Hello friends, Good day to all....
After giving you some useful information about different places
in and around Nashik, now we from Phila Tours & Travels take this
opportunity to introduce you to one of the famous Hindu festival which is starting
from 16th October 2012 in India. It is one of the most special
festivals of Hinduism in every possible way, which is important from religious,
devotional, moral and materialistic ways. This very important Hindu festival celebrated in India, which is
devoted to Goddess Durga (the Goddess of Power). The festival is celebrated with
great reverence and faith across the country.
Yes, we are talking about the festival called NAVARATRI. This is a festival dedicated to the worship of a Hindu deity Shakti (Adhya Shakti or Durga). The word Navaratri literally means nine nights in Sanskrit, Nava meaning nine and Ratri meaning nights. These nine nights are in parise of different forms of Goddess Durga, one for each day and their names are as Shailputri, Brahmcharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandmata, Katyaini, Kaalratri, Mahagauri, and Siddhatri., the last day Dassera also known as Vijayadashmi, this festival signifies power, wealth, prosperity and knowledge and the victory of good over evil.
Navratri festival is celebrated in a most unique and unusual
way, it holds special significance for Gujratis (from Gujarat Province/State) and Bengalis (from West Bengal Province/State)
and one can see it in the zeal and fervor of the people with which they indulge
in the festive activities of the season. Dandiya and Garba Rass are the
highlights of the festival, particularly in the state of Gujarat, Navratri is
celebrated with the famous Garba dance or Dandiya Rasa. Apart from Gujarat,
Dandiya Ras and Garba is a common feature in all over India and especially in
cities like Mumbai.
Garba is the most colorful form of the dance. The
performers, both men and women, would clad themselves in colorful and
magnetically attractive traditional attire. The women wear their vibrant,
mirror-work ghaghras and cholis in different styles and the men in their
traditional attire; a decorated pot with attractive designs is ceremoniously
placed with a light inside and the women folk dance in a circle around it,
singing 'traditional songs' or 'garbas'. The Garba of Gujarat is the most
popular women's folk dance of Gujarat. The word "Garba" by which the
pot as well as the dance is known is etymologically close to the word “Garbh”
meaning womb. In this context the lamp in the pot, symbolically represent life
within a womb. In older times, Navratri was associated with the fertility of
Mother Earth who feed us as her children. The Dandiya Ras or the dance as this
is called is played with dandiyas or small decorated wooden sticks. 
Basically the dance form known as ras garba or dandiya ras,
which uses small wooden sticks, comes from Lord Krishna's worship rather than
Goddess worship, from the “Gop” culture of Saurashtra and Kutch. Stories of
relationships between Krishna and the Gopis, and their emotions, also often
make their way into the ras garba music.
In different parts of India, different legends and mythology describe the history of Navaratri:
Western India:
Navratri' is the festival of worship of the Goddess Shakti.
It is a period of nine days, when the Goddess fought the Demon 'Mahishashura'. The
demon Mahishasur, after being given a boon by the fire god Agni that he
wouldn't be killed by weapons bearing masculine names, caused grave destruction
and terror. The gods sought the help of Lord Shiva, who advised the invocation
of the goddess Shakti. With the gods' prayers, a divine luster sprang from the
heart of Lord Shiva and the bodies of all the gods and formed the goddess Adhya
Shakti (the Original Pure Power). The gods gave her ornaments, arms and a lion
as a vehicle. She fought with the evil Mahishasur for nine long days and
nights, and at last, resulted in the beheading of Mahisasur on the tenth. The
nine nights came to be known as Navratri, while the tenth day was called Vijaya
Dashami, the tenth day that brought the triumph of good over the evil. Thus performing
of Garba and the 'Dandiya' are forms of worship of the Goddess.
Eastern India:
As per the legend prevalent in East India, Daksha, the king
of the Himalayas, had a beautiful and virtuous daughter called Uma (one of the
reincarnation of Goddess Durga) . She wished to marry Lord Shiva, since her
childhood. In order to win over the Lord, she worshipped him and managed to
please him as well. When Shiva finally came to marry her, the tiger-skin clad
groom displeased Daksha and he broke off all the relationships with his
daughter and son-in-law. One fine day, Daksha organized a yagna, but did not
invite Lord Shiva for the same. Uma (another name most commonly known as
Parvati) got so angry at her father's rude behavior towards her husband, that
she decided to end her life by jumping into the agnikund (Fire Place) of the
yagna, where she was united with eternity (since then, she came to be known as
Sati). However, she took re-birth and again won Shiva as her groom and peace
was restored. It is believed that since then, Uma comes every year with Ganesh,
Kartik, Saraswati and Laxmi and two of her best friends or 'sakhis', called
Jaya and Vijaya, to visit her parent's home during Navaratri. In Northern India from Ramayana:
Yet another legend of Navratri relates to the Hindu epic
Ramayana. It goes that Lord Rama worshipped Goddess Durga in nine aspects, for
nine days, in order to gather the strength and power to kill Ravana. He wanted
to release Sita from the clutches of powerful demon king Ravana, who had
abducted her. Those nine nights became to be known as Navratri and the tenth
day, on which Lord Rama killed Ravana, came to be called Vijayadashmi or
Dusshera, signifying Rama's (good) triumph over Ravana (evil). Even today the statues made of fireworks are prepared Ravana and burnt on 10th Day with a spectacular view to see. In Southern Parts of India:
South Indians spiritual
focus appears to be slightly different from that of others. Though the nine
nights of Puja are devoted to goddesses Lakshmi, Durga and Saraswati equally. In
Kerala, on 10th day children are initiated into learning. This day
marks the beginning of any type of learning. Dance and music concerts are
performed in the nine nights of Durga Puja. In Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, Dolls
are arranged at homes, shops and temples, called "Golu". Music and dance festivals are organized,
tiger dance is performed. Performers paint themselves like tigers in bright
yellow, red and black, and dance to the beats of instruments. In Karnataka, Mysore
Dasara, the royal festival depicting the triumph over evil, is of legendary
splendourt dates back to the Wodeyar dynasty. The entire Mysore is decorated
and illuminated. The elephant rides are held as part of the festival which is
world-famous. Sports events, exhibitions, poets meet, and other cultural events
by world famous musicians are also held.
All in all, this is the
festival celebrated all over India in one or the other way of praising the
Goddess Dugra and triumph of Good over Evil. This whole 9 nights celebration
comes to an end by the 10th day with the blessings from Godess and
faith in her. With this, here we are leaving you to have advantage of the
prayer (aarti) of Godess Durga and with the wish that May Godess Dugra give you
courage to fight all evil and have better life for yourself and your loved
ones. For any further information and packages, feel free to contact us anytime.
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