Dussehra 2023: Leaders participate in Ravan Dahan celebrations

NEW DELHI: The ongoing Dussehra celebrations across the country marked the end of the nine-day Navratri festival and Durga Puja festivities. With this several leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined in the Ravana effigy burnings on Tuesday to celebrate the victory of good over evil.

Ravan Dahan is considered one of the most important rituals of Dussehra. The burning of an effigy of Ravan takes place at several places in India. The tradition is usually observed with great enthusiasm, great pomp, and show.

An important of this magnificent festival, the event is commemorated by the burning of Ravan and accomplices Meghnad and Kumbhakaran effigies to represent the triumph of good over evil. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday reached Dwarka Sector-10 Ram Leela to attend the Dussehra festivities, including the celebratory burning of Ravan's effigy on 'Vijaya Dashmi'.

The event was organised by the Dwarka Sri Ram Leela Society at DDA ground in Sector 10. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also performed Ravan Dahan organised by the Luv Kush Ramleela Committee at Red Fort in Delhi.

Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi also took part in Ravan Dahan at Red Fort Grounds organised by the Navshri Dharmik Ramleela committee. 

Delhi L-G Vinai Kumar Saxena attended Ravan Dahan at Red Fort in the national capital.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also joined in the Ravan Dahan ceremony at his residence in Dehradun.

Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi attended the Ravan Dahan in Surat on the occasion of Viajayadashami.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur could also be seen burning the effigies of Ravan amidst Dussehra celebrations in Hamirpur.

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot also took part in the Ravan effigy burning organised in Jodhpur on the occasion of Dussehra.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and other leaders also joined in the Ravan Dahan celebrations and expressed joy in the festive fervour.

Vijayadashami, also known as Dussehra is a major Hindu festival celebrated every year at the end of Navaratri. It is observed on the tenth day of the month of Ashvin, the seventh in the Hindu Luni-Solar Calendar. The festival typically falls in the Gregorian calendar months of September and October.

Vijayadashami celebrations include processions to a river or oceanfront that involve carrying clay statues of Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikeya, accompanied by music and chants, after which the images are immersed in the water for dissolution and farewell. In other places, towering effigies of Ravana, symbolising evil, are burnt with fireworks, marking evil's destruction.

The festival also starts the preparations for Diwali, the important festival of lights, which is celebrated twenty days after Vijayadashami. This year, Dussehra will be celebrated on October 24 (Tuesday).

The Dashami Tithi will start from 05:45 PM on October 23, 2023, and will end at 03:14 PM on October 24, 2023.