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Navratri in Gujarat
Navratri in Gujarat
Think Gujarat. Whether the subjet is music, arts, food, nature, people, festivals, culture, gatherings, conventions, and conferences - it's never what you just expect. It is so much more than you ever imagined.
Strategically located in the mid-west of the Indian sub-continent, Gujarat is the land of the Mahatma. The place where Indian icons like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel left their footprints. It is the story of a land where its contours and geographical features play a vital role in moulding the behavious of the people, enriching their outlook towards life.
Here the people are enterprising and hospitable. They have a co-operative bent of mind and are gifted with spectacular organisational capabilities. There is adventure, devotion and perseverance that perhaps makes the Goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, shower her affection on the people.
It is said of Gujarat, "A fair or a festival a day keeps the people of Gujarat happy, healthy and joyous." The festivals in the state, like anywhere else in India, are mostly held during the change of the season and usually during the interlude of one crop having been harvested and preparations being made for the next season. Among these, the festival of Navratri is the grandest and stands tall. It is, in essence, festival of seasons dedicated to 'Shakti' worship.
Nine nights dedicated to the Goddess fill Gujarat with colour and festive cheer.
An inseparable part of the identity of Gujarat, the nine nights of Navratri are an auspicious occassion that commemorates the worship of Divine Mother Goddess and her numerous manifestations. It is a kaleidoscope beauty of pure happiness and magical glory - a time of the year when you fast during the day and dance non-stop the night through. It is a celebration, when millions of young hearts throb with excitement and vivacity, while the older generation full of devotion. The festival of Navratri over the years has become a cultural tradition binding all sections and communities across the state. A festival that spreads vibrant harmony and joy. It is an opportunity to savour the state in her finest best.
The Navratri Mythology
The festival of Navratri occours four times in a year in the bright half of Magh, Chaitra, Ashadh and Ashvin. In fact, it can be celebrated in an identical manner in all these four months. However, the one celebrated from the first to ninth date of Ashvin Shukla Paksh of the Hindu Calender, is considered the principal and most popular, which the Goddess herself is said to have favoured, according to Saptashati (the religious book of Shaktas having 700 verses of the Markandeya purana).
How Navratra in Gujrat is celebrated.
Navratri is celebrated throughout Gujarat in three ways: at Mataji's temples, in individual households and at public places in every city, town and villages by thousands of people - men, women and children - through drumbeats, dance and dandia (wooden lacquered sticks). While ritualistic aspect predominates the first two modes of celebration, social and cultural aspects are visible vibrantly in the last.
The Rituals
The garbo, a perforated earthern pot with a lighted lamp within, signifying knowledge, is placed in the centre of a village, lanes of streets where brightly dressed women, men and children move around it singing and playing a folk dance called garba. Moving around a circle in a garba indicates the never ending cycle of creation, maintenance and destruction phases of the supreme reality.
Dance, Devotion, Drumbeats
The most fascinating and colourful celebration of Navratri are the dance forms garba and dandia raas characterised by synchronised, vigorous yet graceful movements executed to vibrant music.
Dancing away to rhythmic drumbeats, offering devotion to the Goddess are women in bright coloured cholis, cotton skirts and tops, that are hand embroidered, embedded with mirrors, shells and anything that goes with it. The men, keeping pace with their dancing partners, are dressed in Kedia - a traditional high waist top that has a different feel and looks great when the gathering on it swirls while the men spin in circles.