Navratri Festival

The eagerly awaited first day of the festival witnesses a flurry of ritualistic activity. A small platform, a couple of inches high, is prepared near the Mother Goddess with earth brought from the fields by starry-eyed children. As joss sticks are lit and suffuse the surroundings with their fragrance, grains of wheat of barley are shown in the miniature platform of war, moist fresh earth. Prayers and mantras are chanted as water from a kumbh or earthen pot is poured on platform. A betel nut and a silver coin are kept inside the pot while a coconut is placed on top. A profusion of flowers and Ashok leaves are placed before the Mother Goddess. A lamp is lit and kept in the garba (perforated earthen pot).

As evening falls, people gather beside the garba with its sacred flame that is constantly fed with ghee or oil, and must remain alight for nine whole nights. Soon, mellow voices singing bhajans and garbas-devotional Navratri Songs in praise of the Mother Goddess and the bounties of nature are carried in all directions by the evening breeze. In street after street the soothing refrains of a chorus of singers from home after home wafts out and melts and merges into an effect that verges on the mystical. Noisy cities and towns are transformed into lilting centers of song and joy.

The rituals over, men, women and children partake of the nine special preparations-after keeping a portion aside to feed a Brahmin or the poor. And then, it's on the streets, lanes and public squares and crossings once again. This is the ninth night-the climax of the festival. Everywhere, there is colour, and light and ecstatic movement and sound. Women in their most colourful best, their bangles jingling, their jewellery gleaming in the softness of the night sing and dance their way to the allotted sites, or where fancy may lead them.

Navratri Puja

Navratri Puja commemorates the victory of Goddess Durga over a demon, Mahishasur. Endowed with power, by the blessing of Lord Shiva the demon started destroying innocent people. The gods invoked Goddess Durga and asked for her help. The goddess, astride a lion fought with the demon and cut off his head. A Mesopotamian inscription that dates to a misty period long before Christ, describes the Mother Goddess as “the remover of the calamities of the people”. The Egyptian Goddess Isis, Ishtar of Babylon and Ijani of Summer bear a close resemblance to Amba, Kali and other goddesses of India. While nine successive days of festivities and worship are devoted exclusively to the Mother Goddess in most parts of India, Gujarat is the only state with a colourful tradition of nightly folk dances and songs in honour of the Goddess in Navratri Pooja.

REGIONAL FESTIVALS

The cultural diversity of our country is tellingly illustrated in the modes in which Navratri is celebrated in different regions of the country. In Tamil Nadu, the festival of Navratri is called Kolu. It is celebrated mainly by the women of the region and their practices on the occasion are rather quaint. Every home sets up planks or shelves in a corner and decorates it elaborately. On this is placed all the dolls in the house. There seems to be no fixed criteria for identifying a doll for such attention. Thus, one can espy exquisitely executed traditional dolls rubbing shoulder with battery-operated dolls and even Barbie dolls. In traditional families, however, old-fashioned wooden dolls are preserved in chests and trotted out on this occasion, given a brisk dusting over and proudly displayed. It is also an occasion for women to visit their neighbours, friends and relatives in a gesture of bonhomie. At these gatherings songs are sung and special sweets known locally as sundal served. Made from lentil and brown sugar, the sundal is invariably a runaway hit with children.

Navaratri, The most fascinating and colorful celebration of Navratri is perhaps the dandiya-raas and the garba performed throughout Gujarat and in some parts of Maharashtra and Rajasthan. These are dance forms characterized by vigorous yet graceful movements executed to vibrant music. The dandiya raas is performed by men, the dancers using a pair of wooden sticks (with the occasional cluster of bells attached to their ends) to beat out a rhythm to their steps. It was originally a small family thing were women of the house (in those days, that would be a lot, considering there were joint families) would gather around an idol of the deity and dance in circles (quite subdued, not what you probably envision as a raving dance in circles!).

With the entry of Gujaratis into Bombay, the festival was given huge dimensions. Today there are two variations, the Dandiya Raas (a dance with sticks) and Garba Raas (the circular clapping dance). These have become more like a pop culture today, with huge dance contests and open grounds where Navaratri is held with several variations, including 'Disco Dandiya' and 'Bhangra Garba'. Basically, it is nine nights of dancing and partying.

The Navratri festival celebrations at Ahmedabad and Baroda are famous throughout Gujarat. Here the evenings and nights are occasions for the fascinating Garba dance. The women dance around an earthen lamp while singing devotional songs accompanied by rhythmic clapping of the hands. In Punjab, Navratri is a period of fasting. In Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka dolls called Bommai Kolu are placed and decorated. Goddesses' Lakshmi, Durga and Saraswati are worshipped for three days. Gifts of coconuts, clothes and sweets are exchanged. Scenes culled from various stories in the epics and puranas are displayed.

PLACES TO VISIT

Though the festival Navratri is celebrated all over India, the celebrations that are really worth experiencing happens in the northern and western region of the country. One can see the various ritualistic tradition while indulging in some traditional delicacies too.