Sharad Navaratri starts from 13 October to 22 October

* Sharad Navaratri starts from 13 October to 22 October *

Navratri is a festival dedicated to the worship of Mata Durga. The word Navaratri literally means nine nights in Sanskrit, nava meaning nine and ratri meaning nights. During these nine forms of Mata Durga are worshiped. The tenth day is commonly referred to as Vijayadashami or "Dussehra."

The nine names of goddess Durga are:
1. ‪#‎Shailaputri‬ 2. ‪#‎Brahmacharini‬ 3. ‪#‎Chandraghanta‬
4. ‪#‎Kushmanda‬ 5. ‪#‎Skandhamata‬ 6. ‪#‎Kaatyayani‬
7. ‪#‎Kalaratr‬ 8. ‪#‎Mahagauri‬ 9. ‪#‎Siddhiratri‬

During Navarati we will update detailed information about nine names of the goddess .

The story behind Sharad Navratri Battle of good over evil.

Lord Brahma of the trinity Brahma, Vishnu and 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.

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 and 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.(Taandav) 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.