Request- please read full because I'm telling about Ramayana (along with story!) which I think might have been the reality!
Dussehra is basically an epic festival of Hindu people widely celebrated all over India not only by Hindus but also people of many other religions, and may be in other countries also.
So, I will try to make this take more and more reader friendly without confusing you with 1000s of Hindu Gods.
Dussehra is related to the 'RAMAYANA' ( A story of royal couple Ram -Sita.)
Note: There are some evidences that it was real, but it's not the proof.
Dussehra (vijayadashami) marks the victory of good over evil. It is celebrated on the end of Durga Puja (a festival celebrated for 9 days).
1. Lord Rama defeated Demon King Ravana
2. Buffaloe Demon Mahishasura was defeated by Goddess Durga
First of all, how is Dussehra celebrated?
It is celebrated in different parts of country in different ways!
How we (at least in Maharashtra) celebrate it:
1. Wash the vehicles and worship them by garlanding, making Swastik etc..Not only the vehicles, but also, by worshiping weapons like 🔨.
2. How and why do we greet people by Bauhinia leaves?
It is believed that the whepons of Goddess Durga were hidden in the bark of this tree, that's why we greet people with these trees leaves! We call these leaves "Sona" which in hindi means Gold!
How?- read further!
3. Go to the temple with the Leaves of the Bauhinia tree and offer them to the idols of goddesses and god's and now before them to take blessings.
4. Before anyone after god, greet your parents with the leaves!
Gently keep the Leaves on their head and say "Happy Dussehra," touch their feet and take blessings!
This is the traditional practice but nowadays we don't keep Sona on the head, we give them in their hands!
5. Now go to everybody's home including neighbours, nearby relatives, friends and greet them!
6. Be careful while selecting footwear because whenever you enter anybody's home, it is a moral practice to remove them.
7. Mother's strict rules - go to everybody's home even if you have quarrelled with the people beforehand.
Why is Dussehra celebrated?-
#Hindu mythological stories#
"Epic festival?"-- The 'Ramayana' and the 'Mahabharata' are great Indian epics. Many movies are also made on them if you would like to watch.
{The stories of these epics can be compared to the Marvel's stories of Avengers because each and every character of these epics have their own individual stories so you can read them not only as a religious story (if you want) but for fun and after reading them you will get to know why there are 1000s of Gods in Hindu culture}
Dussehra is related to the 'RAMAYANA' ( A story of royal couple Ram -Sita.)
Short description of the epic -
RAMAYANA--
There are three main Gods in Hinduism.
1. Bramha- the creator (of universe)
2. Vishnu- the preserver
3. Shiva- the destroyer
Among all three, the most important role is of the preserver - lord Vishnu
Let me come to the main story...
For protection of humans and other life forms on Earth from the cruel rule of some Demons, lord Vishnu took 10 Avtars (dashavatar- 'dash' meaning 10) but only the first one of them is related to Ramayana and the name of this avtar is Ram. (I think this was the time when half of the evolution process was completed while half was still remaining)
Lord Vishnu was born as a human being in Ayodhya to King Dashrath. His birth was pre-planned by the Gods to kill the demon king Ravana who was ruling in an extremely cruel way due to his ego and for converting sages (Rishis) into demons (rakshasas).
There was a king name Ravana (the King of Demons) who is known to be the King of Sri- Lanka. He was the biggest diety of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva was pleased by his prayers and he granted him (Ravana) the boon to be the most powerful (undefeatable) person on the Earth. But he warned Ravana that these powers would work only if he is not doing anything wrong.
Who were Hanuman, Bali and Sugreeev?
Note: if you want to know more , watch the movies!
Hanuman was the 'ansh' of Lord Shiva. i.e., his soul was a clone of Lord Shiva's soul. He was born to Kesari and Anjana. He was a monkey in simple words. During his childhood, after making an attempt to eat the Sun, he was blessed with many superpowers by many different gods. The most noticeable was to change the size and shape of his body as per his wish! hanuman assisted Sugreev on the Rishimukt parvat (read below)
Bali and Sugreeev were brothers. Bali was the King of Monkeys and he accused Sugreeev of crowning himself as the king in his (Bali's) absence. This forced Sugreeev to go and live on Rishimukt parvat (mountain) where Bali couldn't enter because he was cursed by a sage. Sugreev was told to wait until Ram comes and that he would be helped to get rid of Bali's cruel rule.
Ram grew up learning from his guru Vishwamitra and was married to princess Sita by winning the 'Sita Swayamvar' ( there is a nice story related to it) but when he was to be crowned as the king of Ayodhya, the biggest question before god's community was that if he was crowned the king of Ayodhya, then who will protect the world from the cruel demons? Who will finish the demons?
So, the interference of Goddess Saraswati (the goddess of knowledge and speech) forced to go to exile with his wife Sita and was assisted by his brother Lakshman!
Sita Haran- (read story if you are interested)
Demon king Ravana had a younger sister Shurpanakha who got attracted to the physical beauty of Ram. But Ravana was hurt by her insult and as a revenge he kidnapped Sita .
Travelling in search of Sita, Ram killed several rakshashas, met Sugreeev, defeated Bali (killed), and crowned Sugreeev as the King of Monkeys!
Ram got jewellery of Sita and then got to know that Sita was kidnapped by Ravana!
He, along with Sugreev's army of Monkeys, brother Lakshman, Hanuman and many others built the Ram Setu (bridge between India and Sri-Lanka) and reached Lanka, the kingdom/territory of Ravana.
He (Ram) was also helped by Vibhishan, the brother of Ravana.
He killed Ravana and Vibhishan was crowned as the king of Lanka!
http://www.comedyflavors.com/19-evidences-to-prove-that-ramayana-actually-did-happen/
It was on this day that Ram killed Ravana and this is the reason why we celebrate Dussehra and then Diwali (Ram returned to Ayodhya).
Mahishasura was killed by god/goddess Durga (goddess Kali actually)---
Mahishasura, buffalo demon was the king of the asuras (demons) who snatched away the rights of many gods including Indra (the king of gods).
Goddess Durga was born of several gods, each and every part of her body was made up of powers of different gods.
She fought with Mahishasura for 9 days and it was on this day on Dussehra that Mahishasura was killed by her.
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