Vijayadashami
What is Vijayadashami?
When is Vijayadashami celebrated?
What is the ritual of darpan visarjan?
What happens during the visarjan procession?
Vijayadashami, final day of the 10-day Indian festival Durga Puja, which celebrates the descent of goddess Durga to Earth, her victory over the demon king Mahishasura (from the Sanskrit terms mahisa, “buffalo,” and asura, “demon”), and her subsequent departure to Mount Kailash. Durga Puja is celebrated in the month of Ashvin, or Ashvina (September–October), the seventh month of the Hindu calendar, and is particularly observed in West Bengal, Assam, and other eastern Indian states. The observance of Durga Puja in the city of Kolkata was included in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021. Vijayadashami coincides with Dussehra in the northern parts of India.
Rituals and festivities
In West Bengal sculptors traditionally mix punya mati (Bengali: “sacred soil”)—soil gathered from a brothel’s threshold—with the clay for goddess Durga’s murti. Two traditional beliefs are associated with this act: that men leave their “virtue” at the doorways of brothels, rendering the threshold’s soil ritually “purified” and thus fit to honor the goddess, and that the goddess sanctifies even stigmatized spaces, extending her protection to society’s margins.
During the days leading up to Vijayadashami, the goddess is worshipped in her various forms as Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Murtis (sacred images or depictions of a deity) of Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati are placed at various elaborately decorated pandals (temporary structures of bamboo and other materials) and installed in temples. Murtis of the goddess Durga depict her astride a lion and attacking Mahishasura.
Though not rooted in Hindu scriptures, it is a strongly held cultural belief of the Bengali community that during Durga Puja, Durga visits her parental home with her children—Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha, and Kartikeya—and departs on Vijayadashami to return to her husband Shiva’s abode.
As dawn breaks on Vijayadashami, the final rituals for goddess Durga are performed and prayers are invoked. One of the most significant rites is darpan visarjan (“immersion through the mirror”). In this ritual a vessel of water is placed before the goddess, and a mirror is positioned so that her reflection is visible within it. Devotees are invited to take darshan (sacred viewing) of the goddess in this reflection. Symbolically this act represents the departure of the goddess’s divine presence (prana) from the murti. Once this is completed, the murti is regarded as lifeless, and thus may be touched and moved by human beings. The air then fills with the joyous energy of sindoor khela, one of the festival’s most cherished traditions. Married women, traditionally dressed in red and white saris, reach the pandals and gather before the murti of goddess Durga to apply vermilion (sindoor) on the goddess’s forehead and then on one another. They also streak each other’s faces with vermilion as a symbol of love, prosperity, and the enduring bond of marriage.
- Also spelled:
- Vijayadashmi, Vijaya Dashami, and Bijoya Doshomi
- Related Topics:
- Durga Puja
- Dussehra
When the playful ritual draws to a close, the celebration shifts to a moment of tender farewell. The community joins together for the visarjan (immersion in water). Durga’s murtis are carried in grand processions, accompanied by music, dancing, and the chants of “Bolo durga mai ki joi!” (Hindi and Bengali: “Hail goddess Durga!”). Once near a body of water, the devotees immerse the murtis in the water, sending off the goddess with sweetmeats for her journey. Streets echo with both celebration and sorrow, for the immersion is an adieu, symbolizing the goddess’s return to her celestial abode at Mount Kailash. For many devotees, it is a deeply emotional moment, embodying the cycle of arrival and departure, joy and longing.
