Dusshera, part I

 

October is THE month for Hindu festivals, so I've been very busy trying to attend them all! Here's one I've learned so far about Hindu festivals--they involved idol-worshiping, amazing food, crowds and crowds of people, bright lights and larger than life theatrics. All in all, a pretty good time.

First up is the festival of Dusshera, which is a festival revolving around the Ramayana, an ancient Hindu epic that is to India (and much of the Eastern world) what the Iliad and the Odyssey is to the West. Or, more so, actually, because the West still doesn't worship the Olympian gods while as worshiping of the gods and heros of the Ramayana is still very alive in India. The Ramayana consists of 24,000 versus and is hella long. But this is the plot, as I understand it in a nutshell.

Rama is human incarnate of some god, and one of many sons of a king. His wicked stepmother forces his father to banish him for 14 years so that her son can become king instead. Rama's pious wife and devoted brother go into exile with Rama. While in exile, the sister of demon tries to seduce the brothers but fails. She gets pissed off by the rejection and tries to kill Rama's wife, but is stopped by Rama's brother who cuts off her nose. Her demon brother, Ravana, is pretty ticked off that Rama's brother cut off his sister's nose, so he kidnaps Rama's wife and takes her to his evil kingdom (Sri Lanka). Rama hangs out with a monkey god, who agrees to help him get his wife back. Rama, his bro, and monkey god dude all go wage war on Ravana. They win after Rama kills Ravana with a burning arrow.

So, basically what's being celebrated on Dusshera is the life of Rama, and his triumph over Ravana--symbolically the triumph of good over evil. This is celebrated by a 9 day performance of the Ramayana called the Ramalila, culminating on the last day by the burning of an effigy of Ravana (and his evil side-kicks). Basically, it's a big ole party with lots of food and a carnival-like atmosphere.

So, a few weekends ago I went to check out the festivities...wow!

On the first day of the festival, I went to see the artisans making the actual effigies of Ravana, which will later be burned. These things are huge! It's not like they can be kept in a warehouse somewhere so what tends to happen is that the artisans congregate in one area of the city where they make the bodies and heads of the Ravanas (to be joined later) out of paper-maiche, paint them, and leave them out on the streets to dry (and to be admired by passersby). Walking around all of these giant demon heads and disembodied torsos was a truly weird, but kind of magical experience.

After viewing the effigies, I headed to the north of the cities where one of the larger Ramalilas was being performed. What is a Ramalila like? Well, it's a HUGE outdoor theater where the play is performed in traditional theatrical style, combined with a fairground and basically the best food court ever to grace a carnival.

 

[This was the scene where Rama's wicked stepmother convinces Rama's dad to banish him]

[A huge fairground, just packed with people]

[Ok, this stuff that the guys are spinning is actually long strands of ice cream....]

[...which is served to you covered in pomegranate seeds and nut spices. Delicious!]

[This is a mango, frozen and stuffed with ice cream (kulfi), the sliced for easy dining enjoyment.]

[Yep, I was pretty happy with all of the food offerings!]

So, that was my first experience with Dusshera--but as the festival is 9 days long I obviously needed to return on the 9th day, for the effigy burning....