How to celebrate Dussehra at home
About 20 minutes
Dussehra — Vijayadashami — closes Navratri. The ghat comes down, the barley that has been growing for nine days is cut and shared, apta leaves are exchanged, and a great many families deliberately begin something new on this day. The order below is the common Maharashtrian one; check this year’s panchang for timings.
Steps
- 1
Do the last aarti in the morning
The same as the nine mornings before it — haldi-kunku, flowers, aarti. It is the end of those nine days, so it is worth not rushing.
- 2
Cut the barley you grew
Cut the green shoots rather than pulling them up by the root, and give them to the people of the house — tucked into a cap, a pagote or behind the ear, depending on family custom. They are not thrown away.
- 3
Take down the ghat
Pour the water from the kalash onto the tulsi or a plant in the house. Break the coconut and share it as prasad. Put the soil into a plant pot rather than the bin.
- 4
Exchange apta leaves
Apta leaves are given as "sone" — gold — and elders’ feet are touched. The tree is becoming scarce, so take only the leaves you need and do not break branches.
- 5
The puja of tools, vehicles and books
Whatever the household works with is honoured — ledgers, a computer, tools, the vehicle, the shop’s cash box. Where Saraswati puja is kept, books and instruments as well.
- 6
Simollanghan
Crossing the boundary of the village or neighbourhood in the evening. It is symbolic now: stepping out of the house to a nearby temple or ground. Ravan-dahan, where it happens, follows.
What to do with the barley and the soil
Cut the shoots and share them; leave the rest near the deity. Pulled up by the root they dry out and will not last the day.
Soil and the coconut shell go to a plant or a pot. Most households make a point of not putting into the bin what was worshipped for nine days.
A day for starting things
Dussehra is counted among the three and a half most auspicious days of the year, which is why new purchases, new work and new learning are begun on it.
There is a plain version of that too: start today whatever you have been postponing for a month. A committee that holds its first meeting for next year on this day is usually the one that is ready in time.
Common questions
- Is the ghat taken down on Navami or on Dussehra?
- Both are done. Some households take it down after the havan on Navami, most on the morning of Dussehra. Follow your family’s practice — neither is wrong.
- What if apta leaves are not available?
- Kanchan leaves are widely used instead. The apta tree is becoming scarce, so avoid breaking branches and take only a few leaves.
- What is the muhurat for Dussehra?
- The whole of Vijayadashami is considered auspicious, and the Vijay muhurat falls in the afternoon. The exact time changes every year and by place, so it is not given here — check a panchang.
- How do you do simollanghan from a flat?
- Symbolically is enough: step out in the evening and walk to a nearby temple or open ground. The point is crossing a boundary, not the distance.