Navratri Garba in Ahmedabad 2012 - Navratri Festival Celebration Ahmedabad

Navratri Festival in Ahmedabad

The celebration of Navratri garba is in the honor of the Goddess of power or Shakti. Since this festival is celebrated for a period of 9 days and that too in the night, therefore the festival is called Navratri. The word navratri in Sanskrit means 9 nights. ‘Nava’ means nine and ‘Ratri’ means night. 9 different forms of goddess are worshipped on each day. The celebrations in the night begin with the customary and traditional Aarti. The highlight of the festivities is the garba dance, which is performed by the people from all lifestyles. This usually goes on till about midnight. The dancers gather in the grounds hours before the event in order to get the best view from their place of sitting. The dancers are attired in the traditional dress and play navratri dandiya-raas with ‘dandiya’ or wooden sticks.

Navratri in Ahmedabad Gujarat

During the festival of Dandiya Raas Garba, the entire city of Ahmedabad looks like a beautiful sight. This is because the state government takes a lot of care and interest in the festival. The entire city is lightened up with small colorful lights. The last two days of the festival namely the eighth and ninth day are of prime importance. It is on those days that Devi Mahatmya is read to invoke her and seek her blessings. People, irrespective of the age take part in this holy recital.

Gujarat and especially Ahmedabad is a place to be during navratri as the Celebrations are mind blowing and extremely traditional.