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An Excellent Article describing Navarathri, the festival of nine nights.

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Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com)

 

Celebrating a divine victory

NAVARATHRI OR festival of nine nights is celebrated differently

in various parts of the country. In the western State of Gujarat,

it is time for gaiety and revelry. Goddess Shakti is worshipped

and every town and hamlet comes alive with the colourfully

attired youth performing the traditional garba and dandiya raas.

 

In Bengal, the festival is celebrated as Durga Puja to

mark the triumph of good over evil. Images of the goddess are

worshipped and, at the end of the festivities, immersed amid

ritual and ceremony in rivers, lakes or ponds.

 

In North India, 10 days of jubilation reach a climax on Dussehra

with the burning of effigies of Ravana, Kumbakarna and Meghnath.

Vijaya Dasami is considered to be the day when Ravana was slain

by Sri Rama.

 

The legendary battle is enacted over several evenings in the

Ramalila a spectacular combination of music, dance and

theatre.

 

In the southern State of Karnataka, Dussehra is celebrated with

pomp and splendour and people from far and near flock to see the

pageantry in which the members of the royal family participate.

 

Mysore gets transformed into a magical world of light and colour

and on the last day of the festival, decorated elephants, horses,

regal coaches and folk dancers in bright costumes, troops in

uniform and tableaux depicting the cultural diversity of our

country pass through the streets in a majestic procession.

 

Devi Bhagawatham forms the basis of the celebration in Tamil

Nadu, Women and family elders usually wake up early in the

morning, after bath, prepare prasadam and perform aarthi. It is

an occasion when prasadam is fed to the poor.

 

The practice of Kolu was perhaps started to involve children in

the ceremonies.

 

They would bring out their best toys and dolls and dress them up

to represent characters from the Ramayana.

 

The dolls would be arranged on a wooden stand comprising several

tiers.

 

In South India, Navarathri is a festival dedicated to three devis

and is observed in three phases.

 

The first three days are dedicated to Durga, the ultimate

embodiment of divine power.

 

The next three days are dedicated to Lakshmi the Goddess

of Health, Wealth and Prosperity and the last three days to

Saraswathi, Goddess of Learning. Vijaya Dasami is considered

auspicious for initiating children into learning academics

or arts. Puja is also done to ayudham or equipment used daily and

on special occasions.

 

Days before Navarathri, the shops are flooded with kolu dolls.

Kolu is not restricted only to the display of the idols of the

gods and goddesses.

 

Today, innovation is the watchword. Friends and relatives,

usually women and children, are invited to see the display of

dolls. They are given coconut, turmeric, kumkum, flowers and

prasadam in keeping with the tradition.

 

Though kolu is still observed in many homes in Chennai, with the

break-up of the joint family there are not many kith and kin to

participate in the celebration.

 

The burden of the school bag and the inroads made by cable TV

into the leisure time children have at their disposal, are

beginning to make kolu less of an attraction.

 

But by and large, Navarathri continues to be a festival for women

and children, particularly in South India.

 

LAKSHMI SUNDARAM

 

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