And now, all over the city, preparations are in full swing for what is probably the greatest Hindu festival of the year –Dussehra. High arches decorated with paintings and coloured lights straddle the streets, and elaborate floats are being prepared for the great procession that marks the culmination of the celebrations.

The Dussehra procession brings to life the principle events of the epic saga the Ramayan, and particularly its joyful climax: the return of Ram and Sita to their ancestral city of Ayodhya after 14 years’ exile in the jungle.

Dussehra is a great time for worship of the various deities, and the different communities in India each worship and celebrate in their own particular way. The Bengalis, for instance, give preference to the Goddess Durga. They make elaborate effigies of the deity, only to cast them into the river Jumna at the climax of the celebrations.

Feeding the poor is an act of charity at all Hindu festivals.
Here, to the accompaniment of a good deal of noise from the crowd and the loud beating of drums a priest prepares a Pooja, or prayer session.

And now the crowds are gathering. The procession will begin as darkness falls, and will continue for nearly three hours.

The procession begins. It is a long series of tableaux depicting important events described in the Ramayan. These tableaux are mounted on carts drawn by bullocks, and electric lighting is provided by generators pulled along behind the bullock carts on rickshaws. Considering how rough and ready these arrangements are it is amazing what results are achieved.

This scene shows the betrothal of Ram and Sita.
And here Sita is performing a Pooja to Shiva in the presence of a priest.

Just as the Greeks had Homer, so did the Indians have their bard, called Valmeeki. Here we see Valmeeki as it were reciting the Ramayan.
One of Ram’s most faithful friends was Hanuman, who is depicted as a monkey but who was perhaps in origin an ugly aboriginal Indian. In this scene Hanuman shows his devotion to Ram by keeping him close to his heart.

This again shows Sita before her marriage to Ram.

This scene depicting two warriors on horseback is one of the most inventive. By the laws of probability it should collapse, but somehow it doesn’t.

This is King Dussehrat, the father of Ram, seated on his throne.

And here is yet another elaborate tableau depicting the boat that took the exiled Ram and Sita across the River Sharyu on their way to the jungle.

This scene shows Ram and Sita, and Ram’s faithful brother Lakshman at Panchavati, their place of exile in the jungle.

And now the climax of the procession as Ram and Sita, magnificently attired, return in triumph from the jungle to their ancestral home in Ayodhya.