3 days until Dussehra 2026

Each weekday until Dussehra 2026

Counting the days after today, up to and including Tuesday, October 20, 2026. Useful for counting school days, work shifts or a weekly class before Dussehra.

About Dussehra

Dussehra, also known as Vijayadashami, is the Hindu festival held on the 10th day of the bright half of Ashvin. It comes right after Navratri, the nine nights of worship of the goddess Durga, and brings that festive season to a close. Both of its main stories celebrate the triumph of good over evil. In much of northern and western India, the day marks Prince Rama's victory over Ravana, the ten-headed demon king of Lanka, in the epic Ramayana. In the east, it marks Durga's defeat of the buffalo demon Mahishasura.

In the evenings leading up to Dussehra, towns stage Ramlila, a folk drama that retells Rama's life through song and dialogue; UNESCO recognized the tradition in 2008. On Dussehra night, towering effigies of Ravana, often joined by his brother Kumbhakarna and son Meghanada, are packed with fireworks and burned before large crowds. In Kolkata and across Bengal, clay images of Durga are carried to rivers and immersed at the end of Durga Puja. Mysuru in Karnataka is known for its grand Dasara procession, and in Nepal the day is the high point of the Dashain festival.

Many families treat Vijayadashami as a lucky day to start something new, from music lessons to a business venture. The date shown on this page is the one on India's central government holiday list, where Dussehra is a closed holiday; most states also give the day off, though a few occasionally set it a day later to follow regional calendars. Diwali, which many Hindus link to Rama's homecoming to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana, usually arrives about three weeks later, so Dussehra also signals the start of the busy festival season that follows.

How we check dates and facts: see our sources.

Dussehra by year