JAMGHAT IN LUCKNOW WITH PATANGBAZI

The Exuberance of Jamghat in Lucknow is simply breathtaking. As if the festivities of Diwali were not enough, comes the festival of Kite flying 🔷🔸in my city. Lucknow has a very old tradition of patangbazi.

With no televisions, internet, and video games for leisure, the people of Lucknow are believed to have indulged in kite flying, cock fighting, shatranj (chess) and kancha (marbles) as common pastimes during the days of the Nawabs. The charm of these activities is still alive in the hearts of proud Lakhnawis who seem to be highly influenced by the Nawabs and their lifestyle practices.

Patangbazi (kite flying) was the most common and popular leisure activity practiced in the old areas of Lucknow, especially Chowk, Aminabad, Nakhas, Saadatganj, Moulvigang and Kaisarbagh. This recreational activity was actually a full-time recreation for several people in the city, who spend the most part of their day at the banks of the Gomti or their rooftops flying various types of colorful kites.

Every year, one particular day is devoted to extensive kite flying, a special day when kite-flying enthusiasts of the city take part in various Patangbazi competitions on the banks of the river Gomti. This day falls on the next day of Diwali and is known as Jamghat. Extensive preparations are made by people from all age groups before Jamghat. It is a very special occasion where people of different religions and castes come together on one platform and take active part in various Patangbazi (Kite flying) competitions.

Jamghat festival also symbolizes the renowned Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb of Lucknow where Hindus and Muslims come together, exchange sweets and fly kites. Jamghat is a one of its kind event, which maintains harmony and a social relationship between the Hindus and Muslims of Lucknow. The active participation of Muslims and Hindus during Jamghat with equal enthusiasm displays the real essence of Tehzeeb and brotherhood unique to Lucknow city.

Jamghat and Patangein (Kites) and Lucknow are so very interlinked that it is very difficult to untangle this relationship.

Many Nawabs of Awadh had a deep fascination towards kite flying. Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah had a strong interest in kite flying. Nawab Aga Abu Turrab Khan, who was Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah’s uncle, taught the Nawab how to fly kites. With patronage from Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah, kite flying soon became popular amongst the masses in Lucknow. Nawab Amjad Ali Shah also took personal interest in this pastime and is said to have contributed towards the improvement in the fundamental design of the kite to just one shoulder from two shoulders.

The Nawabs used to fly their kites made of gold or silver. They also utilized gold-polished manjha and charkhi. Whoever brought back the kati patang of the Nawabs was handsomely awarded. There were two different styles of kite flying during the Nawabi period. People used to engage in Pench Ladana (cutting the manjha of the opponent’s kite) through “Kheench Ke” technique (fast pulling of the kite) or “Dheel de Ke” method (slow release of the manjha). These two popular styles of kite flying are still widely employed by the kite flyers today.

Kite Flying Lingo and Accessories used during the Jamghat are unique.There are different types of kites flown in Lucknow during Jamghat. Kankawwa is considered to be the biggest kite made from a full sheet of paper. This kite had its origin during the reign of Nawabs. Experienced kite flyers tend to use Kankawwa during the Jamghat festival. Pauntawa kite is produced from 3/4th portion of a sheet of paper.

Pauntai kite is produced from a left-over portion of Pauntawa. Kids and teenagers are very fond of Pauntai kites. Sava ka Teen kites are actually three kites made from 3/4th part of paper. Chichi is generally a small kite with a tail at the base and it has a thin wooden spine of 7-8 inches.

Phirki or Charkhi is used to assemble manjha. It is generally a wooden spindle utilized to collect the thread. Manjha is a sharp thread attached to the kite in order to cut other kites. Saddi is a normal thread without any sharpness used to fly kites. Kanne is an arrangement of saddi or thread attached to the thin spine of the kite that is fixed with the main chord in order to make it fly. Taar ki Patang is also used to trap or entangle a kite that has been cut by other kite flyers. Taar is essentially a very thin piece of metal intertwined with other taars at many ends to make a set-up to catch kites.

History of kite flying is centuries old. It is said to have been introduced to India by Chinese travelers Fa Hein and Huien Tsang. It is considered an art by many people in Lucknow. That legacy was carried through the reign of Nawabs and today scores of Lucknowites spend massive amount of time and money on this pastime. Kite making requires detailed precision and skills and patangbaz shaukeens have patronized this dying art. The fascination of Pench Ladana, Kheech Ke and Dheel de Ke still persists in Lucknow and would never fade going by the love for heritage ingrained in the hearts of Lucknowites.

THE VITRUVIAN MAN

Leonardo da Vinci's image of the Vitruvian Man is an iconic symbol of human proportions.  The Vitruvian Man (Italian: Le proporzioni del corpo umano secondo Vitruvio, which is translated to "The proportions of the human body according to Vitruvius"), is a drawing made by the Italian polymath around 1490.

Nearly everyone has seen it, even if they haven't had a name for it: a naked male contained within a circle and square. It is a study of the ideal proportions of the human form. It is part of a book written by Luca Pacioli known as the 'Divine Proportion'. While da Vinci was more of an artist, he was also a dedicated scientist, illustrating the things he observed and designing feats of engineering. Vitruvian Man is a study of the human form visually perfected through the application of mathematics. A big part of this attempt at idealism and naturalism was to figure out the proper proportions of the human body, how the various parts compared to each other and to the larger whole. People, such as da Vinci, saw mathematics as a universal constant, with proper proportions repeating themselves across the universe.

It is known as the Vitruvian Man because it is actually an illustration of concepts described by the Roman Vitruvius in the 1st century BC. Vitruvius, in turn, was actually describing a work known as the 'Canon' by Polykleitos, a Greek from the 5th century BC.

The drawing, Vitruvian Man, is based on the correlations of ideal human body proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise De architectura. Vitruvius described the human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the classical orders of architecture. Vitruvius determined that the ideal body should be eight heads high. Leonardo's drawing is traditionally named in honor of the architect.

The drawing is accompanied by notes based on the work of the architect Vitruvius. The drawing, which is in ink on paper, depicts a man in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and inscribed in a circle and square. It is kept in the Gabinetto dei disegni e stampe of the Gallerie dell'Accademia, in Venice, Italy, under reference 228. Like most works on paper, it is displayed to the public only occasionally, so it is not part of the normal exhibition of the museum.

This image demonstrates the blend of mathematics and art during the Renaissance and shows Leonardo's deep understanding of proportion. In addition, this picture represents a cornerstone of Leonardo's attempts to relate man to nature. Encyclopædia Britannica online states, "Leonardo envisaged the great picture chart of the human body he had produced through his anatomical drawings and Vitruvian Man as a cosmografia del minor mondo (cosmography of the microcosm). He believed the workings of the human body to be an analogy for the workings of the universe.

According to Leonardo's preview in the accompanying text, written in mirror writing, it was made as a study of the proportions of the (male) human body as described in Vitruvius. The text is in two parts, above and below the image.

The first paragraph of the upper part reports Vitruvius: "Vetruvio, architect, puts in his work on architecture that the measurements of man are in nature distributed in this manner, that is:

• ·         a palm is four fingers
• ·         a foot is four palms
• ·         a cubit is six palms
• ·         four cubits make a man
• ·         a pace is four cubits
• ·         a man is 24 palms

and these measurements are in his buildings". The second paragraph reads: "if you open your legs enough that your head is lowered by one-fourteenth of your height and raise your hands enough that your extended fingers touch the line of the top of your head, know that the centre of the extended limbs will be the navel, and the space between the legs will be an equilateral triangle".

The lower section of text gives these proportions:

• ·         the length of the outspread arms is equal to the height of a man
• ·         from the hairline to the bottom of the chin is one-tenth of the height of a man
• ·         from below the chin to the top of the head is one-eighth of the height of a man
• ·         from above the chest to the top of the head is one-sixth of the height of a man
• ·         from above the chest to the hairline is one-seventh of the height of a man.
• ·         the maximum width of the shoulders is a quarter of the height of a man.
• ·         from the breasts to the top of the head is a quarter of the height of a man.
• ·         the distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand is a quarter of the height of a man.
• ·         the distance from the elbow to the armpit is one-eighth of the height of a man.
• ·         the length of the hand is one-tenth of the height of a man.
• ·         the root of the penis is at half the height of a man.
• ·         the foot is one-seventh of the height of a man.
• ·         from below the foot to below the knee is a quarter of the height of a man.
• ·         from below the knee to the root of the penis is a quarter of the height of a man.
• ·         the distances from below the chin to the nose and the eyebrows and the hairline are equal to the ears and to one-third of the face.

The points determining these proportions are marked with lines on the drawing. Below the drawing itself is a single line equal to a side of the square and divided into four cubits, of which the outer two are divided into six palms each, two of which have the mirror-text annotation "palmi"; the outermost two palms are divided into four fingers each, and are each annotated "diti".

In the human body the central point is naturally the navel. For if a man be placed flat on his back, with his hands and feet extended, and a pair of compasses centred at his navel, the fingers and toes of his two hands and feet will touch the circumference of a circle described therefrom. And just as the human body yields a circular outline, so too a square figure may be found from it. For if we measure the distance from the soles of the feet to the top of the head, and then apply that measure to the outstretched arms, the breadth will be found to be the same as the height, as in the case of plane surfaces which are perfectly square.

It may be noticed by examining the drawing that the combination of arm and leg positions actually creates sixteen different poses. The pose with the arms straight out and the feet together is seen to be inscribed in the superimposed square. On the other hand, the "spread-eagle" pose is seen to be inscribed in the superimposed circle.

The classic drawing has changed many hands. It was purchased from Gaudenzio de' Pagave by Giuseppe Bossi, who described, discussed and illustrated it in his monograph on Leonardo's The Last Supper, Del Cenacolo di Leonardo da Vinci libri quattro (1810). The following year he excerpted the section of his monograph concerned with the Vitruvian Man and published it as Delle opinioni di Leonardo da Vinci intorno alla simmetria de'Corpi Umani (1811). After Bossi's death in 1815 the Vitruvian Man was acquired in 1822, along with a number of his drawings, by the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, Italy, and has remained there since.

RAISING BILINGUAL CHILDREN - ADVANTAGE INDIA

In most of the western countries raising bilingual children, or in other words, giving the child the gift of a second language other than his/her mother-tongue, is a big issue. In India however this ability comes to our children almost automatically. So, we must be doing something right, and doing it so proficiently that we do not consider it to be a big deal. But actually it is. If you are not belonging to the Hindi heartland but have migrated there because of your professional compulsions, the children end up learning not two but three languages almost effortlessly! This is because of the vast linguistic diversity of our Nation and the two language formula of our school education.

Today, with the development of global international culture, more and more parents want to give their young children as many language skills as possible - not only one native tongue but also other languages that can be used for the better in the future; for those who aren’t native English speakers, English is, of course, usually at the top of the list, but also Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, Bengali and French can be on the list of languages you’d want to teach your child as these remain the most spoken languages in the world! An extra language proficiency is a huge plus in the job market and it opens the child to a whole new world of literature and culture.

Our desire as parents is to help our children become bi or even a multi-lingual, as early as possible, however, the fears in doing this often outweigh the desire. A lot of myths revolve around the issue of bilingual and multi-lingual child rearing which bother many parents who ultimately decide to abandon this worthy goal in the western world. But our experience in India is a clear testimony as to why they are wrong and why it’s worthwhile and recommended to overcome these fears and begin the process of teaching your child more languages at an early age.

Will learning two languages simultaneously confuse the child?

Many of those who argue against the introduction of an additional language cling to the myth that the extra language can confuse a child leading to them using both languages in one sentence. But it is important that you know that although this may happen, it isn’t really harmful; On the contrary, it is an act of ingenuity on the part of the child, and an intelligent use of all the tools at their disposal in order to convey an idea and to convey a certain message in a clearer and understandable way. The English spoken in almost every state in India has a distinct flavor of the state’s native language with its own distinctive accent. So, though grammatically it remains Queen’s English, certain local words, phrases and most importantly the diction adds a very distinctive native fragrance. Thus Hinglish of the Hindi Heartland, the Rosogolla accent of Bengal, the rustic English of Punjab, the heavily accented English of Tamilnadu are all spoken and understood, though initially with a bit of difficulty,

Experts agree that the mixing of languages is temporary, and eventually, as the vocabulary of the child in the two languages learned will increase, and the more exposed they are to both languages, the habit will disappear. We, as adults, also tend to mix languages unintentionally when we don’t know how to say a particular term in a single language or when a word in another language sounds better or more accurate in describing a situation. After all what are the English equivalents of Veranda, Jungle, Bandanna, Dinghy, Pajama, Juggernaut, Cashmere, Thug, Chutney, Loot, Bungalow? The Empire is striking back and these words are already in the English dictionaries.

Will bilingualism delay speech development?

There are those who argue that trying to teach two languages will cause a general delay in the development of speech and communication. This concern is based on a number of incidents that have occurred, but the delay has always been temporary, and this isn’t true for everyone. Unfortunately, many western parents who are concerned about language development difficulties stop the learning process and return to teaching their child only one language.

We in our family have seen that bilingualism does not delay speech development or language acquisition. I am a Bengali and my wife is from the Garhwal hills but stayed and studied in Lucknow. Our both children learned three languages Bengali, Hindi and English almost simultaneously as did the kids of other Bengali friends in the community.  Studies have shown that children with delayed development of bilingual language are eventually able to acquire languages with the same level of competence as language-delayed children raised as single-language speakers. So bilingualism has very little to do with delayed speech.

Being bilingual and being proficient in both languages are two very different things

If you think that learning a second language is a very simple process and all that is needed is to talk to the child in the language, or to just place them in front of different sources of that language, for example, T.V shows and music so that they can absorb it on their own, this is an unrealistic idea that is likely to lead to insignificant results. The process of teaching a new language should not be a heavy burden on your shoulders; however, it is important to present the child with the correct language and structure, as well as to persist in proper and consistent learning, whether in everyday conversations with the same language or traditional means of study – poems, story books etc. The idea is that in the end, you must expose your child to the language in a way that is meaningful to them; this includes interesting learning methods that relate to their daily life and routine.

You can learn another language at any age up to puberty

Many parents believe that there is a certain stage in childhood after which it is too late to try to raise their child bilingual. Therefore, if their child has crossed that age, they will not try to teach them a second language. But you should know that this is a mistake because all professionals and experts indicate that in most cases there are three optimal times for teaching a child a second language.

It is true that the best stage to impart to the child the knowledge of the additional language is from the moment of birth until the age of 3 - since this is the period when they acquire their first language and their mind is still open and able to be molded - but the 4-7 age range is also suitable for this purpose, as at this age they can still process multiple languages, that is to build a second language system next to the first language and learn how to speak both languages well. This is the time when most Indian children learn English. The third window of opportunity is between the age of 8 and puberty. After puberty, studies show that new languages are stored in a separate area of the brain thus making language acquisition at this age much more difficult, yet still possible.

Do parents need to know both the languages?

It helps if both parents know both the languages but if each of them is proficient in one language the child will pick up both the languages, and often so will the parents! In a house where two parents speak only one language, or only one of them speaks the other language they want to impart to a child, it is questionable whether it is even possible to raise a bilingual child. They start conversing in the language of comfort, the common language and ignore the second one……and so does the child. The Indian joint family is a huge language melting pot and if not the mother the grandmother will teach the child the second language. My mother taught both my sons as well as my wife and all of them speak Bengali fluently. And for those who are not so lucky,  today there are many professional aids that can help you teach your child a second language.

Of course you should take into consideration that if you decide to teach your child a second language without being able to speak it yourself, you may also have to learn some parts of it to help your child absorb it better - but you don’t need to speak it fluently. Movies, books, and of course, classes and professionals who specialize in language learning for children can be of great help to you and contribute to the development of the additional language in your child even without you mastering it as a second language yourself.

Every child can be bilingual

Every child can be bilingual, regardless of their IQ or intelligence. When you teach your child a second language you should not be concerned about whether they are "smart enough" to go through the process, but only whether you are willing to make some lifestyle changes to make it happen.

It might be helpful to know that children are actually born ready to learn languages, and don’t need any special intellect or gift to do so. A young brain has an advantage in learning languages more than any other tendency. It is quite an effort after puberty.

In a globalized world, where mobility is facilitated, learning a language is a wonderful benefit. Not only does it help when traveling, it is also a great advantage for studying in general and for career prospects abroad. Acquiring a second language enables us to develop various mental abilities at all ages and it improves our networking skills and job prospects. But trying to understand a language and the heritage that goes with it puts us in a position of self-discovery. It makes us come to terms with how we view the world and other cultures, and have more appreciation of our own. In the end, we come to terms with our own self.

COBWEBS IN YOUR HEAD

Have you ever gone into a room that hasn't been used in a long time only to find dusty surfaces, cobwebs in dark corners, and old memories in the drawers? Well, some corners of our mind can be a lot like that unoccupied room when we don't take the time to clean out the gunk. They are a warehouse of useless and wicked thoughts which tend to play tricks with us, unless we learn to control them and channelize them to assist in our growth and progress.

Our thoughts shape our reality and can help us to be happy and relaxed, or stressed and lost, unable to take meaningful steps to advance our lives. Our thoughts are a catalyst for self-perpetuating cycles. What we think directly influences how we feel and how we behave. So if you think you’re a failure, you’ll feel like a failure. Then, you’ll act like a failure, which reinforces your belief that you must be a failure. Fortunately the reverse is also true – if you think you are a champion, you start behaving and performing like one!

These useless thoughts, wicked notions and doubts are present in every mind and are a part of our evolution as a species. We have an insatiable appetite for them, and we often worry about what could go wrong. This served us well when we were living in caves and being chased by lions, but can hinder us in the 21st century. As the prominent psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi puts it, “Evolution has set the mind on an endless treadmill.”

There is good news though — once we become aware that we’re on the treadmill, we can choose to get off of it.

Once you draw a conclusion about yourself, you’re likely to do two things; look for evidence that reinforces your belief and discount anything that runs contrary to your belief. Someone who develops the belief that he’s a failure, for example, will view each mistake as proof that he’s not good enough. When he does succeed at something, he’ll chalk it up to luck. A champion under exact similar circumstances will attribute his success to his potentials and abilities and to him his occasional failures are stepping stones to future success!

Creating a more positive outlook can lead to better outcomes. That’s not to say positive thoughts have magical powers. But optimistic thoughts lead to productive behavior, which increases your chances of a successful outcome.

So how can we clean the cobwebs in our head and learn to think and behave like a champion? 

1. Banish concerns – it only create more worries

The more you think about something bad, the more likely it will happen and so if you have a day full of parental concerns or stressful events, the more you think about them, the greater the chance of you accumulating a huge amount of negative thoughts that simply block your ability to think positively. It’s okay to worry or be angry, however, it’s better to release these thoughts and feelings as soon as possible and not give them room in your mind. Concerns don’t solve problems, they accentuate them.

2. You don’t need to narrate your life

We all have a small voice in our heads that keeps us on the right track and helps us focus, but alongside its many advantages, it also has some significant drawbacks. If we don’t stop it in time, this "internal narrator" can convince us of things that just aren’t true like what other people think about us, and even to instill meaning into the most casual and random events. Our inner voice is only an expression of our imagination and our fears. So if you want to be happy, stop telling yourself that you're unhappy and start thinking about what you can do to improve the situation.

3. Feelings of defeat and victory are temporary 

You need to remember that everything passes – both good and bad. How you feel right now after a setback – shame, guilt or fear, isn’t how you’ll feel in the near future. This feeling will pass. The more you amplify and magnify these feelings now, the more likely they’ll be twice as intense in the future. So be humble in victory and introspective in defeat so as to learn from it…..because both victory and defeat will pass and only what you gather from them will remain with you!

4. You are unique

There is no point in constant and unbridled self-criticism. There is no point in comparing oneself to others. No matter how far you’ve come, there will always be someone who has been more successful in one field or another and there is no point in comparing yourself. Similarly, even if you experience a stinging failure, there will always be someone worse off, and you both are much better off than those who didn’t try at all.  

5. Learn from mistakes….don’t feel guilty

Feelings of guilt are probably one of the greatest problems of people who can’t get their thoughts in order, even though in practice they have no importance and justification. These feelings shouldn’t last for more than a few moments. Clean all these thoughts and feelings from your head, because they only cause damage. Take the positive out of it, learn from the mistakes and march ahead.

6. What others think shouldn’t affect you

Most people are too busy thinking about themselves, and probably don’t have the time or energy to actually think about you. And even if they do the world is full of people and events we have no control over.  But we certainly have control over our actions and thoughts and therefore we mustn’t let these two things mix. While everyone else has a right to his/her opinion, but the decision to act according to their influence is ours, for the better and for the worse. So, if you want to pursue your dreams, but are afraid of the reactions of the people around you, remember that the only person who has the power to decide whether to act on something or not is you.  

7. Maximize efforts not expectations

Much of the reason why people are constantly preoccupied with harmful thoughts lies in the fact that our expectations of life and reality are often two very different things. No matter how much mental time and effort you spend deciding on your course of action, the world won’t stop while you think and the situation will change. Planning is a great tool but it doesn’t guarantee perfect results, and any expectations will only lead to baseless regrets and self-blame. So be high on efforts and not on expectations.

8. Your personality isn’t fixed you can change it

Your character and your personality are not fixed and are only the product of your thoughts. Low self-confidence, impatience, ignorance, laziness, etc. are all character traits that we attribute to ourselves and treat as factual, although this situation can change at any moment and the power to do so is in our hands. Don’t complain about yourselves. If you don’t like something about yourself, change it, this is one of the best ways to be truly happy.

9. Life isn’t graded

Life isn’t a game and there are no points nor winners or losers, and any thought that comes from this mistaken assumption will cause damage and disappointment. The world of numbers and grades is rarely associated with our sense of happiness, and to delve into these unnecessary thoughts will only prevent us from enjoying the moment and the simple pleasures of life.

Just like a pebble falling down a hill can cause an avalanche, such is the potential power of thought. We take every milestone and every challenge of life to be yet another cliff which we have to conquer. What we don’t realize is that there is no cliff — there is only our mind playing tricks on us, trying to make us believe there is an impending disaster. In reality, the only misery happening is in our own selves. By ruminating, obsessing, and contemplating, we’re actually creating fertile ground for weeds to sprout up, blocking a clear path in our minds for us to follow. Instead of clearing our path, we’re blocking our path. The path needs to be de-weeded and the cobwebs in our mind need to be cleaned. This is what meditation is all about. By this you can start to control what direction your mind takes, rather than being on autopilot and mindlessly letting your emotions wrap you up in a tight ball of stress and regret. You get to decide your thoughts and your actions!

NAVARATRI, DURGA PUJA AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

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!