ALL ABOUT NAVRATRI !

                 ALL ABOUT NAVRATRI !

Today marks the beginning of Navratri, the nine most auspicious days for Hindus. It has different significance for different parts of the country.

The festival typically falls four times in a year. However, is that time of the year when nine days are spent dancing and celebrating. 

Navratri brings non-stop fun for nine days and being one of the most popular festivals of the country, it is celebrated by people all across the nation and even outside. It is more popularly celebrated in cities like Gujarat, Mumbai and also West Bengal. The fascinating part about this festival is that Navratri is celebrated five times in a year, unlike other festivals. However, the most important and the most celebrated of all is the Vasanta Navratri and also the Sharada Navratri. 

Celebrated in the honor of Durga, dance and music is the most important part about Navratri. The literal translation of Navratri is nine nights and in all these nine days Durga is worshiped since it is said that she embodies destruction, power and also preservation. 

Worshipping Durga is said to bestow devotes with immense wealth, prosperity and knowledge. During these nine days of fun, different forms of Goddesses are worshiped. The first three days, Durga is worshiped since it is believed that Durga destroys evil and the next three days, Lakshmi is worshiped who is said to be Goddess of wealth and prosperity. 

Saraswati is the goddess who is worshiped in the last three days of Navratri who is said to be the Goddess of wisdom.

the dates for Navratri are decided according to the lunar calendar and it is believed that the start of autumn and spring are considered to be auspicious and hence it is an apt time to worship Durga. This is the period when early autumn and spring are important junctions of solar influences and also climatic influences. This festival is also celebrated to symbolize power, the power of destroying evil. It is during Navratri, that a color code is followed all through the nine days. Each day has a color and usually people, especially women wear a dress of that color. This practice is followed all over, even at work places where this is a form of fun activity. People do it with so much passion and wholeheartedly, that the whole festive mood gets to you. This is also considered as an ideal to worship Shakti (Power).

History states that a whole chapter of the Rigveda has mentions of the devotions that have been made in the name and worship of Shakti. The Devi Sukta and also the Isha Sukya are praises sung of Shakti. In fact if you go back to mythology it is also said that before Pandavas and Kauravas waged war, Krishna had worship[ed Shakti so that the Pandavas emerge victorious in the war. Brahma is said to have mentioned in the Markandey Purana that the very first incarnation of Shakti was Shailputri, where as the other incarnations were Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalaratri, Mahagauri and Siddhidatri and the incarnations happened in this order. And today it is these nine forms of Durga that are worshipped by people from all across the nation during Navratri.

These nine incarnations are also known as Nava Durga. The Shiva Purana also has a detailed description of these nine divine incarnations of Durga. The most important ritual or tradition followed during Navratri is the reciting of Gayatri Mantra. It is believed since the Vedic Age that Gayatri Anushthana as it is called is auspicious during Navratri. Fasting is also another very important ritual followed during Navratri.