How India marks Navratri and Dussehra region by region: Durga Puja, garba, Golu, Bathukamma, Mysuru Dasara, Kullu Dussehra, Ramlila, Ayudha Puja and Vidyarambham.
The nine forms of Durga, the Navadurga, at a Durga Puja pandal. Photo: AjayDas, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
In Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand, the season is Durga Puja.
Garba on a Navratri night. Photo: Saurabh sirohiya, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Gujarat's Navratri is danced. Every night people gather around a garbo, a pierced clay pot with a lamp inside, and circle it with claps and turns; later the dandiya sticks come out.
Idols take shape in a workshop lane at Kumartuli, north Kolkata. Photo: Pinakpani, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Golu. In Tamil homes, and as Bommala Koluvu in Andhra Pradesh and Gombe Habba in Karnataka, families build an odd number of steps and arrange dolls of gods, saints and everyday life on them.
Women gather around their bathukammas, towers of flowers, in Telangana. Photo: Happie1Soul, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Across Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, many families fast for the nine days, worship the nine forms of Durga one by one, and feed young girls as the Goddess on Ashtami or Navami (kanya pujan).
Sabudana khichdi, a common Navratri fasting food. Photo: Mrudit161187, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Kullu Dussehra in Himachal Pradesh starts when Dussehra ends elsewhere: for a week from Vijayadashami, deities from the valley's villages are carried to Dhalpur Maidan to attend on Raghunath (Rama).
Effigies of Ravana and his brothers before Ravan Dahan on Dussehra. Photo: Thesocialtalks, CC0, Wikimedia Commons.
In Nepal the same season is Dashain, the year's biggest festival: barley sprouts (jamara) grown from the first day are worn on the tenth with a red tika from elders.
Durga with her family, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartik, at Maddox Square, Kolkata. Photo: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
What ties these together is the Goddess and the victory of good over evil, told as Durga's defeat of Mahishasura in the east and as Rama's defeat of Ravana in the north.
Effigies of Ravana and his brothers before Ravan Dahan on Dussehra. Photo: Thesocialtalks, CC0, Wikimedia Commons.
How India marks Navratri and Dussehra region by region: Durga Puja, garba, Golu, Bathukamma, Mysuru Dasara, Kullu Dussehra, Ramlila, Ayudha Puja and Vidyarambham.
Navratri and Dussehra across India → Next story: Ayudha Puja, Saraswati Puja and Vidyarambham All photo storiesMusic: Garba dance during Navaratri festival in Mehsana Gujarat India, Nizil Shah, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.