BHUBANESWAR: Sharad Navratri is a festival to celebrate the greatness and power of the divine feminine Goddess Durga. The festival is celebrated in various ways in different communities. The festivities of Navratri last nine nights and 10 days. The festival falls in the month of Ashvin, and it celebrates Goddess Durga’s nine avatars, symbolically representing victory over evil (demon Mahisasur). Sharad Navratri is followed by Vijayadashmi or celebration of victory.
According to mythology, the first day of worship is to Goddess Shailputri, daughter of the king of mountains. On this day, devotees get up early and start chanting Sudhi of homes, light up Akhanda Diya, wear red clothes and chant the 108 names of Shailputri.
The procedure to Navratri days is as follows: Day One – Prayers would be offered for the stapana of the Kalash with an earthen pot filled with water and surrounded by clay in which food grains are sown and allowed to sprout for nine days. Five stems of jowar are also placed over the pot which completes the ‘Ghat’. Women devotees worship the pot for nine days, offering a garland of flowers, leaves, fruits and dry fruits with rituals. Water is sprinkled to make the seeds sprout.
“Maa Shailaputri rides a white bull as her vehicle and in her right hand she holds a trishul. She holds a white lotus in the left hand with a bright crescent moon on her forehead. She dispels sorrow and diseases of all her devotees. She is also known as Parvati, Shaila Suta, Daksha Suta, Hemavati and Shailaputri. From ages, rishis started offering prayers to the nine different forms of the Goddess as she is referred to as ‘Nava Durga’ in many holy books. OrissaPOST interacted with devotees about the first day of Shailaputri Puja and this is what they had to say.
Avani Chanchar, a homemaker and resident of Kharvela Nagar, said, “As a Gujarati, I place kalash and an akhanda diya before Mata Rani which should be kept alight for nine-long days. I have specially flown Chunari from my home town in Gujarat to offer her. At night we are having Mata ki Chowki where Bhajan samaroh will go on for the whole night. All the married women will be offered new saris, bangles and mehendi cones as shagun with a box of sweets. We are arranging Garba dance with our locality women and men.
Shyamla Chakravarthy said, “Navratri fast goes on for nine days. On the first day, I offer my prayers to Maa Shailaputri and recite Devi Saptasati in a special manner taught by my mother-in-law Indrani Chakravarthy.”
More than devotees, Ram Mandir priest Bilas Bhai who has been specially called from Rajasthan to perform Navratri Jagrata Katha said, “The first day of puja holds a lot of importance as that day every devotee promises to stay away from mada, mastcha, kaama and greed (the four evils). No bad words are to be uttered or no bad thoughts to be entertained. It’s like a purification of mind and soul. Overall, the first day seems to be attracting a lot of devotees.”
