Vijaya Dashmi - Dasara

As a child, I used to spend this day doing lot of activities my parents used to tell me to do. Today I made an attempt to think over the reasons behind each and every activity.


I still vivdly remember my first bicycle bought on this day. And lot of cribbing done by me to get it earlier than Vijayadashmi. But my parents insisted to buy on the day of Vijayadashmi. The reason behind buying on Vijayadashmi was - this day is considered as one of the 3 1/2 auspicious days called as (Sadeteen shubha muhurta). Hindus prefer these days to start any new activity like buying a vehicle, a house, ornaments and any valuables in their life.


The day used to start by decorating the house with garlands made of marigold flowers and mango leaves called as "Toran" in Marathi. Garlands were made for decorating our vehicles too. My mother used to get up early and prepare sweets for us. We used to wash our car and it was fun washing it with my sis and dad. We used to put 'tilak' on the Vehicle and put the garland in the front. The good thing was all of our neighbours used to be there in the parking and we used to have lot of fun. Late in the evening all the vehicles used to shine along with flowers adding to the beauty of each vehicle. It used to feel that if any vehicle is not having the flower garland, it would feel ashamed staying in the parking.


Another good thing I remember about this day and like the most was, my mom used to ask us for one pen, a book, a pencil from either of us. I used to fight with my sister as I wanted to give only my stuff. But finally mom used to accept one each of the items from both of us. The secret behind the fight was, I purposely wanted to give my homework book to my mom to keep in the puja, so that I could get a reason for not studying. I used to purposely ask my mom, "Mom, my pen is in the puja, should I take it?" and mom used to shout back at me saying,"don't touch it!!". I used to feel happy from bottom of my heart. :)


The reason behind worshiping pen, pencil, books, vehicles, a knife on this day is, the Pandavas completed their AgnayatVas and regained their identity on this day. They took back their hidden weapons from the Shami tree. To mark this day we have a tradition of worshiping the weapons.


In the evening all of us used to put on new dress and go to cross city limits which is called as 'Seemolanghan - crossing the boundaries'. The city limit was a bit far away and we used to cross steep roads through valleys. On the way back home we used to stop at a tree called 'Aptya che zahad'. We used to pluck some of its leaves and take back home. I used to compete with my sister as to who had more no of leaves and my parents called it as 'Sonya chi pan' (leaves of Gold). On the way back home we used to go to our grand parent's house to give them the leaves and take their blessings. In return being a kid we used to get sweets. My sis and I used to collect them from all houses which we used to visit on way back home and used to compare how much each had in her bag which obviously used to transform into a friendly fight.


The reason behind crossing the city limits (Seemolanghan) is, Vijaya Dashmi was chosen as the day to cross the border and start the war against the neighbouring kingdoms.
The tradition behind exchanging Aptya chi pan is based on the Kautsa's Gurudakshina Story - Kautsa disciple of Guru Varatantu, had promised him to give gold coins as guru dakshina. So he went to King Raghu requesting him to help keep the promise. King Raghu asked God Indra who in turn asked God Kuber (God of wealth) for the gold coins. God Kuber showered the gold coins on the Apta trees near the King Raghu's Ayodhya city. Based on this story we still exchange the leaves of the Apta tree on this day.

Some of the social groups in the neighbourhood used to get busy in building a replica of Ravan. At night this replica used to be set on fire. It used to be pleasant as those days in October used to be bit cold and the heat from the fire used to give us warmth. Back at home I used to ask my mom why do we set the replica on fire. She used to tell me, on this day Shri Ram defeating Ravan. By setting the replica of Ravan on fire we actually kill 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) Durmana (Nevative Mind), (8)  Durbuddhi ( Bad Intellect), (9) Duschitta (Bad will) and (10) Ahankara (Ego).


Listening to stories of Ram and Raavan my Sis and I used to go to bed cherishing the day in our memories. Later in life I came to know the deep down meaning of each activity we did on that day. Even today I still do it and will definitely pass it to my next generations, not letting die the invaluable tradition.


I request you all reading the blog to do the same with me...