On the first day of Chaitra Navaratri, devotees on Tuesday thronged temples nationwide to offer prayers. The large gatherings symbolized the beginning of the auspicious nine-day festival.
They stood in long queues waiting to offer Pooja and Prasad to Hindu goddess Durga.
During these nine days, devotees engage in worship of various manifestations of Durga, collectively known as Navadurga.
Streets wore a festive look with the locals performing Pooja.
Several temples resonated with the chants of Jai Mata Di since. Devotees performed hawans and other rituals to celebrate the festival.
Meanwhile, devotees gathered at Ayodhya’s Ram Temple, marking its inaugural celebration of the festival.
The Badi Devkali Mata Temple reverberated with early morning Aarti on the occasion.
In the national capital, morning Aarti was performed at the Chhatarpur Temple.
A huge crowd of devotees gathered at the Durga Temple in Varanasi.
Spiritual leader, Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati said, “This year we have made a resolution to declare cow as Rashtra Mata. We will work towards making cow slaughter a punishable offence.”
Meanwhile, in Madhya Pradesh, devotees took a holy bath in the Shipra river on the beginning of the new Vikram Samvat in Ujjain.
In Prayagraj, devotees took a holy dip. They offered prayers at the confluence of River Ganga and River Yamuna. They also thronged the Alopi Devi temple on the occasion.
The festival is also celebrated in southern states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka as Ugadi.
The nine-day festival, which is also known as Rama Navratri, ends on Rama Navami, Lord Ram’s birthday.
During Chaitra Navratri, people fast, worship Goddess Durga, and perform Ghatasthapana, the invocation of Goddess Shakti.
Navratri also celebrates calmness and peacefulness in the form of Maha Gauri Mata.
This year, Chaitra Navratri begins on 9 April 2024, and concludes on 17 April 2024.
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