Vijaya Dasami will be celebrated on October 23 (Monday), say the priests at Sri Durga Malleswara Swamyvarla Devasthanam and a section of almanac writers here.
Confusion prevailed among devotees over the celebration of the ultimate day of the Dasara festival due to a lack of consensus among the almanac writers on the issue.
While the ’Poorva Paddathi’ scholars stress that the Vijaya Dasami falls on October 23, ‘Drik Siddhantha’ or ‘Chaitra Paddathi’ scholars stress that the festival is on October 24. The confusion also arises due to the availability of panchangams written for other parts of the country and work as well.
Sravana Nakshatra
Referring to various texts, almanac writer Kappagantu Subbarama Somayaji says that Aparahna Kala on ‘Dasami thithi’ (a Telugu calendar day) has significance. More so, if Sravana Nakshatra, the star, was cited during that period, it is even more auspicious. As per Nirnaya Sindhu, even if ‘Swalpa Dasami’ was present during the aparahna kaala along with Sravana Nakshatra, Vijaya Dasami should be celebrated on that day. The Dharma Sindhu and Vrata Nirnaya Kalpavalli texts also support it. Hence, as per ‘Poorva Paddathi’, Vijaya Dasami is to be celebrated on October 23, he says.
Kanaka Durga temple priests such as Srinivasa Sastry point out the same standards. They say that if Dasami thithi prevails through the two days, whether in Aparahna kaala or not, but Sravana Nakshatra is prevailing through the Aparahna kaala of the first day only, Vijaya Dasami has to be celebrated on the first day. If Dasami prevails through the two days irrespective of Aparahna kaala, but Sravana Nakshatra prevails through the Aparahna kaala of the second day only, Vijaya Dasami will be celebrated on the second day, they say.
Oct. 24 Optional holiday
Drik Siddhantha scholars say that the Vijaya Dasami has to be celebrated on October 24 as per their calculations. They even approached the State government to declare October 24 a holiday instead of October 23. The government, however, changed the optional holiday declared on October 24 and continued October 23 also as a holiday.
