Navratri Celebrations In India

Navaratri is a festival dedicated to Goddess Durga. This is a nine-day festival that celebrates the three important forms of the Goddess – Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. The nights of the festivals are celebrated with loads of dance, fun, songs and piousness. The festival comes to an end on the tenth day, which is celebrated all over the world as Dussehra. This is also the day when “good” presided over “evil”.

Timing of the festival

The exact dates of the festival change according to the lunar calendar every year. Though the dates vary each year, the festival always falls between the last week of September and first week of October, or during Dussehra.

Areas where the festival is celebrated

Though the festival is celebrated with great pomp and splendour almost all over India, festivities are on a very grand scale in the western states of India like Gujarat and Maharashtra. In West Bengal, all nine days of the festival and the concluding day of Dussehra are celebrated with great joy as Durga Puja.

Ways of celebrating the festival

Gujarat is at its colourful best during the festival. During the nine nights of the festival, men and women dress up in multi-coloured clothes and perform the famous Garba and Dandiya Raas dances. Garba is the traditional folk dance of Gujarat. They have sticks known as Dandiyas in their hands and they perform some excellent steps to the music.

Mumbai is slowly seeing a disco culture in the Dandiya dances conducted every year. Disco Dandiya has started to creep in many areas of Mumbai where men and women perform steps to some loud hip-hop and rap music. This has given an innovative feel to the otherwise ethnic dance moves. However in certain places, the traditional flavour is kept intact with the dance moves happening in various pandals and stadiums.

Ramlila plays mark the festivities of Navaratri in the national capital. It was believed that Lord Ram was granted the power to kill Lankan king Ravan during the start of Navaratri and that finally on the tenth day, the Lord killed Ravan, which is celebrated as the Dussehra festival.

Ceremonies conducted during the festival

The three forms of the Goddess like Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati are celebrated all through the nine days of the festival. Each form is celebrated for three days. For the first three days, Goddess Durga is worshipped for removing all negative impacts in one’s life. Then the second set of three days, Goddess Lakshmi is celebrated for blessing the devotees with fortune and prosperity. The last set of three days is dedicated to Goddess Saraswati for blessing the devotees with good wisdom and knowledge. The morning hours are dedicated for fasting and prayers while the evening hours are dedicated for fun, dancing, feasting and festivities.

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