Durga puja is on the verge now. It is the time of biggest festivity of Bengali. You must be planning for spending the four great days with your loved ones and friends. You are probably thinking about getting up in the morning of Mahalaya to listen to the age old and timeless chanting on the radio. This day of Mahalaya is an auspicious one since it denotes the day of worshipping and offering food to the ancestors.

This year the Mahalaya amavasyaa is on 12th October. When you are waiting for the day and accumulating puja samagri for the rituals of the day take a look to know about the significance of the day. There is a huge mythological significance that says about the win of good over evil and woman power.

The Story of Asura, Parvaty and Significance:-

Asura, the symbol of evil, and his followers were dangerous and evil. They became immortal with the blessings of Brahma and Lord Shiva. They were fearless and they were making it difficult for the devatas to rule in heaven. Lord Shiva has blessed them saying that only a woman will be able to destroy them. Asura found the idea ridiculous since they were sure that no woman will ever dare to fight them, let alone, kill them.

When Deavatas, scared of the increasing power and devilish ways of Asura went to Lord Shiva, he started thinking about destroying the Asura. Lord Shiva got married to Parvati, the daughter of Himalaya and asked her go for deep meditation. She gathered power and blessings from all Devatas. Parvati was a part of Shiva himself. After the meditation when she gathered all the power, Shiva and Parvati took the shape of Ardh Narishwar. They symbolized that man and woman are equal. If man signifies the physical strength, woman signifies the inner strength or Shakti.

On the day of Mahalaya, Devi Parvati or her avatar Durga amassed weapons from all lord and went to banish Asuras and save the earth and heaven from evil.

Parvati went to fight Asura. She was given a proposal for marriage. In fact her husband Lord Shiva was insulted in his absence. That infuriated Durga and she fought Asura for nine days. It is celebrated as Navaratri in the whole country. She defeated the army of Asura on the day of Mahalaya. For Bengalis, Mahalaya denotes the beginning of Devi Paksha.

Worship goddess of Shakti and seek her blessings on the auspicious day.

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