First form of Goddess Durga: Shailputri @ First Day of Dashain
This post is about first day of Dashain festival. It is related first day of Navratri. Shailputri is one of 108 names of goddess Parvati. Shailputri is worshipped on the first day of Dashain. It means Goddess Shailputri is worshipped on the Ghatasthapana. It is believed that if the devotees visits the temple Shailputri and worship her, she fulfills wishes of devotees.
As we all knows that the Shailputri is the combination of two words that are Shail and Putri. It means,
Shailputri= Shail + Putri
According to Hindu holy books, Purans, Shail means mountain and Putri means daughter. Hence literally meaning of Shailputri is daughter of Mountains. Shailputri is also known as Sati, Parvati or Hemvati. As the whole globe knows this facts and truth that Hemvati was the daughter of the king of mountains – Himalaya.
Navratri 2021 (Dashain 2078 BS):-Â Ghatasthapana or Pratipada (First Day) Date
The first day of Navratri is called Pratipada or the first day of Dashain is also knows as Ghatasthapana. This year, first day of Navratri or Dashain; Ghatasthapana will fall on 25 September 2014. According Nepali calendar Ghatasthapana will fall on Thursday, 9th Ashoj 2071 B.S.
Advertisement
The first night of Dashain festival is dedicated to Goddess Shailputri. Goddess Shailputri is believed to be the protector of forest.
Appearance Of Goddess Shailputri
While talking about appearance of goddess Shailputri, she contain a trishool (trident) on her right hand and a lotus on left hand. Goddess Shailputri rides a bull. She has blissful looks and a pleasant smile. She has a half-moon on her crown.
Advertisement
The Legend of Sati/ Uma
It is believed in Hinduism that goddess Shailputri was Sati in her previous birth.
As per mythology, Uma was daughter of King Dakshaprajapati. Uma did hard penance to marry Lord Shiva, pleased Shiva married to Uma. But her father King Dakshaprajapati was not happy of her daughter’s marriage with Shiva. Dakshaprajapati organized a Yagya where he invited everyone except Shiva.
Advertisement
Upset Uma decided to attend the Yagya. There, Dakshaprajapati insulted Shiva and in furious Uma jumped into the sacrificial fire and burnt herself alive. Since then, Uma is known as Sati.
Sati took re-birth as Hemvati or Parvati as the daughter of the king of the mountains, Himvan or Himalaya. Finally, she got married with Lord Shiva again.
As the world knows that Parvati (also termed as Parwati) is sub-part of Goddess Durga. Durga’s this form Shailputri is worshipped on the first day of the Dashain celebrations.
Advertisement
Dashain is greatest festival in Nepal. Nepalese celebrate Ghatasthapan on the first day of Dashain. Nepalese people worship Shailputri at Navratri. Dasain is also a favourite time for carrying out a little ceremony that can often cut across the divisions of caste and tribe.
More pages are for
Advertisement
- second day of dashain
- third day of dashain
- seventh day of dasain
- nineth day of dasain
- tenth day of dasain
- last day of dasain
- First Day of Dashain in Nepal
First Day of Dashain in Nepal
Perhaps one of the most difficult elements to grasp in the Nepalese people’s way of life is their religion. Their religious fervour is indeed intense and devout. Their religious practices, especially Hinduism, follow a typical pattern of physical offering which is extremely colourful, as can be witnessed by the variety and abundance of festivals that take place throughout the year.
Although many of the high caste families in Nepal tend to conform to the Hinduism of the brahmin priest and religious texts, a majority of the people, particularly among the lower castes, are much less orthodox in the gods they worship.
The ordinary villager knows relatively little about the concept of the divine unity underlying all things, including gods, and, as a result, his belief is in an impersonal force that controls fate.
In every village of importance in the hills of the Nepal there is a rodighar, a hall in which the young men and maidens sing and dance in spring and autumn, until the great ten-day harvest vestival of Dasain, commonly known as Dasahra.
On the first day of the festival they plant little plots of earth with barley seed, which they tend with great care, until on the tenth day, the barley shoots are visible above the ground. On this day, called Mar from the word marnu, to kill, all the villagers gather to sacrifice a buffalo at the rnaula, the sacrifical post to which the animal is tied.
A youth, chosen for his strength, slices off his head with a single powerful stroke of his kukhri, in honour of Durga, who killed the buffalo-headed demon, Maheshasur, in the same way. After the sacrifice they dance the night through, dressed in all their finery, and in some villages the ancient totem masks — the lion and the tiger and the bear — are brought out of their store.
In the streets of the towns there is a constant bustle ofactivity, especially in the local or supermarket bazaars and the vegetable markets, departmental store. People are selling, buying, exchanging, bartering or just chatting; added to this there is the cacophony of the rickshaws, bicycle, car, bus and the rrrusion of the motor vehicle.
Advertisement
Advertisement