The festival has been historically important in Maharashtra. Shivaji, who challenged the Mughal Empire in the 17th-century and created a Hindu kingdom in western and central India, would deploy his soldiers to assist farmers in cropping lands and providing adequate irrigation to guarantee food supplies. Post monsoons, on Vijayadashami, these soldiers would leave their villages and reassemble to serve in the military, re-arm and obtain their deployment orders, then proceed to the frontiers for active duty. In North Maharashtra this festival is known as "Dasara", and on this day people wear new clothes, and touch feet of elderly people and deities of the village temple. The deities installed on the first day of Navratri are immersed in water. Observers visit each other and exchange sweets.