Dussehra

When it falls

Ashwin Shukla Dashami (the tenth day)

• 2026 · Tuesday, 20 October 2026
• 2027 · Saturday, 9 October 2027

Significance

Dussehra — Vijayadashami, "the victory tenth" — is the day the long story of Navratri resolves. It carries two victories at once: Rama’s defeat of the ten-headed demon-king Ravana, and the Goddess Durga’s slaying of the buffalo-demon Mahishasura on the night before.

Both are the same lesson in different dress — that arrogance, however many heads it grows, eventually meets its limit. In the north, towering effigies of Ravana are burned at dusk; in Bengal, the Durga idols are carried to the river for immersion; in Mysore, a grand royal procession. It is also held to be an auspicious day to begin — new ventures, new learning, the first letters a child writes.

How it’s observed

Effigies of Ravana, his brother Kumbhakarna and son Meghnad are raised in open grounds and set alight at sunset, often after a Ramlila — the staged retelling of the Ramayana over the preceding nights. Tools, books and instruments are honoured (ayudha puja), and many treat the day as the cleanest moment in the year to start something new.

The timing, explained

Vijayadashami falls on Shukla Dashami — the tenth day of the bright fortnight of Ashwin — the day after Navratri’s nine nights close. Twenty days later comes Diwali, the night Rama is said to reach home.

Keep reading

• What is Paksha?
• See it on the calendar
• All festivals