Making Ravana's head for the kill!

Dussehra is a popular festival of the Hindus, and it marks the victory of Lord Rama over Ravana. Dussehra is also a symbolization of the triumph of warrior Goddess Durga over the buffalo demon, Mahishasura. Thus, it is a celebration of victory over evil. Also known as Vijaya Dasami, on this day theatrical enactments of this dramatic encounter is held throughout the country. In northern India, huge effigies of Ravana, Kumbhkarna and Meghnath are laid out in a vast open ground. Fireworks and crackers are placed inside the effigies. Artists dresses up as Rama, Sita and Lakshmana to enact the final moments of the battle. After the enactment, Rama takes his bow and shoots at the huge effigies with an arrow with a burning tip.

Here is the footage of the artists making and then painting the effigies heads to assemble. They're giving final touches to the facial features and expressions just before Dushera.

It is also called Dasara, Dashahara, Navaratri and Durgotsav. Dussehra is celebrating victory of Shakti over Mahishasura and also of Lord Rama over Ravana. Vijayadashami is celebrated on the tenth day of the Hindu autumn lunar month of Ashvin, or Ashwayuja which falls in September or October of the Western calendar, from the Shukla Paksha Pratipada, or the day after the new moon which falls in Bhadrapada, to the Dashami, or the tenth day of Ashvin.

"Dussehra took place on the 6th of October, 2011"

This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at wfi @ vsnl.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.

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