Vijayadashami

Vijayadasami विजयदशमी
Vijayadashami reveres either Durga or Rama depending on the region
Also called	Dussehra, Dasara, Navratri, Pranay
Observed by	Hindus
Type	Religious, cultural
Significance	Celebrates the victory of good over evil
Celebrations	Marks the end of Durga Puja or Ram Lila
Observances	pandals (stages), plays, community gathering, recitation of scriptures, immersion of Durga or burning of Ravana
Date	Ashvin (September or October)
2017 date	30 Sep, Sat
2018 date	18 Oct, Thu

Vijayadasami (Sanskrit: विजयदशमी), also known as Dussehra (Sanskrit: दशहरा), is a major Hindu festival celebrated at the end of Navratri every year. It is observed on the full moon day in the Hindu calendar month of Ashvin, which typically falls in the Gregorian months of September and October.

Vijayadasami is observed for different reasons and celebrated differently in various parts of the Indian subcontinent. In the eastern and northeastern states of India, Vijayadashami marks the end of Durga Puja, remembering goddess Durga's victory over the buffalo demon to help restore Dharma. In the northern, southern and western states, the festival is synonymously called Dussehra (also spelled Dasara, Dashahara). In these regions, it marks the end of "Ramlila" and remembers god Rama's victory over the demon Ravana, or alternatively it marks a reverence for one of the aspects of goddess Devi such as Durga or Saraswati.

Vijayadasami celebrations include processions to a river or ocean front that carry clay statues of Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikeya, accompanied by music and chants, after which the images are immersed into the water for dissolution and a goodbye. Elsewhere, on Dussehra, the towering effigies of Ravana symbolizing the evil is burnt with fireworks marking evil's destruction. The festival also starts the preparation for one of the most important and widely celebrated Diwali, the festival of lights, which is celebrated twenty days after the Vijayadashami.

Vijayadashami is a composite of two words "Vijaya" and "Dashami", which respectively mean "victory" and "tenth", connoting the festival on the tenth day celebrating the victory of good over evil. The same Hindu festival-related term, however, takes different forms in different regions of India and Nepal, as well as among Hindu minorities found elsewhere.

According to James Lochtefeld, the word Dussehra is a variant of Dashahara which a compound Sanskrit word meaning "ten days". According to Monier Williams, Dus (दुष्) meaning "bad, evil, sinful" and Hara (हर) means "removing, destroying", connoting "removing the bad, destroying the evil, sinful".

In most of northern and western India, Dasha-Hara (literally, "ten days") is celebrated in honour of Rama. Thousands of drama-dance-music plays based on the Ramayana and Ramcharitmanas (Ramlila) are performed at outdoor fairs across the land, in temporarily built staging grounds featuring effigies of demons Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghanada are held. The effigies are burnt on bonfires in the evening of Vijayadashami-Dussehra. While Dussehra is observed on the same day across India, the festivities leading to it varies. In many parts, the "Ram Lila", or the brief version of the story of Rama, Sita and Lakshamana is enacted over 9 days before it, but in some cities such as Varanasi, the entire story is freely acted out by performance artists before public every evening for a month.