Q 01/05

Vijayadashami, the formal name of Dussehra, joins the Sanskrit words vijaya and dashami, which together mean what?

A) Ten heads of the demon

B) Victory on the tenth day

C) Lamps of the homecoming

D) Nine nights of the mother

Answer · why

B) Victory on the tenth day

Victory on the tenth day is the literal sense, and the shorter name Dussehra comes from dashahara, a second compound meaning simply 'tenth day'. Both ...

Q 02/05

The giant Ravana effigies set alight on Dussehra evening are stuffed with what, so that they burst as the flames climb?

A) Firecrackers

B) Dry straw

C) Camphor blocks

D) Ghee-soaked cloth

Answer · why

A) Firecrackers

Firecrackers packed inside the bamboo-and-paper figures turn Ravan Dahan into a controlled explosion, and the tallest fairground effigies now top the ...

Q 03/05

In 1956 B. R. Ambedkar chose Vijayadashami to lead 600,000 followers at Nagpur into which religion?

A) Sikhism

B) Christianity

C) Jainism

D) Buddhism

Answer · why

D) Buddhism

Buddhism gained roughly 600,000 converts in a single day, and Ambedkar had the crowd recite 22 vows renouncing caste. Ambedkarites still mark the date...

Q 04/05

Besides Ravana himself, which two members of his family are burned as effigies at Dussehra's Ravan Dahan?

A) Kumbhakarna and Meghnad

B) Vibhishana and Shurpanakha

C) Maricha and Subahu

D) Khara and Dushana

Answer · why

A) Kumbhakarna and Meghnad

Kumbhakarna and Meghnad, Ravana's giant brother and his warrior son, go up on the same bonfire, so three figures burn rather than one. Vibhishana, the...

Q 05/05

Which festival, Nepal's longest, has elders press a tika of vermilion onto the foreheads of younger relatives?

A) Tihar

B) Dashain

C) Gai Jatra

D) Teej Parva

Answer · why

B) Dashain

Dashain is Nepal's counterpart to Dussehra, and the tika blessing is handed out in workplaces and even the presidential palace on the main day. Famili...