The Chaitra Navratri festival is being celebrated with full devotion and enthusiasm in India. The festival of Navratri is dedicated to Goddess Durga.
The Chaitra Navratri festival is being celebrated with full devotion and enthusiasm in India. The festival of Navratri is dedicated to Goddess Durga.
The traditional Hindu festival, which commences on March 28, is nine days long and will culminate with Ram Navami on April 5. Also known as Vasant Navami, it is the celebration of the victory of good over evil. Devotees will worship Goddess Durga and her nine forms throughout these nine days. These nine days will be marked by fasting and abstinence.
The festival is celebrated to mark the victory of Prince Sudarsana who won the battle against King Yudhajit with the divine blessings of Goddess Shakti.
Navratri is celebrated twice in a year. The festival kicks off with Ghatasthapana.
The Hindu New Year is celebrated as "Ugadi" in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana, marking the first day of the New Year in the lunisolar Hindu calendar.
(With agency inputs)
1. Navratri in Amritsar
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Devotees offer prayers for the Navratri Festival at the Mata Longa Wali Devi temple in Amritsar on March 28, 2017. The festival is celebrated twice a year during the spring and autumn seasons and symbolises the triumph of good over evil. Image courtesy: AFP
2. Mata Longa Wali Devi temple
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A devotee reads from a religious book as she offer prayers for the Navratri Festival at the Mata Longa Wali Devi temple in Amritsar. Image courtesy: AFP
3. Amritsar
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Devotees reads from a religious book as they offer prayers for the Navratri Festival at the Mata Longa Wali Devi temple in Amritsar. Image courtesy: AFP
4. Devotees offer prayers
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Devotees offer prayers inside the historical Kali Mata Temple on the first day of the Navratri festival in Jammu on Tuesday. Image courtesy: PTI
5. Kali Mata Temple in Jammu
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Devotees offer prayers inside the historical Kali Mata Temple on the first day of the Navratri festival in Jammu on Tuesday. Image courtesy: PTI
6. Navratri in Jammu
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A girl looks on as she sticks a coin onto the wall of a temple while praying on the first day of the Hindu festival of Navratri in Jammu. Image courtesy: Reuters
7. Navratri in Allahabad
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Devotees offer prayers to Maa Alopi Shankari Devi on the first day of Chaitra Navratri festival at the Alopi Devi Mandir in Allahabad on Wednesday. Image courtesy: PTI
8. Navratri in Mirzapur
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Devotees queue up to offer prayers at the Vindhyavasini Temple on the first day of the Navratri festival in Mirzapur on Wednesday. Image courtesy: PTI
9. Junagarh Fort, Bikaner
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Hindu Jagran Manch members at a rally in front of the Junagarh Fort to mark the Hindu New Year in Bikaner on Tuesday. Image courtesy: PTI
10. Devotees take a holy dip!
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Hindu devotees take holy dip in the Kshipra river at Kaliadeh Palace (KD Palace) on the beginning of Hindu New Year Calendar ''Chaitra Vikram Samvat Nav Varsh'' in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. Image courtesy: PTI
11. Ugadi
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An Indian vendor sells mango and neem leaves, used during events to mark the Hindu New Year, celebrated as "Ugadi" in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana, at a market in Bangalore on March 28, 2017. Image courtesy: AFP
12. Pooran Poli
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A worker arranges Pooran Poli, a sweet roti on the eve of Ugadi. Image courtesy: PTI
