On the first day (pratipada) of the bright fortnight
of the lunar month of Aashwin, the festival of Navratri commences. The festival
is celebrated for nine nights once every year during the beginning of October,
although as the dates of the festival are determined according to the lunar
calendar, the festival may be held for a day more or a day less.
Navaratri is celebrated in different ways throughout
India. In North India, all three Navratris are celebrated with much fervor by
fasting on all nine days and worshipping the Mother Goddess in her different
forms. The Chaitra Navratri culmintes in Ram Navami and the Sharad Navratri
culminates in Durga Puja and Dussehra. The Dussehra of Kulu in Himachal Pradesh
is particularly famous in the North.
The last four days of Sharad Navratri take on a particularly
dramatic form in the state of West Bengal in East India where they are celebrated
as Durga Puja. This is the biggest festival of the year in this state. Exquisitely
crafted and decorated life-size clay idols of the Goddess Durga depicting her
slaying the demon Mahisasura are set up in temples and other places. These idols
are then worshipped for five days and immersed in the river on the fifth day.
In Western India, particularly in the state of Gujarat,
Navratri is celebrated with the famous Garba dance. It is also popular throughout
India and among Indian communities around the world including UK and USA.
Navratri is divided into sets of three days to adore
three different aspects of the supreme goddess or goddesses.
