11 Best Places to Celebrate Dussehra

Durga Puja is the most glamourous, most popular and largest festival in Kolkata. No other Indian city celebrates Durga Puja as enthusiastically as Kolkata. In Kolkata and its suburbs more than 4500 pandals are erected, all clamouring for the admiration and praise of the populace. The city is adorned with lights and the vibrant nightlife is the most exciting thing to experience during the Puja. Streets, alleys, parks, houses and trees glitter with fairy lights.

Mysore Dasara is the Nadahabba (state-festival) of the state of Karnataka in India. It is also called Navaratri (Nava-ratri = nine-nights) and is a 10-day festival with the last day being Vijayadashami, the most auspicious day of Dasara. Dasara usually falls in the month of September or October. According to a legend, Vijayadashami denotes the victory of truth over evil and was the day when the Hindu Goddess Chamundeshwari killed the demon Mahishasura. Mahishasura is the demon whose slaying by the Goddess gave the name Mysore.

The Dussehra Festival of Kota is quite a unique experience for both, the residents and tourists. Kota Dussehra Fair, popularly known as Kota Dussehra Mela is the longest celebrated Dussehra fair in India. Kota Dussehra Mela runs for about 27 days and hosts various cultural programs along with various competitions. The history of Kota Dussehra Mela goes back to 1893AD. The credit of making this religious event more attractive and colorful goes to Maharao Ummed Singh II (1889-1940 A.D.) Since then the festivities have changed manifolds.

he tradition of staging the Ramlila at Ramnagar, Varanasi, which lies across the Ganges river from the Hindu pilgrimage city of Varanasi, was started in ca 1830 by Maharaja Udit Narayan Singh, Kashi Naresh with the help of Pandit Laxmi Narayan Pandey's family (present vyas ji of the Ramlila of Ramnagar).[14][15] It rose in popularity during the reign of his successor Maharaj Isvari Prasad Singh, and received continued patronage from the subsequent Kings of the Royal House of Benares to create a participatory environmental theatre (Site-specific theatre) on a grand scale, where attendance ranges from few thousands to 100,000 for others.

Navratri Festival, Ahmedabad is devoted to Goddess Shakti, the Navratri festival in Ahmedabad is celebrated with gaiety and fervor. The main highlight of the festivity of nine nights is the folk dance of Gujarat called Garba. Each day of the fiesta begins with the performance of aarti. The entire state of Ahmedabad gets energized with the thought of celebrating the Navratri festival. Well, in this article, we will provide you with information on the Navratri festival in Ahmedabad, India.

Katra is considered as the Navratri capital of India, situated in Jammu. Katra residents glows beautiful lights in all nine days and chants Godess prayers. People uses to come from all around the country to Katra for Dussehra.

Duraga Puja in Maharashtra and Goa is celebrated by "prabashi" Bengalis' – like the ones at the Government of India Press grounds organised by Nashik Sarbojanin Durga Puja Committee which is the oldest and biggest, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (H.A.L)in Ojhar, then the one at Artillery Station,Deolali and one in the industrial area of Satpur-Ambad. In recent years, places such as CIDCO, Rajeevnagar, Panchavati and Mahatmanagar also have set up new mandals

Kullu Dussehra is the renowned International Mega Dussehra festival observed in the month of October in Himachal Pradesh state in northern India. Where in more than 4-5 Lac people visits the fair from all across the Globe. It is celebrated in the Dhalpur maidan in the Kullu valley. Dussehra at Kullu commences on the tenth day of the rising moon, i.e. on 'Vijay Dashmi' day itself and continues for seven days. Its history dates back to the 17th century when local King Jagat Singh installed an idol of Raghunath on his throne as a mark of penance.

In Delhi over 800 pujas are held in Delhi, with a few hundred more in Gurgaon and Noida each. By the 1970s, 40 pujas were being celebrated in Delhi, with many theatre troupes performing. Bengali movies would be screened late into the night at many pandals. Today movies have given way to cultural functions, with many of the top kolkata music artistes and other cultural shows being hosted at various delhi pandals.

Bastar Dussehra is the unique cultural trait of Chhattisgarh. Celebrated by the local people of the state with sufficient vigor, the festival of Dussehra connotes to the supreme power of goddess Danteswari. During Dussera, the inhabitants of Bastar organizes special worship ceremonies at the Danteswari temple of Jagadalpur.

The earliest Sarbojonin Durga Puja was reportedly held in the Kazi Bajaar area of the city in 1832 by both Oriya and Bengali employees of the East India Company. The local people participated in the festivities enthusiastically. However, due to differences which cropped up later, the Oriyas decided to organise the Puja on their own. Now the silver and gold jewellary clad Durga is seen in many lanes and pandals. The pandal is permanent throughout the year in the suburbs of Cuttack, where regular worship is done for the divine mother, and idols are made only during Dussehra time and immersed after that.