Navaratri - Festival of Nine Nights

Navaratri is a composite festival celebrated all over India. Depending on gauna - local tradition, but for most beginning with the New Moon (Amavasya - dark moon night) or for some on the ninth day of the month of Virgo (Kanya) just prior to the Amavasya, or on the first day of the Hindu month of Ashwina (Padmanabha - Vaishnava mase), various ceremonies are performed. T essesnce of this festival consists of fasts and worship of nine aspects of Durga, one on each of the nine days. Navaratri is known as the Festival of Nights honoring the goddesses beginning

Consequently this festival of Navaratri is popularly known as Durga Puja in Bengal. After these nine days comes the Dashami, the tenth day, which is the day of the famous festival of Dussehra or Vijaya Dashami ( the tenth day of victory ). This is the day Lord Rama had killed Ravana, signifying the victory of good over evil. Vaishnavas generally being absorbed in Vijay Dashami rather than Durga puja.

The total period of worship lasts for nine days out of which the first three are dedicated to Durga ( the Goddess of Valor ), the next three to Lakshmi ( the Goddess of Wealth ) and the last three to Saraswati ( the Goddess of Knowledge ). The Deity images of Them are created, worshipped and immersed in a sea or lake. In Gujarat, Garbha dance is performed. In the South, houses are decorated and toys by the name of Bomma Kolam are displayed. Durga has 1008 names or epithets but is worshipped in her nine forms which are sometimes interchangeable since basically they represent only her.
The following are the most popular forms of the goddess under which she is worshipped: Durga, goddess beyond reach; Bhadrakali, the Auspicious Power of Time; Amba or Jagadamba, Mother of the World; Annapurna, Giver of Food and Plenty; Sarvamangala, Auspicious Goddess; Bhairavi, Terrible, Fearful, Power of Death; Chandika or Chandi, Violent, Wrath, Fury; Lalita, Playfulness Personified; Bhavani, the Giver of Existence.

Navratri, is celebrated as the festival of nine nights, and is celebrated differently in different parts of India. In Gujarat, for nine nights, women and girls decked in finery, dance the garba around an earthen lamp or a kalash (pitcher) symbol of divine power, which is decorated with flowers and betal leaves, and has its mouth covered with a coconut. They sing and dance, clapping their hands in rhythmic movements, or do the Dandi dance (stick dance), holding two sticks and striking them to the rhyth, of the music.

In Tamil Nadu, the first three days of the festival are dedicated to Lakshmi, Goddess of Beauty and Prosperity; the next three days to Durga, Goddess of Righteousness, and the last three days to Saraswati, Goddess of Music and Learning. These goddesses are the consorts of Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma respectively. A special platform is decorated with the clay figurines of these gods and goddesses. The main room of worship contains a pitcher made of clay, silver or copper, depending on the devotee’s financial standing. The pitcher is placed in the centre of the room, its mouth covered with a cocnut and it is worshipped symbolically as Durga. Girls sing and dance before it and in the evening, gifts are exchanged.

In Andhra Pradesh the temple in the house is decorated with clay images of the Deities. A special sweetmeat like laddoos or sweet rice coloured yellow with turmeric, or khir (milk-preparation cooked in rice) is made eve3ry day and after offering to the household gods, is eaten. Everyone wears new clothes and friends drop in to see the family’s collection of images.

In Maharastra on the first day of navaratri the idol of Yogeshvari, a benign form of Durga, is installed in the house and the Haldi-Kum kum ceremony is held. Haldi (turmeric) and kum kum (vermilion) is applied on the forehead and sandalwood paste is smeared on the arms of all the invitees as these are considered auspicious.

Durga Puja:
As just mentioned, in Bengal especially where there are many Shaktas (worshippers of the female consort of Lord Shiva - Durga), it is a nine-day festival, when the Shakti or goddess Durga is worshipped, thus it is called Durga Puja. This commemorates the birth of the Mother Goddess, and has an interesting origin. An Asura, Mahisha, was troubling the three worlds of heaven, earthy and the space between. When his atrocities became unbearable, Shiva tried his best to kill him, but without success. The other gods were equally unsuccessful. Then, on Shiva’s advice, the devas / demigods performed a sacrifice and put their female shaktis (energies) into the sacrificial fire from where arose a woman of dazzling beauty. As a product of the female energies of the deavas /demigods, she was called Shakti. The demigods requested her to kill Mahishasura. For killing him, she came to be called Mahishasuramardini. Similarly, for killing the demon called Durg, she came to be called Durga.

Months before the festival, a special clay image of the demi-goddess is made showing her in the act of killing the demon Maishasura. The clay for the image is brought from ten places of work: of a farmer, weaver, painter, carpenter, musician, drummer, blacksmith, sweeper, bricklayer and a prostitute. Durga is also called Sarba Jananni, a goddess for all (common folk), and is shown riding her mount, the lion. The image of Durga is lavishly decorated. For nine days, she is worshipped and on Vijayadashami (Dusshera), the tenth day, the day the goddess was victorious over the evil asura, her clay image is immersed in the ocean or river. This immersion symbolises Durga’s return to her husband Shiva on the conclusion of her annual visit to her parental house.

During Navratri, Durga is worshipped under different names such as Shailaputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalaratri, Mahagauri, and Siddhatri. She is also worshipped as Mahakali for killing the demons, Madhu and Kaitabha, who, for thousands of years troubled Vishnu. When they stole the holy Vedas from the hands of Brahma, who was sitting on a lotus stalk arising from Vishnu’s navel, Vishnu invoked the goddess and she killed the two demons. She is also worshipped as Chamunda for killing the demons Chunda and Munda; as Nanda for predicting the death of Kansa (Kamsa) at the hands of Krishna; as Sakhambari for protecting the world from famine; as Kumari, the eternal virgin and so on.

Maha-navami:
The culmination of the Navratri festival is Mahanavami when the goddess is worshipped as Durga in the form of Aparajita and sugarcane stalks are offered to her. Sugarcane is harvested at that time. On this day, in rural Kashmir, Punjab, Harayana, Uttara Pradesh and Bihar, Kanya Puja is performed, when nine young virgins, symbolically representing the nine forms of the goddess, are worshipped. Their feet are washed and they are feasted after each has been given new clothes by the worshipper. In some parts of Kashmir, Harayana, Uttar Pradesh and Maharastra instead of Mahanavami, the celebrations end on the astami, the eighth day, as it is the birthday of Parvati, the auspicious form of Durga.(Note, this is also the month of Virgo, the virgin - Kanya)

Dussehra:
While in certain parts of India the cult of the Mother Goddess is strong and Navratri celebrations culminating in Vijayadashami take preceedence over other festivities, in other parts of India Dussehra celebrations are given more importance. Ramalila, the life of Rama as portrayed in the Ramayan is enacted for nine days. Jhankis (tableaux) are taken out in procession, showing on each day one stage of Rama’s life. On the tenth day, massive effigies of Ravana, his younger brother Kumbhakarna and son Meghanatha (Indrajit) are erected, stuffed with fire-crackers and set aflame at sundown. The fire is triggered by an arrow shot by the man playing Rama and thus evil in the form of Ravana is destroyed. See the page on Vijay Dashami - victory of Rama for more on this.

In Kulu, Himachal Pradesh, Dussehra takes place three days later. The reason for this goes back to the time of Maharaj Ranjit Singh, the ruler of the Punjab. The hill states of Punjab, now in Himachal Pradesh were under the court at Lahore. The Maharaj expected all his tutelary kings to be present at his court during the Dussehra celebrations. The rulers with their retinues would mount their horses immediately after the celebrations were over at Lahore (presently in Pakistan), and speed back to their hill kingdoms to celebrate Dussehra there. It took them three days to reach their states. And since then the custom of celebrating Dussehra three days late has continued.

Here the unique feature of the festival is that instead of burning effigies of Ravana and his brothers Kumbhakarna and Meganatha as in other places, instead five animals - a cock, a fish, a lamb, a crab and a buffalo – are sacrificed and a pile of wood is burnt seven days later to symbolise the victory of good over evil. Why, we could not find out, even such sacrifice is not sanctioned in this age, still it goes on.

Tastefully decorated idols of village dieites from all over the valley are brought in palanquins to the venue of the festival. The main goddess Hidimbaa (Hidimbi), a form of Durga, demon wife of Bhima and mother of Ghatokacha, is brought in procession from the pagoda structure temple at Dhungri in Manali. The procession is led by musicians and dancers performing the Nati dance which is very popular.

A large fair organised during the celebrations offers the visitors a glimpse of the traditional culture of the distant tribal areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Pangi, Pin and Parvati. Since these areas get snowbound about twenty days later the fair provides the people living across the Rohtang Pass an opportunity to purchase their essential provisions for the long winter months when they are forced to remain indoors (possibly this is where the sacrifice of animals comes in, as for some in these remote and hardy lands they are their livelihood and food).

In Karnataka (South India) lemons are placed on the road in front of the wheels of cars, buses, scooters and the vehicles driven over them. It is also a symbolic representation of sacrifice whereby dhrishti, inauspiciousness is removed. Also, a slit is made in a big gourd and vermilion is spirinkled on it, then the gourd is crushed and the red extract is sprinkled on all vehicles as a symbol of sacrificial blood. Such symbolic sacrifice in this age is prefered to causing harm to other living beings. In Karnataka the great devotee Ananda Tirtha - Madhwacharya fought hard in the 13th century to replace animal sacrifices with such symbolic representations after being instructed to do so by the son of Saci, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as mentioned in Bhavishya Purana, Pratisarga parva, Kali yuga khanda 19th chapter and similarly recorded in his establishment of offerings through the mantra idam krishnaya idan na mama (Sumadhwa Vijay).

Dussehra, associated with the burning of Ravana’s effigy, is a public celebration. In homes, the most important article of the household is kept in the place of worship. For instance, the farmer puts his plough; the housewife her churning rod; the weaver his spinning wheel; the soldier his weapons and so on. On the first day of the ten-day festival of navaratri and Dussehra, grains of barley are planted. On the last day, the nine-day old shoots called noratras are placed on the articles to be worshipped along with grains of rice and vermilion poder, all fertility symbols. Noratras are also put on the caps of men, behind their ears, and in books to bring good luck. Sisters apply a tilak (vermilion mark) on the forehead of brothers and put noratras behind their ears and bless them. The head of the family writes down the names of all the family members present on this occasion. It is a method of keeping a record of the family geneaology. Depending upon the family’s profession, the current prices are noted down, for instance the goldsmith writes the prevalent prices of gold and silver and the farmer the price of grains and so on. Soon after this festival, the sugarcane crip is harvested, and the winter crops sown (northern hemisphere). (much taken from Shakti M Gupta. 1991. Festivals, Fairs and fasts of India. Pages 124-128.)

Navratri in the Gujarat:
The historical background:
Navratri or the Festival of Nine Nights from Ashvin Sud 1 to 9 (sudha – shukla pratipat to the navami) is devoted to the propitiation of Shakti or Divine Mother. She represents prakriti, counterpart of Purusha jointly making possible the creation of the world according to the religious ideology of Goddess worship. Such worships were prevalent in India even before the so-called advent of the Aryans, who adopted it as a religious practice. References in Vedas and Puranas confirm this opinion. The main temples of mother goddess that are visited by multitude of devotees during Navratri are the shaktipithas, of which there are three in Gujarat. It is believed that Lord Vishnu had to cut the body of Sati into pieces to stop the destruction by Shiva who was perturbed by her death. At fifty-two places these pieces fell, the three in Gujarat being; Ambaji in Banaskantha, Bahucharaji in Chunaval and Kalika on Pavagadh hill in Panchmahals. Others were Kali ghatt in Calcutta, Kanya kumari in the far south, Menekshi Devi at Madurai, and so on.

This festival is essentially religious in nature. It is celebrated with true devotion in the various temples dedicated to the Mother, or Mataji, as she is familiarly called. In some homes, images of the Mother are worshipped in accordance with accepted practice. This is also true of the temples, which usually have a constant stream of visitors from morning to night.

Celebration Galore:
The most common form of public celebration is the performance of garba or dandia-ras, Gujarat's popular folk-dance, late throughout the nights of these nine days in public squares, open grounds and streets. Females wear ethnic Chania Choli and Males wear Dhoti-Kurta and enjoy garba and dandiya ras (dance) the whole Night. The participants move round in a circle around a mandvi (garbo), a structure to hold earthen lamps filled with water and to house the image or idol of mother goddess. A betel nut and a silver coin are placed within the pot, called a kumbh, on top of which a coconut has also been placed. Pandals are erected over these madvis and decorated with asopalav, date palm leaves, flowers and electric light. As the dancers whirl around the pot, a singer and a drummer provide the musical accompaniment. The participants clap in a steady rhythm. The dance usually starts slowly. It gets faster and faster as the music too gets more rapid until the dance abruptly comes to a halt. There is a pause for a while and the dance commences once again, the singer leading with a new song.

Another dance which is also a feature of Navaratri is the dandia-ras or ‘stick’ dance, in which men and women join the dance circle, holding small polished sticks or dandias. As they whirl to the intoxicating rhythm of the dance, men and women strike the dandias together, adding to the joyous atmosphere. So popular are the garba and the dandia-ras that competitions are held to assess the quality of the dancing. Prizes are given to those judged to be the best. The costumes worn for the dances are traditional and alive with colour. The dances usually commence late in the night and continue until early morning, testifying to their great popularity.

Navratri in Gujarat:
In different parts of the state the celebration of Navratri has different emphasis. In Saurashtra, bhavai, a dance drama is played. At Vadnagar in Mehsana Vada Garbani Sheri is focus of the attention as large number of men and women participate in garba-rasa. In Ahmedabad the fusion of modern music is at its peak and youngsters have gala time. The overnight extravaganza is worth witnessing for pomp, splendour and exhilaration that permeates everywhere. Isanpur near Ahmedabad is famous for its mandvi, which is erected on the thirteenth day with arti being performed the next day early in the morning. Account of Navratri would be incomplete without reference to Vadodara, the city of art and culture. Here, a number of groups perform garba-rasa stick dancing in quite professional manner. A bhavai performance is also held at Baroda’s Ambaji temple, during Navratri. The grace and dignity of the performances of Baroda leaves nothing to chance for its perfection.

Navratri is thus the festival that combines religious, devotional, cultural and recreational activities for almost a fortnight in different places for various reasons. As one friend from the Gujarat once said, To be in Gujarat during Navratri is to witness Gujarat at her best.