Navratri
is a festival of worship, dance and music celebrated
over a period of nine nights (Nav-nine and Ratri-nights).
It is celebrated from the first to ninth date of Ashwin
Shukla Paksha of the Hindu Calendar for the worship
of the Goddess Durga. Goddess Durga is believed to exist
in many forms like Goddess Bhavani, Jagdamba, Mahakali
etc. The first nine days of the Ashwin are devoted for
worshipping the Divine Mother -'MAA'. These nine days
are divided and devoted to the Trinity of God worshipped
in a female form - three days for Durga (Goddess of
valor) three days for Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth) and
three days for Sarswati (Goddess of Knowledge and Art).
On the fifth day (Lalita Panchami), it is traditional,
to gather all books, light a lamp and invoke Sarswati
. The eighth and ninth day, it is traditional to perform
Yagna (sacrifice offered to the fire) to honor Divine
Mother and bid her farewell.
Universal Festival
All Hindus celebrate this festival at the same time
in different ways in different parts of India as well
as abroad.
In the northern part of the country, the first nine
days of this festival, called Navaratri, is commonly
observed as a time for rigorous fast, followed by celebrations
on the tenth day. In western India, throughout the nine
days, both men and women participate in a special kind
of dance around an object of worship. In the south,
Dusshera or the tenth day is celebrated with a lot of
fanfare. In the east, people go crazy over Durga Puja,
from the seventh till the tenth day of this annual festival.
[The figure above depicts a general geographical classification.]
Although, the universal nature of the festival is often
found to transcend regional influences and local culture,
the Garba Dance of Gujarat, Ramlila of Varanasi, Dusshera
of Mysore, and Durga Puja of Bengal need special mention.
Navaratri is a festival of pure happiness and one of
the most auspicious occassions.
Navtratri Special..
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