By Alagu Vairavan

Navarathri (nine nights) is an auspicious Hindu festival where devotees worship the divine Mother Devi Durga, a ten-armed goddess who destroyed evils and brought peace in the uni-verse. The divine power of Durga comes in three forms of energies, considered to be a com-bination of the Trinity of goddesses, Parvathi, (goddess of power and strength), Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth) and Saraswathi (the Goddess of knowledge and learning).

Navarathri is celebrated in sets of three days to adore different aspects of the supreme goddess. On the first three days, the Mother is invoked as a powerful force in goddess Parvathi to destroy all our impurities, vices and defects. In the next three days, the Mother is adored as a giver of spiritual wealth, goddess Lakshmi, who is considered to have the power of bestowing on her devotees inexhaustible wealth. The final set of three days is spent in worship-ping the Mother as the goddess of wisdom, Saraswathi.

Navarathri is celebrated during the first 9 days of the bright half of the month between the end of September and mid October or in the Tamil month of Purattasi or Aippasi. The festival comes to an end on the tenth day of Vijayadasami or Dussera. Dussera can also be interpreted as ―Dasa-Hara‖, which means the cutting of the ten heads of Ravana. So, it‘s a resolve to cut the ten undesirable heads – Passion, Pride, Anger, Greed, Infatuation, Lust, Ha-tred, Jealousy, Selfishness and Ego, It is therefore important to recognize this holy occasion and pray to god for prosperity, wealth, knowledge and wisdom. In order to have all-round success in life, we need the blessings of all three aspects of the divine mother; hence we celebrate this festival.