Durga – the bewitching, radiant ten-armed goddess. The benevolent mother of beings and the ravaging destroyer of evil. The one, who with her arrival, heralds peace and happiness into the realm of mortals. Durga, who is worshipped as a goddess, revered as a mother, and feared as the embodiment of anger.


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The ten-armed Goddess Durga was created as an amalgam of the powers of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar to defeat the water-buffalo demon Mahisasur. While in the northern part of the country the goddess is worshipped in a more effeminate avatar, in the eastern and the southern parts, she is invoked more as the warrior-goddess – the destroyer of evil. As the year proceeds towards those nine days when people immerse themselves in welcoming Durga to the earth.


Check out: All about Navratri 


As Navratri begins today, lets worship Maa Shailputri.


Shailputri, as the Sanskrit name states, is the daughter of the Mountains. First among the nine forms of Durga, Shailputri is worshipped as the absolute form of Mother Nature. During the festival of Navratra, the goddess is portrayed with a half-moon on her forehead, a trident in her right hand and a lotus in her left hand, and riding on the back of a bull. The first day of Navratra is marked for the worship of Shailputri.


वंदे वाद्द्रिछतलाभाय चंद्रार्धकृतशेखराम |


वृषारूढां शूलधरां शैलपुत्री यशस्विनीम्‌ ||


Vandē vāddrichatalābhāya candrārdhakr̥taśēkharāma |


vr̥ṣārūḍhāṁ śūladharāṁ śailaputrī yaśasvinīm‌ ||