The Navaratri pooja is a famous holy festival of Hindu culture.It is mainly celebrated in India and Nepal This years it is observed from 21 to 30th of september..It is celebrated to worship godess Durga in her all forms.It is observed on suklapaksha pradipada in the month of Aswina.It is also known as devapaksha. It stretches over nine nights and ten days.This is also known as Sharath navratri because it is observed in sharath or early autumn.It is observed as dedcation to godess Durga of her triumph over Mahishasura.
The legend behind Durga pooja.
There are different legends behind this pooja,but the most prominent one is the Goddess Dhugra's victory over Mahishasura the demon .Mahishasura represents evil or Asura and Dhurga the divine force. Mahishasura performed a penance to please Brahma. Pleased by his devotion Brahma granted him a boon that gods and men cannot kill him and he will be defeated only by a woman.As a result of this he began to attack deva's and even tried to conquer Devaloka. They tried to defeat him,but failed due the effect of boon. .Fed up by his molest Devas pleaded for help in front of Trinity god Brahma,vishnu and Maheswara. They assessed the situation and realized that only a woman can defeat the mighty demon Mahishasura and Trinity gods suggested all other Devas along with Brhma-vishnu-Maheswara should concentrate on their devine energy to produce a define force. All these energies then combined together an transformed in to superior strength in female form .Thus emerged the infinite power source and thousand handed female force know as Maa Durga..All the devas came together and handed her myriad amount of weapons-Lord Vishnu gave her 'sudarshana chakra ,Lord shiva his 'trishul', Indra his vajrayudha,Lord varuna his counch,Vayu his bow and arrow,Brahma his lotus ,others sword,spear etc.Agni blessed her with splendor and energy.She climbed over her carriage -the lion-and set for the war against Mahishasura. Mahishasura when saw Maa durga attracted by her beauty inform his wish to marry her. Maa Durga suggested that he must defeat her in a battle.The demon's responded quickly and agreed for a battle,hoping an easy win.The battle continued for nine nights and at the end of the ninth night godess Durga slayed the mighty demon with her trident.These nine night became the navratri, nav meens nine,and the tenth day known as Vijayadashami. Thus vijayadashami symbolizes the victor of god over evil.
The nine form worship:
The devotees worship durga in nine manifestations known with nine names. They are better known as Navadurgas and here are the nine deities
- The first day deity is Sailaputri or Parvathi ,the daughter of himalaya.
- The second day she is worshiped as Brahamacharini ,in this form Parvathi becomes Sathi the unmarried deity.
- On third day she is worshiped as Chandraghanda ,because she began to wear halfmoon on her forehead after her marriage with Lord Siva.
- The forth day goddess is Kushmanda ,the creator of universe.
- Skandhamatha is worshiped on the fifth day.She is the mother of Skanda or shanmukha.
- On sixth day she is worshiped as Kathyani,as she was born to sage Katya in this form and it is the violent form of goddess Parvathi.
- Seventh day she is worshiped as Kalaratri ,the name came form the fact that she accepted a dark complexion to demolish shumba and nishumba.
- The eight day is attributed to Mahagauri,the goddess parvathi has a white complexion.
- On ninth day goddess Sidhidhatri is worshiped, it is believed that Sidhidhatri bestows all sidhis
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