NAV-RATRI KA PARV

The festival season is just round the corner. Sharadiya Navratri begins on 22 September, 2025. It commemorates of the victory of Goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasura after nine days of gruesome battle.

- PRIYA S. TANDON

Goddess Durga is worshipped in her nine forms during the Navratri festival as Nav-Durga. Many of us do Ghatsthapna, by sowing Khetri of Jau (barley) and keeping a Kalash of water with mango leaves and a coconut on top. Jau was the first crop that was sown and cultivated by humans. To honour the memory of the beginning of agriculture we sow Jau and pray for blessings and prosperity. Coconut and mango leaves are symbols of auspiciousness.

On Ashtami or Naumi day, we worship prepubescent girls as little Goddesses. We wash their feet with water, tie mauli-thread on their wrists, anoint their foreheads with Kumkum and rice, offer them food (usually Halva, Puri and Channa) and give them Dakshina. Whenever I do Kanjak puja, I am overwhelmed by the thought that went behind starting this tradition. How far sighted our ancestors were! They probably knew that the girl child would be the lesser-favoured at some time or the other, so they created this tradition of doing Kanya Poojan to honour the girl child, biannually during the Navratri festival.

This festival serves as a reminder that the girl child is as precious as the boy. It is also important to remember that while worshipping little girls as Goddess Durga we must also respect the other living goddesses around us. These could be your mother, mother-in-law, sister, daughter, daughter-in-law, granddaughter, friends, neighbours or just any woman on the street.

A society's overall condition and progress can be decoded by examining the rights, opportunities and social standing of women. If there is gender equality, if there is no violence or abuse of women; if women have equal access to education, economic participation and freedom from discrimination, it gives a sneak peek into the core values that form the basis of a society.