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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00054 Oct 2001

 
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Dear friends,

Many of us are not fully aware of the significance of festivals in
India. We are also perhaps ignorant of how our countrymen in other
parts of India observe and celebrate these festivals. Here is an
interesting article adiyane came across on the web on the
significance of Navaratri and how it is celebrated in all parts of
India.

For your kind information only. Happy Navaratri!
Regards,
dAsan,
Sudarshan

*************************

Navarathri is the festival of nine nights.It is one of the
fascinating festivals of India and is celebrated with joy and
enthusiasm through out the countyr. This festival is celebrated
following the new moon day of the month of purattasi OR Ashwin
(September / October). The tenth day is called,Vijayadasami,it is
also called dussera or dusarah. 

The Navarathri festival is observed by contemplating on the almighty
for ten days, cleansing one's self of all impurities, in order to
experience the divinity within. The penultimate day of the festival
is dedicated to what is termed "worship of the instruments of trade
craft " (aayudha puja). 

Incidentally Vijayadashami is also the day Lord Rama won his battle
with Devil forces of demon Lord Ravana. 

In Bengal the festival is known as Durga Puja and is the most
important one . The image of the Goddess is worshipped in the home
and in public places where community worship is organized. This is an
occasion for the potter to display his skill in making images and
other artists in decoration, music. Worship is offered for nine
days; the tenth day, Vijaya Dasami, marks the triumph of the soul at
attaining liberation through descent of knowledge by the Grace of the
Divine Mother. The image is taken in a procession and immersed in the
sea or a lake. 

In South India, the festival is celebrated as a colorful exhibition
of dolls arranged on ascending steps; families and friends are
invited to come and join in the celebration, sing and worship. The
ninth day is Saraswathi Puja day when the Goddess of learning is
worshipped. On the tenth day, Vijaya Dasami is celebrated when new
students get enrolled and new projects are commenced, after offering
worship to the Goddess; old students continue their studies, invoking
the Goddess' Blessings and and renewing their contact with their
revered Gurus. 

In Gujarat, the most common form of public celebration is the
performance of the popular folk-dance - Garba. Ladies wear ethnic
Chania Choli and Males wear Dhoti-Kurta and dance through the Night.
The participants move round in a circle around a mandvi (garbo), a
structure to hold earthen lamps and to house the image and or idol of
mother goddess. Pandals are erected over these madvis and decorated
with date palm leaves, flowers electric light. As the dancers whirl
around the pot, a singer and a drummer provide the musical
accompaniment. Another popular Gujarati dance during Navaratri is
the dandia-ras or 'stick' dance, in which men and women join the
dance circle, holding small colorful, polished sticks or dandias.

In Mysore, Dushehra is a royal celebration. It celebrates Durga's
triumph over the demon Mahishasura (see also Durga Puja). The demon
is
believed to come from the city of Mysore and therefore it is the most
affected by this event. Celebrations to mark his death are observed
on a grand scale. The venue is the Chamundi hill, at the temple of
Durga who is also the family deity of the royal family. A regal
procession of decorated elephants, courtiers and court symbols wends
its circuitous way to the temple, decorated splendidly for the
festival. On reaching the temple, prayers are offered to the goddess.
This event attracts many tourists from India and abroad.


In the northern states of India, the festival is called Dussera; it
celebrates the home-coming of Rama the hero of the epic Ramayana,
after his victory over the ten-headed Ravana, the king of Lanka. In
vast open spaces, Ram-leela folk-plays with music and impromptu
dialogues re-telling the story of the life of Rama are enacted late
into the night. Songs are sung in praise of Rama and people throng in
thousands to witness this traditional theatre. Larger-than- life
figures of Ravana and other demons are burnt on cold dark nights with
fire-works lighting up the sky. 

Dussera is also reminiscent of the end of the exile and banishment of
the Pandava princes in the Mahabharata and their return with their
weapons to reclaim their kingdom. In memory of this epic story,
people
in Maharashtra worship the implements of their professions and
distribute the leaves of the Shami tree as gold and express their
goodwill. 

All over India, this ten-day period is observed as a festival of
thanks-giving and celebrated in diverse, colorful ways to celebrate
the glory of Devi, the Shakthi Goddess and the victory of good over
evil.

The diversity is characteristic of the Indian way of life.

Significance of Navaratri:

The festival initially attracts us through the color, gaiety, music
and dance associated with it. Then slowly, we begin to grasp the
significance of Navaratri and the symbolism behind the festival. The
power behind creation is Shakthi in its three aspects: Durga, Lakshmi
and Saraswathi. This power, we are assured by the Rishis-- the Seers,
resides in each one of us. We have to invoke this Shakthi to assist
us in reaching our ultimate goal which is realization of Oneness with
the
Divine Self in us.

____________________________________________

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