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What Ravan Dahan really means:
Across much of northern India, Dussehra ends at dusk with giant effigies of Ravana, often standing beside his son Meghnad and his brother Kumbhakarna, being set on fire. Fireworks go off inside them, the crowd cheers, and kids on their fathers’ shoulders try to get a better look. Plenty of people head home with a box of jalebis afterward.
It’s easy to treat it as just a show, but there’s more to it. The burning is a public way of rejecting wrongdoing. In popular retellings, Ravana’s ruin comes from arrogance and from refusing to respect another person’s choices, and many people take the ritual as a nudge to check their own behaviour. Dishonesty, cruelty, misusing authority, assuming that rank means you never have to answer for anything: these are the “Ravanas” most of us actually deal with.
Not every region burns effigies, though. In several places the day is about Durga, or about temple ceremonies, and there’s no Ravan Dahan at all.
Statue of Lord Rama, Goddess Sita and Lakshmana at Ram Mandir, Sector 9, Rohini, New Delhi
A man dressed as Hindu God Ram and demon king Ravana engage in a mock fight during Dusshera celebrations in Bathinda on October 22, 2015. The celebrations mark the end of the nine-day Navratri festival
An effigy of demon king Ravana goes up in flames on the occasion of Dussehra in Karnal on October 22, 2015
An effigy of Hindu demon king Ravana goes up in flames at Sector 17, Chandigarh, during Dusshera celebrations on October 22, 2015
An effigy of Hindu demon king Ravana goes up in flames at the Dusshera ground in Gandhi Nagar at Jammu on October 22, 2015
Effigies of Hindu demon king Ravan, Kumbhkaran and Meghdooth goes up in flames during Dussehra celebrations in Mandi on October 22, 2015
People watch as effigies of demon king Ravana (C), his brother Kumbhkarana and son Meghnad (R) are burnt during the Hindu festival of Dussehra in Amritsar
President Pranab Mukherjee offers his prayers to a man dressed as Hindu God Ram and Lakshman during Dussehra celebrations at the Red Fort Grounds in New Delhi on Thursday. BJP president Amit Shah also pictured
An artist paints the face of Hindu demon King Ravana in Surat on October 20, 2015, ahead of the Hindu festival of Dussehra
An motorcyclist passes by the effigies of the demon king of Hindu Mythology, Ravana, displayed for sale at a roadside in New Delhi on October 20, 2015
Artists paint effigies of Hindu demon King Ravana in Bhopal on October 20, 2015, ahead of the Hindu festival of Dussehra
A vendor sells effigies of the Hindu demon King Ravana on the roadside in Amritsar on October 20, 2015, ahead of the Hindu festival of Dussehra
Effigies of demon King Ravana, Kumbhkaran and Meghnaad at Bhopal on October 20, 2015, ahead of the Hindu festival of Dussehra
Labourers rest by the effigies of Hindu demon King Ravana, displayed for sale at a roadside in New Delhi on October 20, 2015, ahead of the Hindu festival of Dussehra
Workers installing effigies of Hindu demon King Ravana at Kasturchand Park in Nagpur on October 20, 2015, ahead of the Hindu festival of Dussehra
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