Kota Dussehra Mela 2026: 133rd Rashtriya Dussehra Mela, 11 Oct to 5 Nov

The Kota Dussehra Mela is the biggest fair on Kota’s calendar and one of the largest Dussehra fairs in India. The 2026 edition is the 133rd Rashtriya (National) Dussehra Mela. Kota Nagar Nigam released the programme on Thursday 1 October 2026, and Mayor Anusuiya Goswami announced the dates: the fair opens on Sunday 11 October and closes on Thursday 5 November 2026, a run of 26 days at Dussehra Maidan on Kishorepura Road.

The three dates that matter

• Sunday 11 October 2026, 5:30 pm: inauguration and flag hoisting at Shri Ram Rangmanch, followed by a Tourism Department folk programme. Ramlila begins at 8:00 pm the same night and is staged nightly after that.
• Tuesday 20 October 2026 (Vijayadashami): Ravan Dahan. The Shri Laxminarayan ji procession leaves Garh Palace at 5:00 pm for the ground, and the effigies are lit at the muhurat after it arrives. No clock time has been published as of 11 October 2026.
• Thursday 5 November 2026: closing (samapan) with fireworks.

A note on conflicting dates. The Incredible India portal and several travel aggregators list the fair as 20 October to 6 November. Those listings predate the official programme. The Nagar Nigam dates above are the ones to plan around. The Mayor’s announcement also describes 20 October as the “formal start”, which is why you will see both 11 and 20 October quoted as the opening day.

What is new in 2026

The Ravan is more than 105 feet tall and animated: its head turns a full 360 degrees, it swings a sword, its moustache moves and its eyes blink. Kumbhkaran and Meghnad stand at about 70 feet each. Lead artisan Aamir Khan of Ghaziabad, who has built Kota’s Ravan since 2019, used about 5 tonnes of iron, 500 bamboo poles and 1,500 metres of velvet. The height is a deliberate step down from the 221.5-foot record attempt of 2025, which took about six hours to burn out; this year the emphasis is on movement and finish.

Three laser-show evenings are scheduled for 29, 30 and 31 October at 7:00 pm, and a drone show opens the evening of 3 November, ahead of the Gatka demonstration and Punjabi Night. The closing cultural evening on 4 November is branded Cine Sandhya “Taron Bhari Raat”.

Two stages

Everything inside the ground runs on two stages. Shri Ram Rangmanch carries the religious programme: the inauguration, the nightly Ramlila, Ram Baraat on 15 October, the Rajyabhishek of Lord Ram after the Bharat Milap procession on 21 October, and the two kushti dangal days on 1 and 2 November. Vijayshree Rangmanch is the cultural stage, where the first evening slot starts at 7:00 pm and the main programme at 8:30 pm, from the Akhil Bharatiya Kavi Sammelan on 27 October through to Cine Sandhya on 4 November. Daytime competitions are held at the Nagar Nigam premises, not at the ground.

Organiser, entry and timings

The fair is organised by Kota Nagar Nigam through its Dussehra Mela Samiti, with the Rajasthan Tourism Department sponsoring the folk programmes. No gate fee has been announced and none was reported in past editions, but free entry is not officially confirmed as of 11 October 2026. Official ground opening hours have not been published either; the stage programme runs from the 7:00 pm slot on most evenings, with the Ramlila at 8:00 pm. Artists for the Kavi Sammelan, Punjabi Night and Cine Sandhya were still being finalised when the programme was released, and no names have been published as of 11 October 2026.

Plan your visit

This page is the dates-and-essentials card. The detail lives on the pages below, some of them on our sister sites about Kota.

• The complete day-by-day programme list, the only page with the full 26-day table.
• Ravan Dahan on 20 October: effigy, procession and timing, including how to watch it live.
• How the fair began in 1723 and why 2026 is counted as the 133rd edition.
• How to reach Dussehra Maidan, parking and where to stay.
• Rides, Ramlila and the laser and drone shows inside the fair.
• Kota weather for the fair window and what to wear.
• What the stalls sell and how to shop the mela.
• What to eat at the mela food zone.
• Stall allotment process for traders.
• Kushti dangal, malkhamb and gatka dates.
• The Jethi samaj akhada tradition behind Kota’s wrestling.
• Evening culture nights and photography spots.

Dates on this page follow the Kota Nagar Nigam programme of 1 October 2026. Artist names, the dahan clock time and the parking plan will be added here when the organiser announces them.