Tag: navaratri

  • Durga Ashtami – Eighth Day of Navaratri

    The eighth day of the nine night Navratri festival is celebrated across India as Durga Ashtami, and is also part of the ten-day Durga-Puja festival celebrated primarily in the state of West Bengal. Ashtami simply means eighth day of the fortnight. It is often also ascribed significance with respect to the eight-armed Durga holding weapons…

  • Chaitra Navaratri – Spring Festival of the Goddess

    Chaitra Navaratri or the nine (nava-) nights (-ratri) of Durga, are celebrated in the first 9 days of the bright half of the month of Chaitra (starting from the day after Amavasya). According to the Indian lunar calendar, this usually in late March or early April. This period of nine days heralds the onset of…

  • Durga Suktam

    The Durga Suktam is a combination of mantras and prayers sung in praise of Goddess Durga after the recitation of the Durga Saptasati (seven hundred verse katha). It is particularly relevant during the Navaratri as it helps the devotee focus on the varied and multiple forms and qualities of the feminine power – the Goddess.

  • On VijayDashami and Spirituality

    The nine day festival of Navaratri which celebrates the Goddess Durga and her many forms and incarnations, concludes on the tenth day of Vijay Dashami or Dasahra or Dussehra (15th October 2021). Vijay means victory, and Dashami means, the tenth (Das) day (shami). This tenth day, which marks the conclusion of Navaratri, and the beginning…

  • Goddess Durga Mantras

    The Gayatri Mantra is one of the most revered and perhaps one of the most practiced mantra in Hinduism. The Durga Gayatri is a variation of the Gayatri mantra designed to address Goddess Durga, particularly during the period of Durga Navaratri or Durga Puja. The Durga Gayatri adapts the 24-syllable metre of the original Gayatri…