The Festival Dusherra

Dasara Or Dusherra is celebrated as Navratri (nine days). According to Hindu calendar it begins in the month of October (asveja masam). This festival is fully dedicated to Durga Mata and in these nine days she will be worshiped in her nine forms and at the end of the (9th day) 10th day will be celebrated as (Vijayadasami) Dasara
Dasara is most popular in the west Bengal (Eastern) part of India and this is their major festival. The first 3 days will be worshiped in the form of Durga Mata and the next 3 days will be in the form of Saraswati and the final 3 days will be in the form of Lakshmi.
Normally the fifth day of Navratri will be worshiped for Saraswati (Goddess of knowledge) to invoke our spirit and knowledge.
STORIES
Navratri is a combination of various themes with the common summary is victory of good over bad. Some opinion that this festival is celebrated when the lord Rama killed the Ravana. According to Puranas the mighty demon Mahisasur vanquished the gods and their king, Indra. They then approached the Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar, who decided to destroy the megalomaniac demon, so they all combined their energy, and gave rise to Shakti. They all prayed to the divine mother Durga to do the needful. Equipped with lethal weapons, riding a ferocious lion, the Goddess in all her awesome majesty, vanquished the evil one without much ado. The 10th day on which the goddess kills Mahisasur, is celebrated as Dusshera or Vijayadasami as the victory of good over evil. Dasara (tenth day) is one of the significant Hindu festivals, celebrated with much joie de vivre in the entire country.
Celebrations
The festival is also celebrated with intense fervor and zest, in whole India, in the form of Durga Puja. The vibrant festivities last for ten days, of which nine nights are spent in worship, 'Navaratri'. But this festival varies from place to place.
EAST
In West-Bengal, Navratri is the real lyrics of the Bengali life. This festival is essentially religious in nature. It is celebrated with true devotion. In the time of Durga Puja huge idols of the Mata Durga posed as killing the demon Mahishasura are worshipped in everywhere of the state. Huge
'Pandals’ are set up everywhere to worship Durga Mata (Goddess Durga). The tenth day is devoted to the worship of goddess Durga. She is Shakti, the cosmic energy that animates all beings. Beautiful idols of the Mother Goddess are worshipped in elaborate pandals for nine days, and on the ninth day, these are carried out in procession for immersion (visarjan) in a river or pond.
WEST
In Maharashtra, Navratri celebration is slightly different than other states. Here Navratri are dedicated to Goddess Durga while the Vijayadasami is dedicated to Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge. This day is considered auspicious to begin education, buy new homes, start new ventures, and weddings. The Dasara of Mysore is also quite famous where caparisoned elephants lead a colorful procession through the gaily-dressed streets of the city. During Navratri Chamundi, the royal deity of the Mysore royalty is worshipped with pomp and pageantry.
NORTH
In the Kulu valley in Himachal Pradesh, the hill- folk celebrate Dasara with a grand mass ceremony wherein village deities are taken out in elaborate processions. In Punjab, Navratri is taken as a period of fasting.
SOUTH
In Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, women arrange 'Bommai Kolu', a special placing of dolls in various costumes decorated with flowers and ornaments on specially prepared steps. Nine young 'kanyas' or virgins are offered new clothes and sweets as the goddesses and married women share flowers, kumkum and snacks among themselves.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=K_Gautam

Dusshera-The Victory of Good Over Evil

India is a land of multitude cultures and a festivals .One of the most widely followed and celebrated of them is Dusshera, also knows as VijayaDashmi or Durga Puja, and is celebrated in different forms across the coutry.
This festival commemorates the victory of the goddess Durga (an incarnation of Parvati, consort of Shiva) over the demon Mahisasura. It is also celebrated as a remembrance of the victory of Lord Rama (an incarnation of Vishnu) over Ravana, the king of Lanka who had abducted Sita, wife of Rama.
Dussehra is celebrated at the end of Navaratri, a nine-day festival. Images of Durga are worshipped during the Navaratri festival and stories related to the goddess and to the conquest of good over evil are told. Navaratri is celebrated with great enthusiasm in Gujarat, Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Prayers, devotional songs and colorful rituals mark the occasion of Navaratri and Dussehra.Ramilila is another exciting feature of this festival where the story of Rama, the God King of Ayodhyaya is depicted in a dance-drama form on all ten days of celebration.
On the 10th day i.e. the day of Dussehra, buffaloes representing the buffalo-demon Mahisasura are sacrificed to the goddess. The evening of Dussehra sees the burning of the colorful effigies of Ravana, complete with 10 heads and curling moustaches, and those of his son and brother. This spectacle is marked by setting off of a fusillade of fire-crackers and the triumph of good over evil is commemorated once again.
The legend underlying the celebration, as also its mode of conduct, varies vastly by region; however, all festivities celebrate the victory of the forces of Good over Evil. It is also considered to be an auspicious day to begin new things in life. It is the largest festival of Nepal and celebrated by Hindu and non-Hindu as well.
There is another and little-known legend associated with this festival, one associated with the Mahabharata. During the exile period of 12 years that the Pandavas underwent after loosing a game against the Kauravas, they found it necessary to lay aside, for the length of the final year of their exile, the many divine and distinctive weapons that they possessed. These they hid under a 'Shami' tree in the vicinity* of their chosen place of incognito residence. At the end of a year, they returned to the spot, found their weaponry intact, and worshipped in thanksgiving both the Shami tree and the Goddess Durga, presiding deity of strength and victory. Meanwhile, the Kauravas had invaded that area, suspecting the residence of the Pandavas there. Upon finishing their devotions, the Pandavas made straight to battle, and won the contest comprehensively. The day that all these events occurred on has since been known as "Vijayadashami", where "Vijaya" is the sanskrit word for "Victory".
The Navaratri celebration is also an annual spectale in Maysore and is a must see for anyone traveling to this part of India during this time of the year. On Vijaydashami day, at the culmination of a colourful 10-day celebration, the goddess Chamundeswari 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".All in all Dusshera is one of the most celebrated festivals in the Indian festival calendar. ..www.wikipedia.org