When is Dussehra 2028? Wednesday, 27 September

Dussehra 2028 is on Wednesday, 27 September. In New Delhi, Shukla Dashami runs from 8:09 AM on 27 September to 9:56 AM on 28 September. On 27 September, Aparahna (afternoon) is 1:24 PM – 3:48 PM; Shukla Dashami holds through all of it. On 28 September, Aparahna (afternoon) is 1:23 PM – 3:47 PM; Shukla Dashami does not hold in it.

Aparahna Puja: 1:24 PM to 3:48 PM (New Delhi).

• Vijay Muhurat: 2:12 PM – 3:00 PM

These times are worked out from local sunrise and sunset, so they shift by city. Choose your city for your own times.

Shukla Dashami runs 27 Sept, 08:09 → 28 Sept, 09:56.

1. Aparajita puja. In the afternoon (aparahna), draw an eight-petalled lotus with rice or kumkum and worship Goddess Aparajita for victory in the year's undertakings.
2. Shami puja. Worship the Shami tree with roli, akshat, flowers and a lamp; many exchange its leaves as 'gold' with family and friends.
3. Shastra puja. Clean and honour tools, instruments, books and vehicles, the things of one's work, with tilak and flowers.
4. Seema ullanghan. Traditionally, cross the village or town boundary in the afternoon, marking the start of new ventures.
5. Ravana dahan. In the north, the evening closes with the burning of Ravana's effigy, marking Rama's victory.
6. Blessings. Seek the blessings of elders; begin learning or new work, as the day is held auspicious for starting.

• Rice or kumkum for the lotus
• Roli, akshat and haldi
• Flowers and a lamp
• Shami leaves
• Tools, books or instruments to honour
• Sweets for prasad

Two victories meet on the same tenth tithi. In the North the day celebrates Rama's killing of Ravana and the freeing of Sita, after nine days of Devi worship; in the East, Durga's beheading of the buffalo-demon Mahishasura. Neither the Valmiki Ramayana nor the Devi Mahatmya names this tithi: the link to the tenth of Ashwin comes from later tradition. Dussehra ('ten' + 'defeat') carries both.

In the North the Ramlila cycle ends this evening with the burning of tall effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghnad, packed with fireworks, before great crowds.

In the East it is Bijoya Dashami: the Durga images are carried to the water and immersed, married women play Sindoor Khela, and 'Shubho Bijoya' greetings and sweets are exchanged.

It is a universal shubh muhurat, one of the 'sade-teen' (three and a half) muhurats that need no further checking, and so a favoured day to buy a vehicle, start a venture, begin a child's schooling (Vidyarambham), and worship one's tools, books and weapons (Ayudha / Shastra Puja). Kings once crossed the border for the year's campaign now that the monsoon was over.

In the Ramayana, Rama looses the Brahmastra, given by Agastya, and kills Ravana. Later tellings and the Ramlila set the war through the nine nights of Devi worship and the killing on the tenth day, and popular tradition has Rama return to Ayodhya on the Kartika new moon: Diwali.

In the Devi Mahatmya, Durga destroys Mahishasura's armies, then pins the shape-shifting demon and beheads him as he half-emerges from the buffalo: Mahishasura Mardini. Tradition places the victory at the close of the nine nights, and her images are given a farewell and immersed on this day.

A third strand is from the Mahabharata: the Pandavas, in their thirteenth year of exile in disguise, had hidden their weapons in a Shami tree near Virata's kingdom. On Vijayadashami Arjuna took them down, worshipped the tree, and rode out, which is why the Shami and the Apta tree, and the worship of weapons, belong to the day.

Source: Valmiki Ramayana, Yuddha Kanda; Ramcharitmanas; Devi Mahatmya (Markandeya Purana); Mahabharata, Virata Parva

The martial Navaratra ending in Vijayadashami was a rite of medieval kingship: the ruler worshipped the Goddess and his arms for nine days and performed the shami-puja and seemollanghan, the crossing of the border, on the tenth to open the campaigning season. The Vijayanagara Mahanavami platform and the Mysore Dasara, with Chamundeshwari carried on a caparisoned elephant in the Jamboo Savari, are grand survivals.

Ramlila as public pageant-theatre grew in the North from the 16th–17th century with the spread of Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas; the Ramnagar Ramlila at Varanasi, staged over a month, is the most renowned.

Regional forms diverge sharply: Kullu Dussehra in Himachal gathers some two hundred village deities around Raghunath for a week and begins when other Dussehras end, with no Ravana burnt; Bastar Dussehra in Chhattisgarh is a seventy-five-day tribal festival for the goddess Danteshwari, unrelated to the Rama story; Nepal's Dashain, with tika and jamara given by elders, is the country's largest festival.

• Vijayanagara and Mysore Dasara records: the royal Navaratra and shami-puja
• Ramnagar Ramlila, Varanasi: continuous since the early 19th century
• Kane, History of Dharmashastra: the vijaya-dashami and shami-puja rites

1. In the North the Ramlila ends at dusk with the burning of the Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghnad effigies; melas, processions and the crowning of Rama precede it.
2. The Shami or Apta tree is worshipped and its leaves exchanged: in Maharashtra as 'sonu' (gold) with the greeting to keep the bond golden; weapons, tools, vehicles and books are cleaned, decorated and given the Ayudha / Shastra Puja.
3. An Aparajita Puja (to Aparajita, a victory form of Durga) is offered in the aparahna, and many begin a new venture, journey or purchase in the Vijaya Muhurat; children are given their first letters (Vidyarambham) in the South.
4. In the East the Durga images are carried to the river or tank and immersed after Sindoor Khela and a farewell aarti; 'Shubho Bijoya' visits and sweets follow.

• North India. Ramlila and the burning of Ravana's effigies; large Dussehra maidan melas; the month-long Ramnagar Ramlila at Varanasi and the historic Kota Dussehra.
• Maharashtra. Simollanghan (a walk to the town's edge), the exchange of apta leaves as gold, and Saraswati and Ayudha Puja; a festive meal with shrikhand-puri.
• Karnataka. Mysuru Dasara: ten days of palace illumination ending in the Jamboo Savari, the procession of Chamundeshwari on a decorated elephant to Bannimantap for the shami-puja.
• West Bengal, Odisha, Assam. Bijoya Dashami: the Durga visarjan, Sindoor Khela among married women, and the exchange of Bijoya greetings, embraces and sweets.
• Himachal Pradesh. Kullu Dussehra: a week-long international fair that begins when other Dussehras close; some two hundred village devtas are brought in palanquin to Raghunath, and no effigy is burned.
• Nepal. Dashain: the largest national festival; on Dashami elders place a red tika and yellow jamara (barley shoots) on the young and give a blessing and dakshina.

• Jalebi and fafda — The traditional Dussehra morning eat in Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan.
• Shrikhand-puri, a festive thali — The Maharashtrian Dussehra meal after the simollanghan.
• Narkel naru, nimki and sweets — Coconut sweets and savouries for Bijoya visits in Bengal; sundal and payasam continue from Navratri in the South.

Vijayadashami (Dussehra) is kept on the day when Dashami of Ashwin Shukla paksha prevails in the Aparahna (afternoon). That day is Wednesday, 27 September 2028, and the Vijayadashami (Dussehra) muhurat is from 1:24 PM to 3:48 PM. Dashami holds the whole of the Aparahna (afternoon) on this day. It holds none of it on the day before or the day after.

in the Aparahna (afternoon)

Vijayadashami is the Shukla Dashami of Ashwin: the tenth tithi of the waxing fortnight, with the Moon near the first quarter (elongation ~108°–120°, sidereal Lahiri). The day is counted as the tenth so that the nine-night Devi worship and, in the North, the Ramlila, culminate on it. The Vijaya Muhurat is a fixed portion of the aparahna: roughly the tenth to eleventh of the fifteen day-muhurtas, and the presence of the Shravana nakshatra on the Dashami is held especially auspicious. The Sun stands in sidereal Kanya or Tula. The Gregorian date drifts about 11 days earlier each year and jumps back ~19 days in an adhika-month year.

A lunar date: Dashami of the bright half of Ashwin drifts about 11 days earlier each solar year, then jumps back ~19 days when a leap (Adhika) month is inserted.