The fun filled days of the enthralling dandiya beats and the intoxicating gharba dance have arrived bringing in loads of new hopes and scintillating events. No one can overlook the brightly lit nights, the young women in enchanting ghagra cholis and energetic guys swirling their impressive dandiyas with full of vigour and enthusiasm.

          The festival of Dassera, also known as Vijayadashmi, is one of the fascinating festivals of India celebrated by.

lasts for ten continuous days, the first nine nights are spent in the worship of goddess Durga and the tenth day of the Dassera day is in honour of Durga Devi.

        The whole month slips away with unremitting elation and joyous get-togethers, but very few people know the exact chronicle behind this astonishing celebration. In fact the festival is celebrated as an adornment of God as Mother. And traditionally Navaratri is a period of introspection and purification of auspicious time for starting new ventures. During this period, Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati are worshipped as three different manifestations of Shakti or Cosmic energy.

THE STORIES AND BELIEVES ASSOCIATED WITH DURGA POOJA AND DASSERA

   The end of the demon-king 'Mahishasura'

             Long back, a demon called 'Mahishasura' earned the favour of 'Lord Shiva' after an extensive meditation. Shiva, pleased with the devotion of the demon, blessed him with a boon of immortality. Empowered with the boon, Mahishasura started his reign of terror over the world. Innocent people were killed mercilessly and even the Gods were driven out from heaven.

            Taking an account of all these, all the Gods went to Lord Shiva for relief and informed him about the atrocities caused by the demon. Lord Shiva got annoyed hearing about this mayhem, and using his third eye, which is believed to be the most powerful egress of his anger, Lord Shiva concentrated hard to create a woman with other gods contributing their share of energy thus Goddess Durga, the eternal mother, was born. Riding on a lion, she got transformed into most ferocious form of the Goddess, Devi Chandika and attacked Mahishasura in the fierce battle and beheaded Mahishasura. Thus came the end of egoistic evil and a new beginning of goodness that prevailed ever after.