Navratri 2017 Fasts during Navratri: Puja, Nine different names in Navratri
Navratri marks the beginning of the nine-day festival devoted to goddess Durga. It is believed that during the course of these nine days, goddess Durga visits our home in her nine forms. The nine-day long festival comprises of fasting, daily pujas and participation in events. While the festival comes every autumn, it also commemorates Lord Rama’s victory of killing Ravana.
Northern part of India participates in this festival. People fast for nine days and refrain from eating daily food items like rice and Indian bread. This year Sharad Navratri will be between 21st September to 29th September. A major festival in the Indian transcripts, Navratri is the beginning of a host of festivals like Dussehra and Diwali. Goddess Durga is the symbol of power, prosperity, wealth, and health and hence nine forms of Durga are celebrated during this time. Along with Goddess Durga (and her other forms like Goddess Shakti), her daughters Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati are also worshipped during Navratri. Devotional music like bhajan renditions and also the garba dance in Gujarat mark Navratri celebrations.
Navratri Fasting you need to do:
- Take a bath every day. You need to keep yourself clean at all times.
- Stick to the Navratri diet which includes nuts, fruits, dairy products like milk and butter and selected flours
- Read the shlokas from Durga chalisa or any mantras you know of and devote them to Goddess Durga.
- At the end of the nine-day festival, serve food to girls as goddess Durga is known to reside in them.
- Do not keep your home dirty. Keep it clean at all times possible.
- No consumption of alcohol, drugs, eggs, non-vegetarian food, onions, garlic during this period.
- Another popular belief during this time is not to cut your hair.
- It is also believed that cutting nails or stitching during this time should be avoided.
Goddess Durga is Worshipped under nine different names in Navratri :
- Shailputri: After self-immolation in Her form as Sati, the Mother Goddess took birth as the daughter of Lord Himalaya. In Sanskrit, Shail means “the mountain”, due to which this form is known as Shailputri, the daughter of the mountain.
- Brahmacharini: Mother Goddess took birth at the home of Daksha Prajapati, as his daughter, Sati, who was born to marry Shiva. This unmarried form of the Mother Goddess is worshipped as Brahmacharini.
- Chandraghanta: Goddess Chandraghanta is the married form of the Mother Goddess following on from Shailputri and Mahagauri. After getting married to Shiva, Goddess Mahagauri started adorning her forehead with a half moon(Chandra) shaped like a bell(Ghanta) due to which, she became known as Goddess Chandraghanta.
- Kuchmanda: Mother Goddess started living within the Sun thereby liberating the Sun’s energy to the universe. Since then, this form of the Goddess has been known as Kushmanda, namely for her power and capability to live inside the Sun. The glow and radiance of her body is as luminous as that of the Sun.
- Skand Mata: In her form as mother of the God of War, Lord Skanda(also known as Kartikeya), she is known as Goddess Skandamata.
- Katyayani: To destroy demon Mahishasura.
- Kalratri: This is the fiercest and the most ferocious form of the Mother Goddess, in which she manifests to destroy the demons, Sumbha and Nisumbha.
- Maha Gauri: According to Hindu Religion, the Goddess Shailputri at the age of sixteen was extremely beautiful and blessed with a fair complexion. Due to her extremely fair complexion, she was known as Goddess Mahagauri.
- Siddhidatri: In the beginning of the universe, Lord Rudra worshipped the unmanifest form of the Mother Goddess, Adi Parashakti for creation. As Adi Parashakti, the Mother Goddess was pure energy and had no form. She thus appeared in the form of Siddhidatri from the left half of Shiva.
Also Check: Shree Mahalakshmi Jagadamba Mandir Navratri Mahotsav, Koradi, Nagpur
