Bada Dashain – बडा दशैं

The tenth day of Dasain festival is called Bada Dasain or Dasami or Vijaya Dasami. Nepalis celebrate this day as the day of the victory of good over evil. The Durga Bhawani along with other nine goddesses killed the demon Mahisasur on the ninth day.

On the morning of this day, every Nepalese household performs the final worship to the Goddess Durga Bhavani. Then, the patriarch of each family offers ‘tika’ meaning a pinch of rice and vermillion mixed in yogurt taken by three fingers, and put on forehead, and a bunch of specially grown flower called ‘nalaswa’ (in the Newar language), and ‘jamara’ (in the Nepali language) as the blessing from the Goddess Durga Bhavani to all the family members. Then, every senior person in turn offers ‘tika’ to juniors. So, the tenth day of the Dasain festival also is called ‘tika’.

Giving and taking ‘tika’ continue until the day before the full moon day, the last day of Dasain festival. On the last day, every household disposes the sand collected from a river on the first day of the 15-day Dasain festival for growing ‘nalaswa’ or ‘jamara’, along with the leftover ‘nalaswa’ or ‘jamara’ (buckwheat seedlings) in a nearby river or pond or any other water sources.