Kullu Dussehra

Kullu Dussehra

(Ravana doesn’t burn here)

Kullu's beautiful location

Kullu is situated in Himachal Pradesh, a state of India. Kullu’s Dussehra starts from the 10^th of Ashwin month according to Hindu Calendar. When the celebration of Dussehra in the whole country is celebrated, Dussehra of Kullu begins. Here, Dussehra is not a one-day festival but its seven days’ festival in Himachal Pradesh in India. Dussehra is well known as Dashmi here. Kullu’s Dussehra has an individual identity in the country.

Kullu valley of Himachal Pradesh is not known for its natural beauty, but also the religious fest held in Kullu are very special. Kullu Dussehra celebration attracts the attention of the whole world. Festival begins on the day of Vijayadashami, and celebrated for a whole week. Tourists come from all over the world to participate in this special festival of Dussehra. This festival has now emerged as an International level festival.

Main feature of Kullu’s Dussehra is that here effigies of Ravana, Meghnath, and Kumbhkarana are not burnt like everywhere in the Country. Here, Kama (Lust), Krodh (wrath), Lobh (greed), Moh (attachment) and Ahankar (excessive pride), symbols of destruction are burnt.

Historical view of Kullu Dussehra-

Kullu’s Dussehra is not directly related to Ramayana, its story is related to a king. In 1636, King Jagat Singh was the king of Kullu, during his visit to Manikarna, he came to know about a Brahmin having a very precious gem. King Jagat Singh sent his soldiers to Brahmin to get that precious gem. His soldiers tortured him. He cursed the King and committed suicide with the whole family. A few days later, the King’s health started deteriorating.  Then a monk advised the King Jagat Singh to get a statue of Raghunathji to free from the curse. King do the same and thus statue brought from Ayodhya, King gradually recovered and then he dedicated his whole life and entire empire to Lord Raghunath. Since then, Lord Raghunath is considered the main deity of the beautiful valley.

There is one more story related to Kullu Dussehra, according to this story, when Maharishi Jamadagni was returning from Kailash with a large basket on his head. Basket contains statues of 18 deities. While passing Chandrakhani Pass, there was a strong storm and all the idols were scattered in different places of Kullu valley. Idols were seen to people living in the Kullu Valley. Then they considered those as a form of God and began to worship them.

Dussehra is celebrated with great pomp from that time onward.  On Dussehra, Lord Raghunath’s Rath Yatra is carried out in the entire valley.

Kullu Dussehra is celebrated as-

Kullu Dussehra is celebrated in a very special way. It is believing that Lord Rama invokes more deities here, so all villagers reach at the temple of Lord Raghunath by placing idols of different Gods on their heads. Hundreds of idols are kept at Dharpur ground. Goddess Hidimba is also one of these deities. Many cultural events are organized in Dussehra week. People appear in their new dresses. On the last day of the festival lots of dry wood is collected, then those all collected wood is burned in the form of Lanka combustion. Many tourists come from all over the world to see the special Dussehra festival.

How to reach-

If you want to make a presence at Kullu Dussehra then you have to reach Kullu first. You can reach Kullu with all three modes of transport. By airways you can take a flight for Kullu Manali airport. If you want to go there via train, you can resort to Joginder Nagar railway station. You may also reach Kullu via roadways. The town is very well connected to big cities via roadways.