Omkar Dattatray
Navratri festival is celebrated twice in a year ,once as Chiatra navratri and then as Sharad Navratri .Both Navratri’s are celebrated with great devotion and traditional gaiety .The underlying essence and spirit is the celebration ,respect and reverence to feminine power which is the cause and action of the universe. Thus Navtatri is dedicated to the importance of feminine power without which we cannot think of the universe .Therefore by celebrating the Navratri’s ,we actually celebrate feminine power as its significance is very great in the world and for all humanity .As the name implies ,Navratri consists of nine days and nights which are dedicated to the nine forms of the Shakti. During Navratri people especially the women keep fast and worship the small girls being the form of Shakti that is being the feminine power. Navratri shows and teaches us to revere and respect women and therefore we should learn to respect the women folk in the day to day life and only then we are successful in celebrating Navratris .We should appreciate that before manifestation of the universe ,when nothing else existed ,what existed was the omnipresent formless Divine Consciousness .This is also called the static consciousness or Shiva in Hindu scriptures .When universe came into being ,first of all from static consciousness manifested Dynamic Consciousness Shakti.
Shakti is the feminine power of Shiva and is the creative force behind the world .Shiva as masculine power is not capable of creating anything without feminine power and hence first to manifest is His own creative feminine power as Shakti ,who was then allowed to create the universe .This Shakti is also known as the Divine Mother ,as everything in the universe has taken birth from its womb. This Divine Mother ,which has given birth to the universe ,also nurtures and sustains it ,and has the power to destroy it .There are primarily and actually nine aspects of the Divine Mother which helps it to create ,sustain and destroy or dissolve back the universe .There nine aspects of the Divine Mother are worshipped in the Hindu religion as nine shaktis during the nine day Navaratri festival .These nine forms of the Divine Mother (Goddess Durga ) are named as Shalputri, Brahmacharni, Chanderganta Kushmandi, Skindamata, Kyantyne, Kalratri, Mahagauri and Sededhatri.
Durga is the inaccessible ,invincible one and omnipotent ,the main source of energy for creation.
Shalputri is the mother of gross universe .All the gross objects and beings have manifested from this Shalputri aspect of the Divine Mother .Bramcharni is the form of celibacy. As per Sanatan Dhrama, Durga in her Kali Roopa fought demons for nine days and eventually freed mother earth from their atrocities .Thus the tenth day is celebrated as Vijayadashmi meaning the day of victory ,triumph over bad elements .The Navratri festival basically denotes the tremendous potential power ,the feminine aspect of creation has within herself ,which also draws down to the power of an ordinary/common women .in fact women is the epitome of the feminine aspect of creation and till she is respected ,loved and treated as auspicious for the entire human race ,she can give joy ,peace and help in the growth of every aspect of creation. Shailputri is the daughter of the Mountain king Himavat, and is manifestation and form of the Hindu mother goddess Mahadevi ,representing herself as the pure form of goddess Parvati. She is the first Navadurga venerated during the first day of Navratri ,and is incarnation of Goddess Sati. Thus Maa Shailputri is one of the Navadurgas and is the provider of fortune and prosperity .Devotees hail her as mother nature and pray for their spiritual awakening .The second form of Navadurga is called Brahmacharni which means a devoted female student who lives in an Ashrama with her Guru along with other students. She is the second form of Mahadavi and is worshipped on the second day of Navratri. The goddess Brahmacharni is an aspect of Parvati and wears white clothes ,holding a japamala in her right hand and a kamandalu in her right .She is the form of Navadurga who did severe penance and is the goddess of devotion and penance .The third form of Maa Durga is known as Chandraganta.
On the third day of Navratri, this form of Durga is worshipped .She is called Chandraganta because on her forehead is half moon in the shape of Ganta.
By her worship, the devotees are freed from all the troubles of this body and with ease reach to supreme bliss. It is the Chandarganta who had killed the demon Maheshasura and freed the world from this cruel demon. The fourth form of Maa Durga is called Kushmanda. She has created the universe with her small smile and thus the name Kushmanda.
She is worshipped on the fourth day of Navaratri .Skandamata is the fifth among the Navadurga forms of Mahadevi .Her name comes from Skanda ,an alternate name for the war god. She is the powerful goddess whose love and care helped lord Kartikeya to defeat the demon Tarkasura. Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati’s first son, Lord Kartikeya ,was also known as Skanda. Hence Maaa Parvati is often referred to as Skandamata. She is believed to protect her devotees ,just like a mother protects her child from harm. The sixth form of Maa Durga is known as Katyani and she is an aspect of Mahadevi and the slayer of the tyrannical demon Mahishasura. In Shaktism, she is associated with the fierce forms of Shakti or Durga, a warrior goddess, which also includes Bhadrakali and Chandika. With the difficult penance of saint Kantiyan she took birth from the couple of Katayana as she was happy with his penance and hence the sixth form of Maa Durga is called Katayani.She is believed to bliss her devotees and benefits them. The seventh form of Maa Durga is known as Kalratri and she is worshipped on the sixth day of Navratri. She seems very dangerous and fearful, but she always gives good results and blessings. She is first referenced in Devi Mahatmya.
Kalaratri is one of the fearsome forms of the goddess .She is the goddess of auspiciousness and courage. Kalaratri is traditionally worshipped during the nine nights of the Navratri celebrations. The seventh day of Navratri Pooja in particular is dedicated to her and she is considered the fiercest form of mother goddess ,her appearance itself invoking fear. This form of goddess is believed to be the destroyer of all demon entities, ghosts ,evil spirits and negative energies, which flee upon knowing of her arrival. .Kalaratri is also known as Shubankari meaning auspicious /doing good in Sanskrit ,due to the belief that she always provides auspicious results to her devotees. Hence ,it is believed that she makes her devotees fearless. Mahagauri is the eight form among the Navdurga aspects of the Hindu mother goddess Mahadavi. She is worshipped on the eight day of Navratri .According to Hinduism ,Mahagauri has the power to fulfill all desires of her devotees .The one who worships this goddess ,gets relief from all the sufferings in life .She is the goddess of beauty and women .she is very powerful and is the bestower of all good fruits and results .Siddhidhatri is the ninth and final among the Navadurga aspects of the Hindu mother goddess Mahadavi. As the name Siddhi implies the supernatural power or meditative ability and Dhatri means giver or awarde. She is worshipped on the ninth day of Navratri. .She fulfills all the divine aspirations. It is believed that one side of Lord Shiva’s body is that of Goddess of Siddhidatri .Therefore Shiva is also known as Ardhanarishwara .According to Vedic scriptures ,Lord Shiva attained all the siddhis by worshipping this form of Maa Durga .She is in fact the goddess of supernatural powers or Siddha’s .On the ninth day of the Navaratri ,nine small girls are worshipped as being the nine forms of Maa Durga and their feet are washed and they are offered fruits ,money ,utensils etc .We Indians worship the feminine power during Navaratri’s but alas! in actual practice the women are heaped atrocities and they are harassed and even some are subjected to sexual assaults. .There is talk of the empowerment of women but in actual world ,the women folk is harassed and even molested .It is a big contradiction that on one side we worship the women and on other side there are the increasing cases of molestation and sexual assaults on the women which is very unfortunate and this way we nullify the essence and spirit of Navratri Pooja. The best performance of the Navratri celebrations is only when we learn to revere ,respect and honor the women in the day to day life and in homes ,places of worship ,at workplaces ,in educational institutions and at all the places because where women are respected ,gods travel there .Thus the best way to celebrate the feminine power is that we should respect the women in the actual world.
(The author is a columnist, social and KP activist).
