The sacred festival Navratri symbolizes the strength, power and nurturing nature of women. This year the festival has almost come to an end and Durga Ashtami is being celebrated today.
Devotees worship nine different forms of Goddess Durga in different days. This year, Chaitra Navratri started from March 22 and will be ending on March 30, 2023.
Durga Ashtami is celebrated on Ashtami Tithi of Shukla Paksha. People worship Maa Mahagauri on this day and perform various rituals including kanjak or kanya puja, sandhi puja and mahasnan.
Chaitra Navratri 2023 Day 8: Significance
Ashtami celebrates the victory of good over evil as on this day Maa Durga defeated the buffalo demon Mahishasura. People worship Maa Mahagauri and ask her to bestow them with wealth and a luxurious lifestyle and remove all their sufferings. Ashtami fast also holds significance as it brings prosperity and luck.
According to Drik Panchang, Goddess Shailputri was blessed with a fair complexion and was extremely beautiful and so she is also called Goddess Mahagauri and wears white coloured ornaments. She represents calmness. The Goddess mounts a bull and is also known as Vrisharudha. She is depicted with four hands – carrying a Trishul and making the Abhaya Mudra with the right hand, and in the left hand, she holds a Damru and keeps the other in Varada Mudra.
Goddess Mahagauri governs the planet Rahu and symbolises purity, serenity and tranquillity. Due to her fair complexion, Maa Mahagauri is also compared to the conch, moon and white flower of Kunda. She adorns white clothes only, and thus, she is also known as Shwetambardhara.
Chaitra Navratri 2023 Day 8: Colour
The pink colour is offered to the Goddess. Devotees offer lotus flowers to Goddess Mahagauri along with pink colour clothes and jewellery.
Chaitra Navratri 2023 Day 8: Kanya Puja
Kanya puja rituals are practised on Durga Ashtami where nine girls are acknowledged as nine avatars of Maa Durga and the nine girls are welcomed in the devotees’ home and taken care of. They are served saatvik bhog in this occasion. Girls aged 2-10 years are eligible for this ritual.