The tenth morning, when it is over. Heaven is empty again and the gods go up and find their weapons where they left them — which is the part of the nine nights nobody tells.
When it falls
10 October 2027 28 September 2028 16 October 2029
Children usually meet this day as the one where an effigy burns. It is worth telling them the other tenth day too: the one at the end of the Devī's nine nights, where the story ends not with a victory speech but with everybody quietly getting their things back.
Why it has more than one name
Dussehra, Dasara and Vijayadaśamī all name the tenth morning, and it closes two different stories at once. In much of the north it is the day Rāvaṇa falls, marked by burning the effigy. At the end of the Devī's nine nights it is something quieter — the fighting is over, and the gods collect the weapons they had lent out. In Karnataka it is Dasara and belongs to the state; in Tamil Nadu it follows the Golu and the Āyudha Pūjā.
10 October 2027, 28 September 2028 and 16 October 2029. It falls on the tenth morning, immediately after the nine nights of Navarātri.
What is the difference between Dussehra and Vijayadashami?
They are the same day under different names — Dussehra and Dasara are the more common forms in the north and in Karnataka, Vijayadaśamī the Sanskrit name used across the south.
Why do some places burn an effigy and others do not?
Because the day closes two different stories. Where the tenth day is read as the fall of Rāvaṇa, the effigy is the point. Where it closes the Devī's nine nights, the day is about things being put back — which is why in the south it goes with the Āyudha Pūjā and the taking down of the Golu.
Sandhya Katha chooses one story each night against the pañcāṅga, for your child's age, and lays it out to be read aloud. Free, nothing to install.