[Advaita-l] Significance of Navaratri

[M. S. Ravisankar]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
> [mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org]On Behalf Of Anand
> Hudli
> Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 12:21 PM
> To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
> Subject: [Advaita-l] Significance of Navaratri
>
>
> According to the Dharma-sindhu, a standard dharma-shAstra text by
> kAshInAtha
> upAdhyAya,
> the word navarAtra (navarAtri) is the name for the karma that is
> done from
> the Ashvina-shukla-
> pratipada to the mahAnavamI :
>

According to devii bhaagavatam, there are 4 navaratri-s in a year.
bhaagavatam also outlines a procedure for worship. Following is from the FAQ
of ambaa-L.

There are four navarAtri-s every year and they are respectively in the
months chaitra, aashhaaDha, aashvina, and mAgha. They start on shukla
paxa prathama thithi and end in navami. The dates are fixed based on
the chandramAna calendar. And it is better to remember it that way, as
the English dates would keep changing.

The chaitra and aashivina navarAtri-s are famous and also known by the
their season, that is, vasanta and shArada navarAtri-s (after vasanta
and sharad R^itavaH). And these two navarAtri-s are important
according devI bhAgavatam.

The devI bhAgavatam, which talks about these four navarAtri-s do not
make any specific link to vArAhi, mAtangi, etc for each navarAtri. The
procedure it outlines is same for all. But many shrIvidyopAsaka-s make
the following association.

* vasanta navarAtri with rAja mAtangI

* AshhADha navarAtri with vArAhI

* shArAda navarAtri with lalitA


Also, some shriividya texts have the 4th navarAtri in paushya mAsa
(saubhagyaratnAkara), instead of mAgha mAsa.