Two of India’s most vibrant and culturally significant festivals happen around months of October and November: Diwali and Dussehra. These two celebrations do not owe their place on the calendar nor are they events that only happened once each year, but rather they are a tribute to good’s eternal triumph over evil, handed down in ancient myths and legends across all time and space.
Dates and Muhurat
In 2024, Dussehra falls on October 12th, while Diwali will be celebrated on November 1st. The Dussehra Muhurat for burning the effigies of Ravana typically takes place in the evening, starting between 5:34 PM and 8:02 PM, depending on location. For Diwali, the Lakshmi Puja Muhurat on November 1st is scheduled between 6:02 PM and 8:04 PM. These auspicious times are derived from the ancient Hindu Panchang, emphasizing the cosmic harmony between celestial movements and human actions.
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Myths and Legends Behind the Festivals
We see Diwali and Dussehra both have symbolic stories related to divine victories, of which good always overcame evil forces, the symbol of the evil god and heroes defeating evil forces. And therefore it would be appropriate to see those legends as basic understandings of these festivals and their interpretations in different cultures.
Dussehra: The Victory of Lord Rama over Ravana
The day to celebrate the vedictory of Lord Rama over ten headed demon king Ravana is called Vijayadashami or Dussehra. In the Ramayana Ravana kidnapped Sita, Rama’s wife, and too bad vs evil fought an epic battle. Through Hanuman’s victory against Ravana (the archetype of adharma), an army of monkeys join Rama in his defeat of Ravana (a symbol of choice of adharma over dharma).
The victory is celebrated in India’s north by the burning of effigies of Ravana, along with his brother Kumbhakarna and son Meghnad. The effigies are burned because they represent the wiping out of evil powers, and fans number in the thousands who watch.
Dussehra and the story of goddess Durga’s victory over the buffalo folk demon Mahishasura is usually associated with another story in southern part of India. Festival is about the manifestation of the divine feminine and it is based on Durga’s courage and strength. Mysore, Karnataka, grandly observe Durga idol processions with this name and it is this occasion. Festival is Durga Puja in other parts of India, in West Bengal and here people worship very beautifully crafted status of the goddess for 5 days and ask them to be immersed in river. The story itself is different, there is a theme across different regions it’s that good vs evil story, but characters it’s different.
Diwali: The Return of Rama and The Light of Knowledge
Diwali, also called the Festival of Lights, is celebrated to mark Lord Rama’s return to his kingdom Ayodhya after spending 14 years into exile and victory over Ravana. Thus he came back to his Aydhya, his citizens lit oil lamps (diys) to welcome him back and this tradition of lighting lamps all night long – now a symbol of light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance – continues to this day. The celebration of Diwali, however, is also associated with the legend of Ramayana and more importantly with the legend of Goddess Lakshmi that is said to have appeared on this day from the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthan.).
Diwali celebrations centre around worshipping the goddess of abundance, wealth and prosperity to bring good luck and prosperity into the following year. Diwali is very closely associated with Rama’s return in northern India, and ends of the financial year and commencement of new ventures is marked in western India, especially by business communities of Gujarat and Maharashtra. In Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, people in these areas celebrate Naraka Chaturdashi, the day before Diwali, to mark Lord Krishna’s victory over the demon Narakasura.
Diwali is also observed by people of other religions, beyond Hinduism. It is celebrated for the day when Guru Hargobind was released from prison in 1619 by Sikhs, and by Jains, as the day when Lord Mahavira attained nirvana.
Comparing the Significance
Although they are embedded in India’s traditions, Dussehra and Diwali have crossed all cultural frontiers. The Indian Dussehra and the Nepalesse Dashain, which celebrates Goddess Durga’s victory over Mahishasura, are parallel celebrations. At the same time, that nations such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Fiji acknowledge Diwali as a national holiday celebrating its universal message of the conquering of light by darkness. The stories of the underlying theme of how the good must triumph over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance might be different in different regions, but the festival celebrates the victory of both. The burning of Ravana’s effigies on Dussehra or the lighting of diyas on Diwali, these age old festivals are contemporary still and connect with the modern, whether it’s the rightness (that is believed to overcome difficulty) and the path that’s never easy.
