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 covers two triumphs at once: in the north the day marks Rama's defeat of the ten-headed Ravana, in the east the goddess Durga...

Q 02/05

The giant Ravana effigies set alight on Dussehra evening are traditionally stuffed with what?

A) Firecrackers

B) Coloured powder

C) Flower petals

D) Sweets and coins

Answer · why

A) Firecrackers

Firecrackers packed inside the towering figures go off as the flames climb, so the demon king's end at dusk comes with a roar.

Q 03/05

In 1956 B. R. Ambedkar chose Vijayadashami to lead a mass conversion of his followers at Nagpur into which religion?

A) Sikhism

B) Christianity

C) Jainism

D) Buddhism

Answer · why

D) Buddhism

Buddhism gained hundreds of thousands of converts in a single day, and Ambedkar had the crowd recite 22 vows that rejected Hindu rites and pledged bel...

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 so many people head home to receive the tika from their elders that Kathmandu noticeably empties durin...