Navaratri ( Skt. नवरात्रि , Beng. নবরাত্রি ) is a Hindu religious festival. Translated from Sanskrit, the word "navaratri" means "nine nights" [1] . During this holiday, which lasts ten days and nine nights, Hindus worship the nine female forms of God in Hinduism - Shakti / Devi .
The holiday is celebrated twice a year: in the bright half of the spring month of Chaitra (April – May) and the autumn month of Ashwin (September – October) [2] . Celebrate on the first day after the new moon .
During Navaratri, temple festivals are held [2] , prayers are performed [3] , solemn processions and fairs are held [3] . One of the most important elements of the holiday is Durga-puja : worshipers venerate the Devi in the form of Durga in order to secure her protection [4] . One of the legends associated with Navaratri tells of the victory of Durga over the Asura Mahisha [2] .
In different regions, there are local traditions of celebrating Navaratri. For example, in Gujarat they conduct special female dances [5] , in Bengal they organize processions with images of Kali , in Tamil Nadu they create doll slides - special platforms with figures of the gods of the Hindu pantheon [2] .
Notes
- ↑ Krasnodemb, 1996b , p. 297.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Krasnodemb, 1996b , p. 298.
- ↑ 1 2 Guseva N. R. India: Millennia and Modernity. - M .: Nauka , 1971. - S. 79 .-- 143 p.
- ↑ Krasnodemb, 1996a , p. 180.
- ↑ Indian Ethnographic Collection / ed. N.N. Cheboksarova and N.R. Guseva. - Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR , 1961. - T. 65. - S. 72. - 202 p.
Literature
- in Russian
- Krasnodembskaya N.G. Durga // Hinduism. Jainism. Sikhism: Dictionary / Ed. ed. M.F. Albedil and A.M. Dubyansky . - M .: Republic , 1996a. - S. 179-180. - 576 p. - ISBN 5-250-02557-9 .
- Krasnodembskaya N.G. Navaratri / Navaratra // Hinduism. Jainism. Sikhism: Dictionary / Ed. ed. M.F. Albedil and A.M. Dubyansky . - M .: Republic , 1996b. - S. 297-298. - 576 p. - ISBN 5-250-02557-9 .
- in other languages
- Amazzone, Laura. Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power . - University Press of America , 2012.
- Coburn, Thomas B. Encountering the Goddess: A translation of the Devi-Mahatmya and a Study of Its Interpretation . - State University of New York Press , 1991. - ISBN 0791404463 .
- Cynthia Bradley. Encyclopedia of Hinduism . - Routledge , 2012 .-- ISBN 978-1-135-18979-2 .
- Alain Daniélou (1991), The Myths and Gods of India: The Classic Work on Hindu Polytheism from the Princeton Bollingen Series , Inner Traditions / Bear & Co, ISBN 978-0-89281-354-4 , < https: // books. google.com/books?id=1HMXN9h6WX0C >
- Hindu Goddesses: Beliefs and Practices . - Sussex Academic Press, 2009. - ISBN 978-1-902210-43-8 .
- Encyclopedia of Hinduism . - Infobase Publishing, 2006. - ISBN 978-0-8160-7564-5 .
- David Kinsley Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition . - University of California Press 1988. - ISBN 978-0-520-90883-3 .
- David R. Kinsley. The Goddesses' Mirror: Visions of the Divine from East and West . - State University of New York Press, 1989 .-- ISBN 978-0-88706-835-5 .
- James G. Lochtefeld. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: NZ . - The Rosen Publishing Group, 2002. - ISBN 0-8239-2287-1 .
- Malcolm McLean. Devoted to the Goddess: The Life and Work of Ramprasad . - State University of New York Press , 1998. - ISBN 978-0-7914-3689-9 .
- June McDaniel. Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls: Popular Goddess Worship in West Bengal . - Oxford University Press , 2004. - ISBN 978-0-19-534713-5 .
- Rachel Fell McDermott. Mother of My Heart, Daughter of My Dreams: Kali and Uma in the Devotional Poetry of Bengal . - Oxford University Press , 2001. - ISBN 978-0-19-803071-3 .
- Rocher L. . The Puranas. - Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1986. - ISBN 978-3447025225 .
- Hillary Rodrigues. Ritual Worship of the Great Goddess: The Liturgy of the Durga Puja with Interpretations . - SUNY Press , 2003. - ISBN 978-0-7914-8844-7 .
- Navratri - Hindu festival . Encyclopedia Britannica (February 21, 2017). Date of treatment February 21, 2017.