What is the story of Navratri?

What is the story of Navratri?

Navratri is a Hindu festival celebrated by millions of devotees every year. It is devoted to Maa Durga and her dedicated worship, and is celebrated throughout the world. Navratri 2019 is from  29 September - 7 october . Maa Durga is a manifestation of Goddess Shakti and is widely revered by Hindus everywhere.

Navratri is a time of great joyousness and is very popular in north India. Each year, devotees offer ritualistic worship to Mata in her ultimate form of Durga at their homes, temples and pooja pandals. It is the best time to seek the divine blessings of Mata until she waves goodbye for another year.

Navratri is the holy festival of Maa Durga’s worship that comes twice in a year. The autumnal Navratri during the Ashwin month has special significance and is considered as the most important festival by millions of northern and eastern Indians. Navratri is also the festival that celebrates the spring and autumnal seasons of the year and their arrival. Maa Shakti, the primordial feminine energy of all creation in the Universe, is worshiped and the devotees benefit from her powerful blessings.

The major story associated with Navratri is the battle between the great Goddess Durga and the demon Mahishasura, who represents Egotism. To understand this story one must understand the Hindu view of life and society. Hinduism views the world drama as a battle between the forces of light and darkness. But the battle is not defined as a battle between different sections of human society on the basis of belief or disbelief in a particular dogma.

In ancient time there was a demon named Mahishasur( Buffalo demon) who was undefeated by many gods and goddesses. So all the gods and goddesses prayed to goddess Durga for 9 day. As she has 9 different forms and all of them have some special powers. On the last day(9th day) goddess was happy and appeared in front of them and agreed to fight Mahishasur. On the 10th day goddess fought against him and killed the demon. ( So according to my grandmother if one does pooja during navratri their wish will be granted).

On the 10th day of Durga pooja (Navratri) lord Ram defeated Ravan and killed him. It's a symbol of victory of good over evil. To celebrate that every year people do Ravan dehen(burning of demon) in northern part of India.

Lord Rama worshipped devi bhagwati, the supreme parashakti for nine consecutive nights to emerge victorious against Ravana in the Dharma Yuddh. It was suggested by devi sita to do so. N on the 9th day, Sri ram had to prove his devotion by offering his eye (since sri ram was referred as kamalnayan by his mother devi kausalya) to compensate the missing lotus which maa bhagwati hid deliberately to test him. This pleased maa parashakti n she granted him the victory. On the 10th day, Sri ram slayed Asur Ravan n that day came to be celebrated as Vijaya Dashmi (Dussehra- das sar waala haara). On the other hand, there's a different incident to explain how chaitra navratri came into existence. Infact, there are many navratris that take place throughout the year called Gupt navratri. But of all these, chaitra n shardiya navratri are celebrating more widely.