Navratri
-By mishika agarwal
The festival is associated to the prominent battle that took place between Durga and demon the Mahishasura and celebrates the victory of good over evil. These nine days are solely dedicated to Durga and her eight avatars — the Navadurga. Each day is associated to an incarnation of the goddess
Mata Shailputri is worshipped on the first day of Navratri
Brahmacharini on the second
Chandraghanta on third
Kushmanda on fourth
Skanda Mata on fifth
Katyayani on the sixth
Kaalratri on seventh
Mahagauri on eighth and
Siddhidatri on the ninth day
The story of Mahishasura-
As legends have it, Mahishasura was a king with the head of a buffalo. He was a staunch worshipper of Lord Brahma. After years of penace by Mahishasura, Brahma was finally pleased and offered him a wish. Mad with power, Mahishasura demanded immortality. His wish was that he should not be killed by a “man or animal” on the face of Earth. Brahma granted him this wish, and then told him that a woman will be the end of him.
Mahishasura believed that there is no woman in the world who could cause him any harm. The legend continues, Mahishasura, high on the power of “immortality”, attacked Trilok (the three worlds of earth, heaven and hell) with his army. He even tried to capture Indra Lok (the kingdom of Lord Indra).
The gods decided to wage a war on Mahishasura but due to Lord Brahma’s boon nobody was able to defeat him. The gods thus approached Lord Vishnu for help. After considering the situation, Lord Vishnu decided to create a female form to defeat Mahishasura. But since Lord Shiva is the god of destruction, they consulted with him. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva combined all their powers together to give birth to Durga.
There was a fierce fight between the two and as predicted the good was victorious.
Thank you
