Major ten-day Hindu festival celebrated in Nepal and Nepalese ethnic groups in other South Asian countries. Also known as Mohani Nakha in Newar or Bada’dashain or Nauratha (‘nine nights’) in Nepali, Dashain is Nepal’s primary national festival, celebrated in the Hindu calendar month of Ashvin (September–October). As in the Indian festivals of Vijaya Dashami or Navaratri, the nine nights are said to be the duration of the Brahmanical goddess Durga’s mythical battle with Mahishasura; the tenth day marks her victory with the observance of Durga Puja. Animals are sacrificed, especially buffaloes, 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 as a Kumari, a young girl typically from a Buddhist clan.