Navratri is a period when the whole country dips into a festive mood. However, different parts of the country have different ways of celebration though the fervor remains the same everywhere. It is known as Navratri in Gujarat, in West Bengal it is Durga Puja and Dussehra in the North.

West Bengal welcomes the arrival of Goddess Durga with colourful and grand pandals while Gujarat welcomes Maa Jagdamba with its best Garba beats and Dandiya dance. The way the festival is celebrated in Gujarat, it lures everyone. Therefore, Navratri is said to be the best time to visit Gujarat. This is the festival when people of Gujarat wait for whole year to put on their dancing shoes, pick up colourful dandiya sticks and make some garba moves over foot-tapping music. During all these nine days, everyone has a common destination in the evening ~ Garwa Ground.

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And the dress code is traditional attire ~ Chaniya-Choli and Kafni-Pyjama, with plenty of jewellery.

The festival has some religious significance too. On the first day of the festival, people do “Devi-sthaapna”, or setting up a shrine to the goddess in their homes. This shrine has a garbo (an earthenware pot), in which betel nut, coconut and a silver coin are placed. Every night, before playing Dandiya, devotees gather to perform a puja to one of the nine forms of the goddess.

Ahmedabad

The festival kicks off at the huge GMDC ground of Ahmedabad. The chief minister gives the green signal, followed by Aarti and various cultural performances. Then begins the Garba dance, one of the most colourful dance forms, performed by both men and women. In this dance, people form a circle and dance in synchronised steps along with a lot of clapping and twirling around near a clay lantern with earthen lamps. Another form of dance is Dandiya, which is performed with short sticks, moving in a circular manner to music. Mythologically, it also represents the mock-fight between the goddess Durga and the demon Mahishasura. During this nine-day festival, the whole city turns quite lively ~ it seems everybody is on the road at night. Usually Ahmedabad has many places to play Garba like GMDC ground and local clubs like Rajpath, Karnavti and YMCA.

Vadodara

Vadodara city of Gujarat is usually considered as the cultural Capital of the state. Therefore, the colourful festival is celebrated with much fanfare here. The city has many places to play Garba, but the most famous is the United Way Ground. Here one can see a sea of people playing garba together in an excellent live ambiance. The place is also visited by many renowned singers and dancers. Everyday, more than 30,000 people visit the place.

Different myths

As per the Hindu mythology, it is believed that early spring and beginning of autumn are auspicious times to worship Durga. There are various myths about the festival. For instance, the demon Mahishasur was granted a boon by Agni, the fire god. Therefore, Mahishasur couldn’t be destroyed by any kind of weapon that would have a masculine name. He started terrorizing the gods and destroying everything. Then the gods sought help from Shiva, who suggested chanting for Shakti (goddess of power).

A light emitted from the heart of Shiva and with the bodies of each god, Shakti was formed, also known as Adhya Shakti. She fought with all her might for nine days to kill Mahishasur and on the tenth day, finally, Shakti beheaded the demon. Then there is another story about sati Uma, who along with her four children ~ Kartik, Ganesh, Daraswati and Laxmi ~ visits her parents’ house during Navratri. But she committed suicide by jumping into the yagna (fire) because she couldn’t tolerate the insults thrown at Shiva by her father King Daksha Prajapti.

However, Sati was reborn as Uma and she got back Shiva as her husband yet again. It is from this moment that she started visiting her home every year since peace had been restored. One more legend says before Pandavas and Kauravas waged war against each other, Krishna had prayed and worshiped Durga for power so that the Pandavas could win the war.

The nine incarnations of the goddess, including Siddhidatri, Mahagauri, Kalaratri, Katyayani, Kushmanda, Chandraghanta and Brahmacharini are worshipped as Nava Durga during Navratri.