Major ten-day Hindu festival celebrated primarily in Nepal and by Nepalese ethnic groups in South Asia. Also known as Mohani Nakha in Newar or Bada’dashain or Nauratha (‘nine nights’) in Nepali, Dashain is the country’s primary national festival and occurs in the Vikram Samvat calendar month of Ashvin (September–October). As in the Indian festival of Navaratri or Vijaya Dashami, the nine nights are said to be the duration of the goddess Durga’s mythical battle with the buffalo-headed Mahishasura; Durga Puja on the tenth day marks her victory. Animals, especially buffaloes, are sacrificed for the goddess Taleju Bhawani in homes, state offices and state-sanctioned public rituals. As elsewhere, various indigenous goddesses of the region have been incorporated into the Sanskritic mythology of Durga in Nepal. Dashain rituals combine elements of indigenous cult practices, Brahmanical Hinduism, and even Buddhism, such as the worship of Durga in the form of the virgin-goddess Kumari.