Jaipur : Shardiya Navratri, the festival of worship of Goddess Navdurga, starts every year as soon as Shraddha is over. But this time it was not possible due to heavy month. This time Navratri festival is starting from today i.e. Saturday 17th October and will continue till 25th October. Let us know what is the importance of Shardiya Navratri and what is its mythological story?
Importance of Sharadiya Navratri
According to religious texts and Puranas, Sharadiya Navratri is the best time to worship Goddess Durga. During the holy days of Navratri, different forms of Mother Goddess are worshiped every day. Who provides happiness, power and knowledge to her devotees. Every day of Navratri is dedicated to a specific form of the Goddess and with the grace of each Goddess form, different types of wishes are fulfilled. The festival of Navratri is the festival of worship of Shakti.
Mythological story of Shardiya Navratri festival
There are two mythological stories in the scriptures about celebrating Navratri festival. According to the first legend, there was a demon named Mahishasura who was a great devotee of Lord Brahma. He pleased Lord Brahma with his penance and obtained a boon. In this boon, no god, demon or any human living on earth should be able to kill him. As soon as he received the boon, he became very cruel and started creating terror in all the three worlds. Troubled by his terror, the Gods and Goddesses along with Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh gave birth to Durga in the form of Mother Shakti. There was a fierce battle between Maa Durga and Mahishasura for nine days and on the tenth day, Maa Durga killed Mahishasura. This day is celebrated as the victory of evil over good.
Maryada Purushottam had worshiped Navadurga.
According to another mythological story, Lord Shri Ram worshiped Mother Bhagwati, the goddess of power, before attacking Lanka and for victory in the war with Ravana. In Rameshwaram he worshiped the Mother for nine days. Pleased with his devotion, mother blessed Shri Ram for victory in Lanka. On the tenth day, Lord Rama defeated the Lankan king Ravana in battle and killed him and conquered Lanka. This day is known as Vijayadashami.
These 9 forms of Mother Goddess are worshiped during Navratri.
During the 9 days of Navratri, 9 different forms of Goddess Bhagwati are worshipped. Maa Shailputri is worshiped on the first day, Maa Brahmacharini on the second day, Maa Chandraghanta on the third day, Maa Kushmanda on the fourth day, Maa Skandamata on the fifth day, Maa Katyayani on the sixth day, Maa Kalaratri on the seventh day, Maa Mahagauri on the eighth day and Maa Siddhidatri on the ninth and last day. There is a ritual of Ghatasthapana on the first day of Navratri.
