navaratri

Navaratri is a biannual Hindu festival that spans over nine nights and ten days, first within the month of March or April and again within the month of Sharada. Celebrations include worshipping nine goddesses during nine days, stage decorations, recital of the legend, enacting of the story, and chanting of the scriptures of Hinduism also take place. Hindu devotees often celebrate Navaratri by fasting. On the last day, called Vijayadashami, the idols are either immersed in a water body like a river or ocean, or the statue symbolising the evil is burnt with fireworks, marking the destruction of evil. It is celebrated as the Durga Puja festival in West Bengal. In West Bengal, the occasion is celebrated with thousands of pandals that are built in community squares, roadside shrines. The festival marks the victory of the goddess Durga in the battle against the powerful buffalo demon Mahishasura.