| Celebration of Navratri |
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Of the nine-day celebration of Navratri, three days each are dedicated to the trinity of goddesses: Durga the goddess of valor, Lakshmi the goddess of wealth and Saraswati the goddess of knowledge. Prayers, fasting, mark the days and solemnity while the nights are for revelry and merrymaking.
The night festivities of Navratri vary in different parts of the country. The most famous and colorful festivities are the Dandiya and Garba dances of the western states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. The dancers move around in a circle, sometimes with different steps, in pairs or in groups around a lamp lighted to represent the Eternal Light of the Mother Goddess. In public squares, a garbi or mandvi is installed and decorated with shining tinsel and illuminated with dozens of twinkling oil lamps and the idol of the Mother Goddess in a pavilion which hosts merry dancing at night. In Kolkata and other places there are competitions held and the most beautiful and creatively done mandvi gets a prize. For all the nine days, the pavilion becomes the center of all activity where cultural events and competitions are organized every day. In Punjab, people organize jagrans to sing devotional songs all night in praise of the Mother Goddess. Another part of the Navratri celebrations is the Ramlila quite popular in places like Delhi and Uttar Pradesh where almost every locality has its own group of actors re-enacting episodes from the life of Lord Rama. This stems from the belief that Rama killed Ravana on the tenth day of Ashvin or Navratri called the Vijaya Dashami.
In homes, the puja room becomes the scene of intense preparation with the approach of the festival of Navratri.A coconut, saffron or sandalwood paste, a garba (perforated earthen pot), a kumbh (earthen pot), grains of wheat or barley, ghee (clarified butter) or mustard oil for a lamp that will burn incessantly all through the nine special nights are placed in readiness for the ceremonial rituals of Navratri. Housewives draw designs and emblems with rice flour, turmeric powder-and vermilion. Each of the motifs symbolizes abundance and represents hope for the future. On the first day of Navratri, all the things collected for the puja are placed and the lamp is lit. on a small platform of fresh earth in front of the idol of the Mother Goddess. As evening falls, people gather around the sacred flame that is constantly fed with ghee or oil and sing bhajans. On Lalita Panchami (the fifth day), children gather all the books in the house before a sacred lamp and invoke the blessings of Saraswati. It is also the occasion for all artisans to lay down their tools before the goddess and seek her benediction upon their trade. On the eighth and ninth days of the festival, yagnas are performed with the chanting of mantras as a final act of farewell that marks the culmination of the ceremonies. On the tenth day or Vijaya Dasami, more popularly known as Dussehra, enormous effigies of Ravana stuffed with firecrackers are torched with flaming arrows to the delight of the revelers. It is also regarded as an auspicious occasion to start an enterprise and for the business communities to open their annual books of account.
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