The Power Called Durga

There are many myths and legends attached to the Navratras. According to North Indian stories, Mahishasura, the mighty demon with the power to change into a buffalo obtained a boon from Lord Brahma that he could not be killed by any man in the world. Puffed up by the protection of the boon, he Mahishasura set out to conquer the three worlds of heaven, earth and hell and drove away Indra and other deities from their kingdom. To protect the world from his atrocities the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva united their powers to give birth to a female warrior-goddess Durga. Dazzled by the divine beauty, Mahishasura proposed the Goddess for marriage but was instead challenged to a duel that went on for nine days and nights and at last, resulted in the beheading of Mahisa on the tenth. The nine nights came to be known as Navratri, while the tenth day was called vijaya dashami, the tenth day that brought the triumph of good over the evil. In East India, however, the legends suggest that Daksha, the king of the Himalayas had a beautiful and virtuous daughter called Uma, who wished to marry Lord Shiva since her childhood. However, when Shiva finally came to marry her, the tiger-skin clad groom displeased Daksha and he broke off all the relationships with his daugher and son-in-law. The events took such a turn that Uma was so incensed of her father's rude behavior that she immolated herself to the great grief of Lord Shiva. However, she took re-birth and again won Shiva as her groom and peace was restored. It is believed that since then Uma comes every year with her four children Ganesh, Kartik, Saraswati and Laxmi and two of her best friends or 'sakhis' called Jaya and Bijaya, to visit her parent's home during Navratri. These legends and story are part of the history that surrounds the festival of Navratri and are going to be around as long as the festival continues.

The festival leads to spiritual growth of a person. It gives the person inner strength to fight against all odds of life - the courage to fight for the weaker section of the society and against all evils of the society. So the first three days is dedicated to the worship of Goddess Shakti. The next most important requirement in life is wealth and prosperity and for that the next three days of the festival is dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi (the Goddess of wealth and prosperity). Knowledge and learning is another important aspect of life. And for that the last three days of the festival is dedicated to Goddess Saraswati. She is worshipped so that she blesses us with power of knowledge and helps us to attain spiritual enlightenment.