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Dashara is a festival
celebrating the defeat of demons by the deities, specifically Rama's defeat
of Ravana and Durga's victory over demons. The Spartanburg temple
celebrated this on a Thursday evening in October 1998. I arrived
at the temple early and asked a devotee to identify the deities for me.
She showed me the primary altar that contained poster images of Ganesh,
Shiva and Parvati, Radha and Krishna, Rama - Sita - Lakshman - Hanuman,
Sambha Ma, Vishnu, and Saraswati. In the center of the room, another
table held 4 posters of Durga and offerings presented to her. When
the activities began, I joined the others sitting on rugs on the floor
and chanting prayers (following a printed, laminated handout that included
transliteration into English). After temple members debated which
language the leader should use to discuss the significance of Dashara,
prompted by my presence, the leader spoke in Hindi (and later gave me a
synopsis in English) about the defeat of the demon symbolizing the defeat
of a person's ego and negative tendencies. Following this, we went
outside to watch the burning of a effigy of Ravana may with cloth and hay.
After returning inside, the leader presented offerings to the deities.
Then, the devotees sang a devotional song and took turns waving lamps before
the main images and the temporary Durga shrine. First the children
waved the lamps, then the adults waved them, usually in family groups.
Following the ritual, people took prasad, both the light of the
lamps offered to the images and the food that had been offered to them,
as a blessing from the deities.
The Ravana Effigy Burning page provides photographs of another temple's celebration of Dashara.
Return to:
List of Temples
South
Carolina section of the List of Temples
Please send me your comments and additions to this site
at sramey@email.unc.edu.
All images are copyrighted and can be used only with
permission.
Last updated by Steven Ramey
4 March 1999