Navaratri

The 9 night’s festival of Navratri begins on the new moon day of Ashvina month in Hindu calendar. This nine-day period from the new moon day to the ninth day of Ashvina is considered the most auspicious time of the Hindu calendar and hence is the most celebrated time of the year. On the tenth day of Ashvina Navratri, the holiday of Dussehra, or Vijayadashmi is celebrated to signify the victory of good (Rama) over evil (Ravana).

Festival of Navratri is essentially religious in nature. The nine day festival of Navratri is the worship of the Divine Mother. It is celebrated with true devotion in the various temples dedicated to the Mother. This is a festival that is sole dedicated to female aspect of nature know as Durga, Bhawani, Amba, Uma, Parvati, Gauri..etc. Durga is a personification of Divine Shakti (power). Shakti is the omnipotent power of the Lord, or the Cosmic Energy. The Divine Mother is represented as having ten different weapons in Her hands. She sits on a lion. She is “Mahishasurmardini” the destroyer of evil.

The essence of this festival consists of fasts and worship of nine aspects of Durga, one on each of the nine days. In some parts of India the first three nights, she is worshipped as Durga or Kali, the succeeding three nights as Maha Lakshmi and the last three nights as Maha Saraswati. In Bengal Navratri is celebrated as Durga Pooja. It is believed that Durga who was the personification of power of all male gods fought with demon Mahishasura for 9 days and on tenth day vanquished the evil.

Here we present you with religious texts for performing Devi Pooja.