चैत्र नवरात्र आरंभ (घटस्थापना)

चैत्र नवरात्र आरंभ (घटस्थापना) विषयी

महत्त्व

Chaitra Navratri, also called Vasanta Navratri, is the spring festival of nine nights of worship of the goddess Durga. It begins on the first day of the bright half of Chaitra with Ghatasthapana, the installation of a sacred pot (kalasha) that holds the goddess’s presence for the nine days, and it ends with Ram Navami. In much of North India it is a quieter, more household-centred observance than the autumn Navratri.

The same day opens the lunisolar year. A verse attributed to the Brahma Purana and quoted in the digests says that Brahma created the world on the first day of Chaitra’s bright half, at sunrise, and the Vikram Samvat year of North India begins on it. Maharashtra celebrates the day as Gudi Padwa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as Ugadi, and Kashmiri Pandits as Navreh.

तो कसा आणि कुठे पाळला जातो

The festival is kept across North India, in Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Himalayan states, with large gatherings at the shrine of Vaishno Devi in Jammu, at Jwalamukhi and Chintpurni in Himachal Pradesh, and at the Shakti Peethas. In Bengal the spring worship of the goddess takes the form of Basanti Puja, held on the last days of this Navratri.

विधी

On the first morning a bed of earth is prepared and barley (jau) sown in it, and a water-filled kalasha topped with mango leaves and a coconut is installed and worshipped; the sprouts (jaware or khetri) grow through the nine days. Many households keep an unbroken lamp (akhanda jyoti) burning, recite the Durga Saptashati, and worship the nine forms of Durga in turn, beginning with Shailaputri. Fasting customs range from one meal a day to fruit and milk alone, and the fast is concluded with Kanya Puja on Ashtami or Navami.

तारीख कशी ठरते

Chaitra Navratri begins on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, the same month in Amanta and Purnimanta reckoning. The date is the day on which Pratipada prevails at sunrise (udaya tithi); if Pratipada is present at two sunrises, the first day is taken, and if it touches no sunrise, the day that contains it. The best time for Ghatasthapana within the day, which the digests’ Navratri rules place in the morning while Pratipada lasts, avoiding Chitra nakshatra and Vaidhriti yoga where possible, is a separate question and does not change the date.

स्रोत

• Nirnaya Sindhu, Chaitra Shukla Pratipada (Samvatsararambha)
• Devi Mahatmya (Markandeya Purana), recited as the Durga Saptashati
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Navratri
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Ugadi

प्रदेश, समुदाय आणि कुटुंबांनुसार प्रथा वेगळ्या असतात; हे वर्णन पार्श्वभूमीसाठी आहे, विधान नाही. वरील तारीख या पृष्ठावर दाखवलेल्या नियमानुसार मोजली आहे.