India is known to be the country of festivals. There is never a month without a festival or an occasion to remember and worship god in a special way.
Every religion has its set of festivals which the entire nation celebrates. Each festival is unique & has a style to it. Also, festivities vary depending on each region or state.
Every festival has history to it, which is a reason to all the rituals and customs that are performed for them. Hence, rituals & customs are given a lot of importance. However, all festivals are celebrated with the same spirit.
Even Indians abroad also celebrate the festivals with immense fervor.
To start, will detail about a festival which has just concluded Dasara as known in South India; Dashera, Dussera and Dussehra in North India.
Dussehra
It signifies the triumph of good over evil. It is believed that it was on this day that Lord Rama killed the demon-king, Ravana and rescued his abducted wife - Sita. The day also marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasur.
Navaratri
Navaratri is a festival dedicated to the worship of the Hindu deity Durga. Word Navaratri means 'nine nights' in Sanskrit, nava meaning nine and ratri meaning nights.
During these nine nights & ten days, nine forms of Devi are worshiped. Commonly Tenth day is celebrated as Vijayadashami or Dussehra or Dasera. Navaratri is an important major festival and is celebrated all over India. Diwali the festival of lights is celebrated twenty days after Dasera.
Navaratri is one of the most auspicious and unique period of devotional sadhanas and worship of Shakti (the sublime, ultimate & absolute creative energy) of the Divine conceptualized as Goddess Durga, whose worship dates back to prehistoric times before the dawn of the Vedic age.
Nine forms of Devi: Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalaratri, Mahagauri and Siddhidatri in that order. These nine manifestations of Shakti, are worshipped as "Nava-Durga".
Nine days are celebrated as below:
Day 1: Pratipada
Day 2: Dwitiya
Day 3: Tritya
Day 4: Chaturthi
Day 5: Panchami
Day 6: Shashthi
Day 7: Saptami
Day 8: Ashtami
Day 9: Navami
Why Nine Nights & Days?
Navaratri is divided into sets of three days to adore different aspects of the supreme goddess.
The first three days, Goddess is invoked as powerful force called Durga in order to destroy all our impurities, vices and defects.
The next three days, Goddess is adored as a giver of spiritual wealth, Lakshmi, who is considered to have the power of bestowing on her devotees the inexhaustible wealth.
The final set of three days is spent in worshiping Goddess of wisdom, Saraswati. In order have all-round success in life, we need the blessings of all three aspects of the divine Goddess; hence, the worship for nine nights.
Durga Puja:
In eastern India, especially in Bengal, Durga Puja is the main festival during Navaratri. It is celebrated with devotion through public ceremonies of “Sarbojanin Puja” or community worship.
Huge decorative temporary structures called “pandals” are constructed to house these grand prayer services, followed by mass feeding, and cultural functions.
Durga Puja is widely celebrated in the Indian states of Assam, Mithila region of Bihar and Nepal, Jharkhand, Manipur, Odisha, Tripura and West Bengal, where it is a five-day annual holiday.
The earthen icons of Goddess Durga, accompanied by those of Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikeya, are taken out on the tenth day in a triumphal procession to the nearby river, where they are ceremonially immersed.
Evolution of the 'Pratima' and the 'Pandal'In Durga, the Gods bestowed their powers to co-create a beautiful goddess with ten arms, each carrying their most lethal weapon. The tableau of Durga also features - Kartikeya, Ganesha, Saraswati and Lakshmi.
There are two kinds of embellishments that are used on clay - sholar saaj and daker saaj. In the former, the pratima is traditionally decorated with the white core of the shola reed which grows within marshlands. As the devotees grew wealthier, beaten silver (rangta) was used. The silver used to be imported from Germany and was delivered by post (dak). Hence the name daker saaj.
The huge temporary canopies - held by a framework of bamboo poles and draped with colorful fabric - that house the icons are called 'pandals'. Modern pandals are innovative, artistic and decorative at the same time, offering a visual spectacle for the numerous visitors who go 'pandal-hopping' during the four days of Durga Puja.
Goddess Durga
In Karnataka, Mysore Dasara is celebrated:
Mysore Dasara is festival of the state of Karnataka in South West India. It is also called Navaratri and is a 10-day festival with the last day being Vijayadashami, the most auspicious day of Dasara. Dasara usually falls in the month of September or October.
Vijayadashami denotes the victory of truth over evil and was the day when the Hindu Goddess Chamundeshwari killed the demon Mahishasura.
Mahishasura is the demon from whose name the name Mysore has been derived. The city of Mysore has a long tradition of celebrating the Dasara festival and the festivities there are an elaborate affair, attracting a large audience.
One of attraction of the ten-day Mysore Dasara festival is the Mysore Palace which is illuminated daily with nearly 100,000 light bulbs from 7 pm to 10 pm on all days of the festival. Various cultural and religious programs highlighting the dance, music and culture of the State of Karnataka are performed in front of the illuminated Palace.
Procession:
On Vijayadashami, the traditional Dasara procession (locally known as Jumboo Savari) is held on the streets of Mysore city. The main attraction of this procession is the idol of the Goddess Chamundeshwari which is placed on a golden mantapa on the top of a decorated elephant.
The idol is worshipped by the royal couple and other invitees before it is taken around in the procession. Colourful tableaux, dance groups, music bands, decorated elephants, horses and camels form a part of the procession which starts from the Mysore Palace and culminates at a place called Bannimantap where the banni tree (Prosopis spicigera) is worshipped.
In Mysore, Vijayadashami Elephant procession during Mysore Dasara is called Jumbo Savari (from the British during their control of Mysore State). The original name to this procession is Jumbi Savari ("going to the Shami (Banni) tree").
Courtesy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga_Puja
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navratri
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysore_Dasara
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijayadashami
http://hinduism.about.com/od/festivalsholidays/a/mothergoddess.htm
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