Blaze of colour & rhythm

One of the world’s longest and most participatory festivals, Navratri, is worshipped in the form of dancing, singing, praying and fasting to evoke the blessings of the Goddesses. Celebrated with flamboyance and splendour in Gujarat, the State is a must vi

Navratri is a Hindu festival dedicated to Goddess Durga and her nine forms. The nine days have great religious significance and this year, the festival will be celebrated from October 16 to 24, 2012. The most flamboyant and renowned Navaratri celebrations can be seen in western India, throughout the state of Gujarat.

Navaratri is celebrated with nine nights of dancing. The traditional dances of Gujarat, known as garba and dandiya raas, are performed in circles with dancers dressed up in colourful clothes. Small, decorated sticks called dandiyas are used in the dandiya raas. Gujarat is the only state that erupts into a nine-night dance festival, perhaps the longest in the world. Each night, all over the state, villages and cities alike, people gather in open spaces to celebrate divinity. Regardless of their religion, age or dancing skills, anyone can be part of the Garba and dandiya. Worship not in the form of hushed chants or reverent humility, but in a burst of dance which differentiates Navratri.

Each night, people drenched in infectious fervour gather in open spaces to be a part of hypnotic, circular folk dances. Together, dressed in their colourful attires, the dancers present a kaleidoscopic spectacle. For the nine nights, the village or urban neighbourhood gathers to perform a prayer to one of the nine forms of Goddess. It is a time to celebrate fertility and the monsoon harvest, represented by a mound of fresh soil in which grains are sown. After the puja begins the music; it is unmistakable to those who are familiar with the style and irresistible to many. People begin to dance in a circle, whirling away till late into the night. It is not uncommon to find dancers with swords or lit flames and other spectacles.

During Navratri, Gujarat is a blaze of colour. Women wear chaniya cholis – odhni sets comprising a skirt, blouse and veil respectively. The streets and markets of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and other cities of Gujarat are lined with costumes and ornaments. Preparations for Navratri begin long before the first day of the festival.

Vadodara is considered the cultural capital of Gujarat, and the most sought after location for celebrating Navratri.The city is a good place to find the full range of these styles, traditional to modern, acoustic to amplified, simple to complicated, each one representing in its extreme somewhere in the city.

Religious pilgrimage in Gujarat during this festival focusses mainly in the Shakti Peethas; Ambaji, Pavagadh and Bahuchraji near Mehsana. There are also major celebrations in temples such as Ashapura Mata-no-Madh in Kutch, Khodiyar Mandir near Bhavnagar, and Chamunda Mata Mandir at Chotila on the Ahmedabad-Rajkot National Highway.