!!~* Happy Dashera *~!!

The grand finale to the nine day festivities of Navaratri is the Dushera, which falls this year on 21st October 2007-- which is on this Sunday (Tomorrow)😉


About Dussehra / Dashera / Dassera


It is said that Prince Ram of Ayodhya won over the demon King Ravan on this very day. This is also considered as the last day of exile of the Pandavas in the epic of Mahabharat. It is celebrated all over India and the world as one of the most pious days according to the Hindu religion. Huge effigies of the demon King Ravan and his son and brother are made and then burnt. People wear new clothes and rejoice and make sweets and distribute them.

It is known Dasara, Vijaya Dashami and Duserah in various parts of the world but celebrated with equal enthusiasm. The festival marks the win of good over the evil.

Origin

There are many stories related to this festival:

1) As we saw in Navratri, the Lord's Shakti, Parvati, vanquished the demon Mahishasur on the 10th day after a 9-day battle. This is cited in the Skanda Puran. The sentiment here is that the uncontrolled indriyas are only conquered by the Lord's Shakti.

2) On this day Lord Ram vanquished Ravan. Therefore people celebrate the Lord's victory by burning Ravan's effigy on this day.

3) Dhaumya rishi's son, Mahaar married Shami, daughter of Aarva rishi, of Malwa. After marriage both were on their way to have darshan and blessings of Shaunak rishi. On the way they met Bhrachundi rishi who had a trunk on his head. Seeing this the two made fun of him. The rishi cursed them and both turned into trees. For succor both prayed to Ganeshji. He blessed them that they would be offered worship. From this day people offer pujan to the Mahaar tree and Shami tree (commonly known as 'Khijdo', Latin-Prosopis spicigera ). This pujan is considered to be as fruitful as Shiv's pujan.


4) The Skand Puran (2/8/5) also cites another story. Kautsa, the poor pupil of Vishwamitra rishi, approached Raghu Raja for wealth, to gift his guru. However Raghu Raja had already spent all his wealth to prepare a Vishwajit yagna. However so that Kautsa would not have to leave empty-handed, he raided Kuber - the treasurer of the devas, on this day. The defeated Kuber sprinkled 14 crore (14x10⁷) gold coins on the Shami tree. Kautsa gathered and gifted them to his guru. In turn, Vishwamitra gifted these to the poor. Henceforth, the leaves of the Shami are symbolically equivalent to gold for purposes of pujan. Since the Shami tree gifted wealth, people perform its pujan on this day.

5) On this day, Arjun picked up his weapons hidden on the Shami tree, to battle with Duryodhan in order to retrieve Virat Raja's cows from him.

• People offer pujan to weapons and vehicles. They also perform 'Sharda pujan' - of books. The latter is symbolic of conquest over one's self.
  
• People embark on all forms of auspicious ventures on this day, without the need to consider the auspicious time in the 'panchaang.'
• Students offer pujan to Saraswati, the goddess of learning.