Why do we have Navratras?

Thanks for accepting the series “The ‘Why’ of Indian Traditions”. So far we have taken up three of our traditions and since we celebrated Navratras this month (April), this issue contains the fourth in the series “Why do we have Navratras”?

As we all know Navratras are a period of nine days celebrated twice a year (April & October) to worship Goddess Durga. Almost all parts of India celebrate Navratras and worship the nine incarnations of Goddess Durga. We keep fasts as per our convenience and worship the Goddess.

Our living style has drastically changed if we compare it to the society hundreds & thousands of years ago. The traditions which we follow in present are not establishments of today but of the pasts hundreds of years. Ever thought, why do we have Navratras, twice a year unlike other festivals like Deepawali or Holi which we celebrate only once a year?

Well, we all know, Navratras fall in the months of April and October every year and if we observe closely both these months are the months of changing seasons. April witness change of season from winters to summers and October witnesses change of season from summers to winters. The eating habits of both the seasons are quite different from each other. In winters where we require more fat to keep the body warm, summers require loads of fluids and light food to keep ourselves active the whole day and fight dehydration due to heat. The human body adjusts itself to whatever we eat in due course of time and exactly what happens in both the seasons, i.e. winters and summers, we get adapted to the food habits. But the change of season has to happen and body again has to adjust to the new food habits of the changed season.

To give enough time to the body to adjust itself to the changing season and to prepare itself for it, a social system was established by linking it to religion. These nine days were marked as a period when people would clean their body system by keeping fasts by avoiding excessive salt and sugar, meditate, remember Goddess Durga and her nine incarnations, gain a lot of positive energy, gain a lot of self confidence & increase the self determination power (yes! fasts are a medium to improve our will power and self determination) and finally get ready for the challenges of the changed season.

The system was established for the benefit of human kind but alas! We have changed the whole meaning attached to it. We think that Navratras are a license to eat loads of oily food because in the name of fasts we eat so much of fat, sugar and other related stuff that instead of cleaning the body system we make it even dirtierL. Actually, our body does not require the amount of food we generally eat and Navratras tries to prove this point only. Once a Britannia tag line, ‘Eat Healthy Think Better’ is truly inspiring so lets eat healthy, remain healthy and keep the actual spirit of Navratras alive not only for a period of 18 days a year but throughout our lives.

                                                                                                                             -Shitanshu Srivastava