TNI Bureau: The auspicious ‘Navratri’ festivities begin with great fervor from today. The festival will be observed for nine days, during which nine incarnations of goddess Shakti would be worshipped.
The nine in
carnations of Goddess Durga, who get worshipped during the nine days of Navratri are – Shailaputri, Bramhacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalaratri, Maha-Gouri and Sidhhidatri. Out of them, today, devotees worship the Goddess Shailaputri.
The word ‘Navaratri’ literally means nine nights in Sanskrit, nava meaning nine and ratri meaning nights. The 10th day is commonly referred to as Vijayadashami or “Dussehra.”
Navratri is one of the most celebrated festivals of the Hindus across the world and holds special significance for the devotees. They undergo rigorous fasts during these nine days and perform several rites of Durga Maa Puja including ‘havans’, ‘kanya-pujan’, ‘Sandhi-puja’, ‘Billwa-baran’ etc. to bring in positive vibes into their lives and households.
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The groups, which organize massive Durga Maa festivals normally, observe the function in two forms. If they want to worship for all nine days they start the worship rites from today, lest some group also observe the festival only on the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th day of Navratri. Navarathri represents celebration of Goddess Durga, the manifestation of the Deity in form of Shakti, who had killed the unruly demon Mahishasura to save the earth from his wrath.
Devotees finished the morning rites of the first day, the ‘Prathmi’ of Navratri today and started the 9 day long fasting. Huge pandals have been witnessed for celebration of ‘Navratri’ as well as Durga Maa Puja.
‘Garba’ dance is a major attraction of the festivities of Navratri. Many people love to dance in-group at different platforms to the tune of grand live orchestra that plays only the Garba beats. The dance is mostly seen in Gujarat and Mumbai.
God-men opine that Navratri is the major spiritual occasion when one can achieve great power to take care of his past vices and can earn a lot of virtues since the mother Goddess is readily available in the earth to bless her devotees during these nine pious nights.