The central theme and didactic message of Vijaya Dashami, which marks the culmination of the holy festival of Dussehra (or Dasara), which is also celebrated as Durga Puja, is common to all religions in the world and systems of philosophy — a depiction and reiteration of the victory of the good over evil.
In both the epics related to the festival, the slaying of the monster Mahish, the asura, by Goddess Durga, and the killing of the Rakshasha emperor Ravan by Lord Sri Ram, the good must muster up the courage to face down the biggest forces of evil in an uncompromising way for an even larger good.
There is never a perfect world, and even the gods acknowledge that there will be evil. In no utopia that we may conceive, will the world be bereft of and totally absent in the wrong, the untruth, the dark and the evil. There will not be unadulterated evil, but there will be phases of time and life when the evil would have an upper hand. It would dominate good.
In any era where the evil has an upper hand, life and times would appear bleak, despondency would grow and collective helplessness reach an acme. At that moment, appears hope. While in mythology, there is convenient outsourcing of the moral war, where gods may appear in human incarnation to fight evil, the wisest interpretation of the tale is that the evil of a portion of humanity must be indeed fought by the best amongst human beings.
When Ram fights Ravan, there are moments at which the battle looks impossible, or extremely hard, and life feels unfair, even worthless. In one such moment, when Laxman falls to an arrow of the son of the ten-headed demonic monarch, and becomes unconscious, Ram seeks the help of Hanuman, for a second time. In the tale of Maa Durga’s epic faceoff with the biggest and fiercest demon of those times, there are moments when the chances of the good winning appear bleak and low.
But there is that perpetual streak of light, that silver lining, after the darkest hour has passed, even if we must endure and persevere through it. Vijaya Dashami is not just a day or a mere festival but the philosophical reiteration that, as long as life exists, humans will disagree. And the two sides would be set against each other, forcing moral choices.
Whether it is a war between nations, or terrorism, whether it is about conservative or liberal values, whether it is on the side of the political right or left, there will always be sides to take, and both sides are fine to take, but one cannot be amoral, and abstain, or be found missing in action, for that would surely be evil.
One side or even both may be wrong in a given confrontation, and sometimes in modern life, choices might be about the lesser evil, but we must make those choices, and fight. As long as one chooses a side and fights for their conviction of what is right, life is beautiful, and worthy of not just humans but gods as well.
