One of the most famous and popular festivals of the hindus, Dusshera is known as a festival of triumph of good over evil. It is most commonly associated with the victory of lord Ram over Ravana the king of Lanka. The day when he killed Ravana is celebrated as Vijay dashami or Dusshera. But, did you know there are a few more stories associated to Dusshera than the victory of Ram. The Indian mythology also tells about a victory story of Goddess Durga and few others. Here are some really interesting stories associated to Dusshera that not many know of.
1. Triumph Of Shri Ram
The most popular story associated to Dushhera is that of lord Ram gaining victory over the Lankapati Ravana. Ravana had abducted Ram’s wife, while everyone was away and she was alone. Ram and his brother Lakshman roam around the forest in search of her but cannot locate her. They come across hanuman who was told by jatayu about the abduction of sita. Hanuman with his superpowers flies across the sea to look for Sita in Lanka. He spots her their and reports back to lord ram. To bring back Sita and avenge the ill deed Ram along with his brother Lakshman and an army or vanar ( Monkeys) goes to lanka. He fights Ravana and kills him on the Dashami. This day is celebrated as Vijay dashami, as a victory of Lord Ram over the evil king of Lanka. After taking Sita with him he reaches back to Ayodhya after 20 days which is celebrated as Diwali with lighting lamps and bursting fireworks.2. Victory Of Goddess Durga
2. Victory Of Goddess Durga
Legends say that there was a demon by the name of Mahishasur. He had recieved a boon that no man can kill him. He became extremely tyrannical and started torturing the heavens and the earth. All the Gods including Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva couldn’t defeat him. They were really worried that he would destroy the world. All the gods with their individual shakti (power) brought into existence Goddess Durga. She was bestowed with all the special weapons and powers of the gods. She is a form f Maa Shakti and she is the most powerful deity. She finally kills Mahishasur (a reason why she is called Mahishasurmardini) on Dashami and gives back Swarglok to the Gods. This day of Victory of Durga over the Evil Mahishasur is celebrated as Vijay Dashami / Dusshera.
3. End Of Exile For Pandavas
In the greatest hindu epic of Mahabharata, Dusherra finds another relevance. The Pandavas after losing everything to their evil Kaurava cousins in a game of Chausar/ Dice gambling, are given an exile of 12 years in a forest. After which they were asked to stay incognito. If spotted they would be sent back for 12 more years of Vanwas (or Exile). To prevent that, Pandavas hid all their weapons under a Shami tree and went back to their different fake identities. The pandavas would come and check for their weapons whenever they passed by the tree. They worshipped the weapons on every Dashami for 12 years. On the end of the year of Agyatvas (incognito Mode) Kauravas had still not found pandavas and the pandavas went straight to war after taking their weapons from the Shami tree. They won and the kauravas lost. This even happened on dashami and hence this victory of good over evil is known as vijaydashami. People exchange the shami leaves on this day to mark this victory.
