is carried in its name. ## Two stories, one truth Dussehra braids together two of the tradition's central narratives. The first is from the Ramayana. After a long war in Lanka, Bhagavan Ram kills Ravana, the ten-headed king who had abducted Sita, and rescues her. Vijayadashami marks the day of that victory. The north and much of India tell this story, and the burning effigies of Ravana, his brother Kumbhakarna and his son Meghnad enact the fall of the demon each year. The second is from the Devi Mahatmya. Durga, after nine nights of battle, slays the buffalo demon Mahishasura on the tenth day. In Bengal and the east this is the culmination of Durga Puja, when the Goddess is honoured for her victory and then carried to immersion. Different stories, the same shape: a long struggle against a powerful adversary, ending in the triumph of dharma on the tenth day. ## Ramlila and the burning of Ravana Across the north, the nine nights before Dussehra are filled with Ramlila, the dramatic re-enactment of Ram's story performed in towns and neighbourhoods, episode by episode, often by local actors. It builds to the war and then to Dussehra itself. At the climax, the effigies are burned. The image is direct and old: the people gather to watch evil, given a body, go up in flame. Children remember it for life. It is one of the most public moral lessons any culture stages, repeated annually, in the open, for everyone. ## Vijayadashami as an auspicious day Beyond the two legends, Vijayadashami has long been regarded as one of the most auspicious days of the year to begin things. By tradition it needs no special muhurat; the whole day is favourable. This is why it became the day to start a child's learning, to begin new ventures, and historically for kings and warriors to commence campaigns after the monsoon. In Karnataka the grand Mysore Dasara, with its caparisoned elephants and royal procession, preserves the festival's old association with the state and the sword. In many homes, tools, books and instruments of one's trade are honoured on this day, a custom shared with the Ayudha Puja of the south. ## What it asks of us Dussehra is not only a spectacle of fire. Its instruction is plain. Ravana has ten heads, and they are often read as ten faults: lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride, jealousy and the rest. The effigy we burn is, in the end, an image of what we are meant to burn in ourselves. The victory of the tenth day is won annually in the world of the story. Whether it is won in us is the festival's quiet question, asked again each autumn as the flames go up. ## Related reading - [Sharad Navratri: Nine Nights, Nine Forms of Shakti](/sanatan-katha/sharad-navratri-nine-forms) - [Durga: The Goddess Who Slays the Buffalo Demon](/sanatan-katha/durga-deity-profile) - [Ram Mandir Ayodhya: Two Years After Pran Pratishtha](/sanatan-katha/ram-mandir-two-years)