India's first tribal woman President stood at the heart of one of the country's oldest and most extraordinary festivals on Friday, 23 October 2026 — lending constitutional weight to a celebration that has endured for more than seven centuries. President Droupadi Murmu attended the Bastar Dussehra programme at Lalbagh Maidan, Jagdalpur, and paid tribute to the unique religious and cultural traditions that set this festival apart from every other Dussehra in India.

The Chief Minister's Office of Chhattisgarh shared the President's remarks on X, quoting her directly: 'Kutumb Yatra ke madhyam se gram devi-devataon ki vidaai tatha 27 October ko Maa Danteshwari aur Devi Mawali ki doli vidaai jaise aayojan is utsav ki vishisht dharmik evam sanskritik paramparaon ka parichayak hai.' ('The farewell of village deities through the Kutumb Yatra, and the palanquin farewell of Maa Danteshwari and Devi Mawali on 27 October, are hallmarks of this festival's distinctive religious and cultural traditions.') She added: 'I salute these cultural traditions.'

What makes Bastar Dussehra unlike any other

Bastar Dussehra is not a re-enactment of Ram's victory over Ravana — it is a 75-day tribal festival rooted in the worship of local deities, principally Maa Danteshwari, the presiding goddess of the Bastar region. The Kutumb Yatra — the ceremonial farewell of village gods and goddesses — and the doli (palanquin) procession mark the closing chapters of a celebration that draws tribal communities from across the dense forests and plateaus of Chhattisgarh.

The city of Jagdalpur, headquarters of Bastar district, transforms into the epicentre of this cultural confluence every year. The scale and continuity of these rituals, maintained through generations of indigenous communities, have made Bastar Dussehra one of the most distinctive folk-religious events in South Asia.

Murmu's presence and what it signals

President Murmu, sworn in as India's 15th President in July 2022, is the country's first tribal woman to hold the nation's highest constitutional office. Her presence at Jagdalpur carries resonance well beyond protocol — it places the republic's first citizen, herself from a tribal background, at the centre of a festival that is a living archive of India's indigenous civilisations.

Central and state governments have increasingly foregrounded tribal heritage in national discourse. The Government of India institutionalised Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas on 15 November in 2021 to honour tribal contributions, and Bastar Dussehra has featured prominently in that broader effort to bring indigenous traditions into the mainstream cultural conversation. The hashtags #JanJatiyaGaurav and #TribalPride accompanying the post reflect exactly that framing.

Countdown to the doli farewell on 27 October

With the palanquin farewell of Maa Danteshwari and Devi Mawali set for 27 October, the festival's most sacred closing ritual is days away. For the tribal communities of Bastar, this moment — the goddesses returning to their abode after weeks of communal celebration — is the emotional and spiritual culmination of the entire season.

A presidential visit to witness and honour these traditions is a rare affirmation: that the stories these communities have carried across centuries belong not just to Bastar, but to India.