Festival of Navratri Dedicated to Goddess Durga

In the BoldSky Blog, Sanchita Chowdry educates readers about the festival of Navratri and the Goddess Durga:

The festival of Navratri is dedicated to the nine forms of Goddess Durga known as the Navadurga. Devi Durga is the form of Shakti or the Infinite Power. It is believed that She manifested Herself into nine divine forms collectively known as Navadurga or nine Durgas.

Each day of Navratri is dedicated to each one of these nine forms of Goddess Durga. The nine forms of Goddess Durga are as follows: Shailputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalratri, Mahagouri and Siddhidatri.

The First Goddess

The first day of the festival is dedicated to Goddess Shailputri who is adorned by a half moon. She rides a bull and carries a spear in one hand and a lotus in the other. By worshipping the Goddess one can attain power and peace of mind.

The Second Goddess

The second day of Navratri is dedicated to the second manifestation of the Goddess known as Brahmacharini. This form of the Goddess has two arms only. In one hand She carries a Rudraksha mala and in the other hand She carries a Kamandal. She is named so because She went through severe penance and lived a life of a hermit to get Lord Shiva as Her husband. The worship of this form of the Goddess is conducive to penance, renunciation and various other virtues.

The Third Goddess

Today is the third day of Navratri. Hence, Goddess is worshipped in Her Chandraghanta form. Those who worship Goddess Chandraghanta on the third day of Navratri are blessed with eternal strength and everlasting happiness. The Goddess wears the half moon in a bell shape. Hence, this form of the Goddess is known as Chandraghanta. She has a golden complexion, possesses ten hands and rides a tiger. She has weapons in her eight hands. And in the remaining two, one hand has a bell and the other is in the pose of giving blessings to Her devotees. During the battle between the Gods and demons, the horrible sound of the Goddess’ bell or ghanta sent thousands of demons to the abode of death. Her warring pose shows Her eagerness to destroy all the bad forces which are troubling Her devotess. Goddess Chandraghanta is the representation of Supreme bliss and knowledge. It is said that by Her blessings, all the sins, sufferings, bad energies etc are eliminated from Her devotees’ life. By riding a tiger She inspires Her devotees to be fearless. By worshipping Goddess Chandraghanta one gets rid of all the worldly sorrows and attains supreme spiritual bliss.