The festival of Navratra is celebrated twice in India. Once in the Hindi month
of Chaitra which is the month of March-April according to the Gregorian calendar
and again in the month of Ashwin i.e. September-October according to the English
calendar. It is a nine days long festival in which the Goddess Durga is
worshipped in nine different forms. People all over the country celebrate this
festival with immense joy and enthusiasm. Devotees of Maa Durga observe a
rigorous fast of nine days during this period. This festival in Hindu religion
is considered to be an eternally enlightening festival. Like most of the Hindu
festivals this worship also involves reading or hearing Katha or stories related
to the festival. Explore an interesting story about Navratri here, in this
article.
Navaratri Story
The story associated with Navratri can be found in various Hindu religious texts
like Markandeya Purana, Vamana Purana, Varaha Purana, Shiva Purana, Skanda
Purana, Devi Bhagavatam and Kalika Purana. The story of Navratra is the symbolic
message of the fact that however glorious and powerful the evil become, at the
end it is the goodness that wins over all of the evil. The story is associated
with Maa Durga and Mahisasura, the buffalo headed demon.
The story begins from the life of two sons of Danu called Rambha and Karambha
who performed austerities by to gain extreme power and authority. When their
prayers became deeper and austerities became exceptional, the King of the heaven
God Indra got perturbed. Out of fear, he killed Karambha. Rambha, who came to
know about his brother’s death, became more stubborn to win over the Gods. He
increased the intensity of his austerities and finally got several boons from
gods like great brilliance, beauty, invincibility in war. He also asked a
special wish of not being killed by either humans or Gods or Asuras.
He then considered himself immortal and started freely roaming in the garden of
Yaksha where he saw a female-buffalo and fell in love with her. To express his
love, Rambha disguised in the form of a male-buffalo and copulated with the
female buffalo. However, soon after that a real male buffalo discovered Rambha
mating with the she-buffalo and killed him. It was due to Rambha’s inflated ego
that killed him, out of which he has not asked his death to be spared from the
wrath of animals. As the pyre of Rambha was organized, the female-buffalo, who
was copulated with him jumped into the funeral pyre of Rambha to prove her love.
She was pregnant at that time. Thus, demon came out of the with the head of a
buffalo and human body and he was named Mahisasura (the buffalo headed demon).
Mahishasura was extremely powerful. He defeated the gods and the demons and
acruierd power over the entire world. He even won over the heaven and threw
devtas outside it. He captured the throne of Indra and declared himself to be
the the lord of the gods. The gods led by Brahma approached Vishnu and Shiva and
evaluated them of the situation. In order to save the Gods, the three supreme
deities emerged a light of anger, which combined to the take the shape of a
terrible form and this was Durga. All the gods then granted this Goddess of
power with all the supreme weapons they had. This is why; Durga is called the
brilliance of all the Gods.
When the goddess was seen by Mahishasura, he was mesmerized by her beauty. Her
then fell in love with her and proposed to marry her. The goddess said she will
marry him, if he defeated her in the battle. Then began a scary and terrible
battle between both of then which continued for nine days. Finally, on the last
day, Durga took the form of Chandika and stood over the chest of Mahishasura and
smashed him down with her foot. She then pierced his neck with her spear and cut
off his head off with her sword. It is the day when Vijayadashmi is celebrated. |
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