Vijayadasami Festival The tenth day, the day of victory, when Durga killed Mahishasura and when the Pandavas took back their weapons from the shami tree.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Vijayadasami
- தமிழ்
- விஜயதசமி
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: a tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
What the day is
The tenth day, the day of victory, when Durga killed Mahishasura and when the Pandavas took back their weapons from the shami tree. The books and the tools laid down on Navami are picked up again, and it is the day of Vidyarambham: a child is made to write the first letters in rice, guided by an elder's finger.
- Deity
- Durga, Saraswati, Rama
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
Shukla Dasami running at aparahna, the fourth of the five parts of the day, which is the classical rule and the one the Tamil Nadu holiday list follows: 12 October 2024 and 20 October 2026, where the tithi at sunrise would give the day after. Kerala keeps the udaya Dasami instead and is then a day later. Vidyarambham is done in the morning, in the Muhurta the temple announces.
The fast
No fast. The day is for beginning: a new book, a new instrument, a new lesson, and a sweet after the first letter is written.
Where the regions differ
The south begins the year's learning on this day; the north burns the effigies of Ravana in the afternoon and reads the Dashami running at aparahna instead of at sunrise, which can put Dussehra a day before the southern Vijayadasami.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules that go with this festival
Vidyarambham or aksharabhyasam, the first letters. Vijayadashami and Vasant Panchami are the classic days and need no further checking. Otherwise Wednesday and Thursday, the days of Budhan and Guru, are the best, Rikta tithis are left out, and the hour is usually the morning.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it. A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.