Navratri or the nine sacred days is celebrated
with fervour and festivity all over India, and in every Hindu community the
world over. These nine days are dedicated solely to Maa Durga (Goddess Durga)
and her nine avatars. Durgã, the unassailable, is one of the most
impressive, beautiful, and formidable warrior goddesses of the Hindu pantheon.
Her story is the story of victory of good over evil. As ‘Mahishasurmardini’ she
slays the buffalo demon who threatened the stability of the cosmos. She is also
the Divine Mother protecting us all from evil and misery in every form. Though
she is a Hindu deity Durgã is not the quintessential Hindu woman. She is not
submissive and takes the battle to the males. In this role reversal, she stands
outside the stereotype of Hindu society. Let us understand the religious and
cultural aspect of Durgotsav and then
dwell on its irony.
The Religion
Navadurga (Nine forms of Durga), are nine
manifestations of the Goddess Durga in Hinduism, especially worshipped during the festival of Navratri where each of the nine manifested forms are consecutively
venerated throughout all the nine nights. These nine manifested forms of Goddess Durga are: Shailaputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayini, Kaalratri, Mahagauri and Siddhidhatri.
Let me briefly tell you about
each of these nine divine forms to make you aware of what all aspects of
womanhood are celebrated by Hinduism:
Shailaputri - After self-immolation in Her form
as Sati, the Mother Goddess took birth in the house of King of Mountains,
as the daughter of Lord Himalaya. Her vehicle is a bull and is
hailed as Vrishabhda
Brahmacharini - The Mother Goddess took birth at the home of
Daksha Prajapati, as his daughter, Sati, who was born to marry Shiva. This
unmarried form of the Mother Goddess is worshipped as Brahmacharini. Brahma means penance and Charini is a lady follower, this form is
the embodiment of knowledge and teaching, the way she attained Lord Shiva to be
her husband.
Chandraghanta - Goddess Chandraghanta is the married form of the
Mother Goddess. After getting married to Shiva, Goddess Mahagauri started
adorning her forehead with a half moon(Chandra) shaped like a bell(Ghanta) due
to which, she became known as Goddess Chandraghanta. This form of the Mother Goddess is ready for war and s seen
with all her weapons, to protect the peace and welfare of Her devotees. It is
believed that the sound of the moon-bell on her forehead drives all types of
evil away from Her devotees. She rides a lion and one can experience
fearlessness and bravery by worshipping her.
Kushmanda - After taking the form of Siddhidatri, the
Mother Goddess started living within the Sun thereby liberating the Sun's
energy to the universe. Since then, this form of the Goddess has been known
as Kushmanda, namely for her power and capability to live inside
the Sun. The glow and radiance of her body is as luminous as that of the Sun. She
has eight-arms, holds weapons, rides a tiger and is the cheerful Goddess! She
created the universe in the flash of Her smile and is believed to bestow siddhis(supernatural powers) and niddhis(wealth) to Her devotees.
Skandamata - In her form as mother of the God of
War, Lord Skanda(also known as Kartikeya), she is known
as Goddess Skandamata. She mounts
the ferocious lion and carries baby Skanda in her lap. Devotees who
worship this form of the Mother Goddess get the added benefit of blessings of
Lord Skanda.
Katyayini - The daughter of sage Katyayana, who incarnated
to help Devas to destroy demon Mahishasura is worshipped as Goddess Katyani. .
She rides on a magnificent
lion and is depicted with four hands. One can
receive righteousness, desire, salvation and sense of tranquillity from
worshipping her.
Kaalratri - This is the fiercest and the most
ferocious form of the Mother Goddess, in which she manifests to destroy the
demons, Sumbha and Nisumbha. Her complexion is dark black and She rides on a donkey. She
is depicted with four hands. Her right hands are in Abhayamudra and Varadamudra. She
carries a sword and deadly iron hook, the Kharga
in her left hands and a demon head and scimitar in the right. This form
destroys all darkness, and one can scare away the demonic forces by worshipping
her.
Mahagauri - Goddess Shailputri at the
age of sixteen was extremely beautiful and blessed with a fair complexion. Due
to her extremely fair complexion, she was known as Goddess Mahagauri.
She wears white clothes, has four arms holding a musical instrument in the left
and a trident in the right. Her right hand is in the pose of allaying fear and blessing
her devotees. She is known as the forgiving goddess and
forgives sinners and purifies them.
Siddhidhatri
- In the beginning of the universe, Lord Rudra worshipped the
un-manifest or nirakar form of the
Mother Goddess, Adi Parashakti for
creation. As Adi Parashakti, the
Mother Goddess was pure energy and had no form. She thus appeared in the form
of Siddhidhatri from the left half of Shiva. She bestows all
types of siddhi(supernatural powers) to her devotees and hence is
worshipped by humans, ghandarvas, asuras and devas alike. Siddhidatri
has the eight powers - Anima, Mahima,
Garima, Laghima, Prapti, Prakambya, Ishitva and Vashitva can be attained by her grace, his half-Shiva and
half-Shakti form of Ardhanarishwar is
granted by her.
The culture
Durga is the slayer of Mahishasura,
the demon epitomizing all evils, or, in other words, our inner demons—anger,
fear, hate, lust. She is also the supreme mother goddess, protecting all those
who seek her protection. In totality, she embodies Shakti—the female force,
latent in each human being, which manifests itself variously—as the slayer of
evil. It is she to whom the male God turns to vanquish evil. So, while Bengalis
first pay homage to her valour in ridding the world of evil, they then welcome
her as a daughter visiting her natal family. They essentially seek her
blessings as the supreme mother. Durga Puja thus is not just a Puja but a
cultural extravaganza!
The irony
In a country like India where Maa Durga is worshipped and women form the
backbone of the society, India is still fighting several demons of crimes
against women like human trafficking, rape, sex-selective abortion, dowry,
domestic violence and child marriage. We worship the girls in kanya
pujan but we don’t want them to be born in our family and if born, we
deprive them of education, equal rights and stature. They aren’t treated as the
princess of their parental house and life only gets tougher after marriage. We
want power from Durga, wealth from Lakshmi, knowledge from Sarawati. We want
everything from the women but we don’t want the women.
Women,
considered to be the creator, is worshipped in the Navratris but the bitter truth is that that only idols are
worshipped not the women in flesh and blood. We worship Maa Durga and seek shakti or power and then perpetrate
untold miseries on women at home and at work places! Whether it is domestic
violence or sexual harassment at work, women still are at a disadvantage.
Over the years, however, Durga's symbolism for women in India has been
undergoing a change. Increasingly, women are looking upon her as a symbol of
feminine power, rather than a divine mother, an inspiration to reclaim rights
that society has, over the centuries, deprived them of. The great thing about Hindu
tradition is that we can personalize the divine to suit our needs and true
women empowerment against all forms of evil – sex selective abortion, dowry, triple
talaq, sexual harassment in work place and rape and violence against women is
the need of the hour. These evils cannot go hand in hand with the devotion to
Mother Durga!
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