How many are actually aware of the history that is duly associated with the celebration of Navratri? Well if you are not then you should surely go through the article enlisted below. By reading this article will surely enlighten yourself with the history associated and the legends associated with the celebration. After reading click here to forward this page to your loved ones so that they as well become acquainted with the history associated.
Navratri
or the Festival of Nine Nights from Ashvin Sud 1 to 9 is devoted to the propitiation
of Shakti or Divine Mother. She represents prakriti, responsible for creation
of the world according to the religious ideology of Goddess worship.
There
are two interesting legends or epics associated with the history of Navratri and
celebrated across the country with great reverence and faith taking on different
names and idols.
Battle of good over evil
Legends
prevalent in North Indian :
Lord
Brahma of the trinity Brahma, Vishnu & Maheshwara, granted Mahishasura the
"buffalo demon," a boon that protected him from any man in the world
. Empowered by this gift, Mahishasura set out to conquer the world, heaven and
the world, and brought about the defeat of the king of deities,Indra. At the pleading
of Indra, the king of the Gods, Lords Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva created Devi Durga,
by combining their own divine powers (shakti). Endowed with the trinity's shakti,
Durga proved to be a formidable opponent who fought Mahisa for nine days, beheading
him on the tenth. The nine nights known as Navratri, symbolize the nine days of
battle between Devi Durga and Mahisasura, while the tenth day, which is vijayadashami-literally
means the victorious tenth day of conquest of good over evil.
In
West Bengal Navratri, and vijayadashami are respectively celebrated as Durga Puja
and Dasara.
In South India the festival includes other female deities an dedicates
three days of the festival to Lakshmi, the female archetype of wealth and fortune,
and another three to Saraswathi, the female archetype of learning, music and knowledge.
In
northern India it takes the form of the great epic Ramyana where Rama, an incarnation
of Vishnu is victorious over the evil king Ravana.
Lord Shiva's dance of destruction
(tandav):
The
Eastern Belief :
Daksha,
the king of the Himalayas and the plains, and his wife, Menaka, had a daughter
called Uma. Uma, was a devotee of Shiva since she was a child.She worshipped the
Lord as her husband. Shiva, satisfied by her devotion and faith agreed to marry
her. Daksha did not approve of a tiger-skin clad groom with ash & dirt spread
over all of his body. Despite all the opposition from her father,Uma got married
to Lord Shiva but was prevented by her father from moving to Kailash, the abode
of Shiva.
Daksha, later on, arranged for a 'yagna' where everyone except Shiva
was invited. Uma, feeling ashamed of the behavior of her father and shocked by
the attitude towards her husband, committed Sati (the woman immolates herself
in a burning pyre). Shiva came to know about this and went to Daksha's house.
He lifted the body of Uma on his shoulders and started dancing madly. With the
supreme power dancing, the World was on the verge of destruction. Narayana, (Lord
Vishnu) one of the trinity, came forward as a saviour and used his 'Chakra' to
cut the Body of Uma into pieces. Those pieces started falling off from the shoulder
of the dancing Shiva into different parts of the World. At fifty-two places these
pieces fell, the three in Gujarat being; Ambaji in Banaskantha, Bahucharaji in
Chunaval and Kalika on Pavagadh hill in Panchmahals. Shiva was finally pacified
when the last piece fell off from his shoulder. Narayana revived Uma for a new
life. Daksha, who was extremely sorry about his misdeeds, prayed for mercy and
was finally forgiven. The places where the pieces had fallen are known as the
'Shakti Piths' or energy pits, few of these places being Kalighat in Calcutta,
Kamakshya near Guwahati among others. Ever since peace was restored, Uma, with
her four children, Ganesh, Kartick, Saraswati and Laxmi and with her two 'sakhis'
- Jaya and Bijaya, comes to visit her parent's home each year during the season
of 'Sharat' or autumn when Durga Puja is celebrated.
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