The
stories behind celebration of Dasara
Victory
of Prabhu Ramchandra over Ravana
(Ten Headed Devil – The King of Lanka)
On
this day in the Treta Yug, Shri Ram (7th incarnation of Vishnu), killed the
great demon Ravan who had abducted Ram's wife Sita to his kingdom of Lanka.
Ram, along, with his brother Lakshman follower Hanuman, and an army of monkeys
fought a great battle to rescue his wife Sita. The war against Ravan lasted for
ten days.
Rama
had performed "Chandi Hom” and invoked the blessings of Durga to kill
Ravana. Durga blessed Rama with the secret to kill Ravana. Ravana was defeated
in his own kingdom of Lanka by Rama & the vanarsena. Rama with Sita &
Laxman returned victorious to his kingdom of Ayodhya on the Ashwin Shukla
dashami. This victory of Rama is since then celebrated as “Vijaya
Dashami”.
So
also prior to the defeat of Ravana, when Rambhakt Shri Hanuman went to Lanka to
search Sita, he found her on the day of Ashvin shukla dashami.
During
these 10 days of Dasara, huge idols of Ravana, Kumbhakarna (brother of Ravana)
& Meghanad (son of Ravana) are erected and are set on fire by the
enthusiastic youth at the sun set.
After
Dasara, the hot weather of the summer ends, especially in North India and as
the winter starts, the cold weather becomes breeding ground for many kinds of
infections. Hence burning huge Ravana statues filled with the crackers
containing phosphorous purifies the atmosphere. At the same time the temples
perform Chandi Homa or Durga Homa which also helps in purifying the
atmosphere.
Many
houses also perform Aditya Homa as a Shanti Yagna and recite Sundara Kanda of
Srimad Ramayana for 9 days. All these Yagna Performances are to create powerful
agents into the atmosphere surrounding the house so as to keep the household
environment clean & healthy.
The
purpose of performing these homas is also to kill & sacrifice the 10 bad
qualities, which are represented by ten heads of Ravana as follows:
(1)
Kama vasana (Lust), (2) Krodha (Anger), (3) Moha (delusoion), (4) Lobha
(Greed), (5) Mada (Over Pride), (6) Matsara (Jealousy), (7) Manas (Mind), (8)
Buddhi (Intellect), (9) Chitta (will) & (10) Ahankara (Ego).
Some
houses perform Yagnas 3 times daily along with sandhya vandana, called as
Aahavaneeya Agni, Grahapatya Agni, Dakshina Agni. In addition to this, the
Aditya Homa is performed with the Maha Surya Mantras and the Aruna Prapathaka
of the Yajurveda. The effect of these mantras is to keep the heart, brain and
digestive functions of the body in balance. The imbalances in these occur in
the absence of adequate sunlight in the winter months.
Victory
of Durga Mata over Mahishasur
Some
of the Aasuras (Demons) were very powerful and ambitious, and continually tried
to defeat Gods and capture the Heaven. One such Aasura called Mahishasur, who
looked like a buffalo, grew very powerful & created havoc on the earth.
Under his leadership the Aasuras even defeated the Devas (Gods), all of whom
were powerless including Brahma, Vishnu etc… Finally, when the world was
getting crushed under Mahishasura's tyranny, the Devas came together &
contributed their individual energy to form “Shakti” a single mass of
incandescent energy to fight & kill Mahishasur.
A very
powerful band of lightening dazzled from the mouths of Brahma, Vishnu &
Mahesh (Shiva) and a beautiful, magnificent, radiant young virgin with ten
hands appeared. All the Gods gave their special weapons to her. This Shakti
coalesced in the form of Goddess Durga.
Durga
with weapons in her ten hands, riding on Lion, who assisted her in the fight,
took on Mahishasur. The battle raged for nine days and nights. Finally on the
tenth day of Ashwin shukla paksha, the evil demon Mahishasur was defeated &
killed by Durga.
Hence
Dasara is also known as Navaratra or Durgotsava and is a celebration of victory
of Goddess Durga. Durga as Consort of Lord Shiva represents two forms of female
energy - one mild & protective and the other fierce & destructive.
End of
Adnyatwas (living incognito) of Pandavas
In
Dwapar Yuga, after Pandavas lost to Kauravas in the game of Dice, they had to
proceed to 12 years of “Vanwas” (exile to forest) followed by one year of
Adnyatwas. Pandavas spent 12 years in forest and hid their weapons in a hole on
a “Shami” tree before entering the Kingdom of Virat to complete the last one
year of Adnyatwas. After the completion of that year on Vijayadashmi they took
the weapons from the Shami tree, declared their true identity & defeated
Kauravas, who had attacked King Virat to steal his cattle wealth.
Since
that day the exchange of Shami leaves on Dassera day became symbols of good,
will and victory. Hence on Dasara Shami Tree & the weapons are worshipped.
Kautsa's
Gurudakshina – Story behind exchanging Aapti Tree leaves as “sone” (Gold)
Kautsa,
the young son of Devdatt, a Brahmin, was living in the city of Paithan. After
completing education from Rishi Varatantu, he insisted on his guru accepting
Guru Dakshina (present).
But
Guru said, "Kautsa, to give 'dakshina' in return for learning wisdom is
not proper. Graduation of the disciple makes the guru happy, and this is the
real Guru Dakshina."
Kautsa
was not satisfied. He still felt it was his duty to give his guru something.
Finally the guru said, "Alright, if you insist on giving me dakshina, so
give me 140 million gold coins, 10 million for each of the 14 sciences I have
taught you."
Kautsa
went to king Raghu. Raghuraja was an ancestor of Lord Rama, famous for his
generosity. But just at that time he had emptied all his coffers on the
Brahmins, after performing the Vishvajit sacrifice. He asked Kautsa to give him
three days' time. Raghuraja immediately left to get the gold coins from Indra.
Indra summoned Kuber, the god of wealth. Indra told Kuber, "Make a rain of
gold coins fall on the "Shanu" and "Aapati" trees round
Raghuraja's city of Ayodhya."
The
rain of gold coins began to fall. King Raghu gave all the coins to Kautsa, and
Kautsa hastened to offer the coins to Varatantu Rishi. Guru had asked only 140
millions, so he gave the rest back to Kautsa. Kautsa was not
interested in money. In those days honor was considered more valuable than
wealth. He asked the king to take the remaining gold coins back. But the king
refused to take them back as kings do not take back the daan (gift).
Finally
Kautsa distributed the gold coins to the people of Ayodhya on the day of Ashwin
shukla dashami. In remembrance of this event the custom is kept of looting the
leaves of the "Aapati" trees, and people present each other these
leaves as "sone" (gold).
Note:Subject
taken from Various Sites.