Traditions

of The Autumnal Nine Nights (Navartra) Festival of the

Goddess
Bihani Sarkar, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Christ Church College, Oxford
University.

I. Early indigenous phase

Sources: Harivaa 57.35-36; Mahbhrata 4.5.29 ff and 6.22.6 ff, old Skandapura 60.46;
Kdambar pp. 30-31; Haracarita p. 126; Caataka 16; Gaavaho 318, 319, Puric
citations in later Gauanibandhas
Chief aspects of the festival as inferable from available sources:
-> buffalo sacri_ice by a ruler to propitiate the goddess before the onset of battle
--> a festival of victory (vijayamaha)
-> non- Brahminical/incorporative of outcaste groups referred to in Sanskrit literature as abara-s
-> the goddess worshipped is dark, blood-thirsty, fond of alcohol, known as Klartri/Nidr, and associated
with night, sleep and hallucination (my)
-> association with the Vindhya mountain
-> rites of self af_liction to be performed by heroes to demonstrate their valour
-> possibly Vaiava in its early association as celebrated on the Ninth lunar day of the dark half of rvaa,
the day after Janmam (with regard to the Vaiava form of the goddess, see in particular the hymn in the
Mahbhrata Viraparvan to Mahkl, also called Durg, the slayer of Mahia, in which she bears Vaiava
attributes such as peacock feathers in her hair, a discus and conch). The thesis that Caik was originally a
Vaiava goddess has been examined by Yuko Yokochi, Rise of the Warrior Goddess and Charlotte Schmidt,
Mahisasuramardini: A Vaiava goddess?). aivism either later incorporated the martial goddess or
developed its own mythologies about her and her worship in competition with the Vaiava tradition, which
we _ind in the old Skandapura account of the genesis of the goddess of Kauik.

II. Incorporation with Brahmanical military festival in vina

Sources: Bhatsahit 43; Khakaghyastra 57.1 and Arthastra 2.30.51 (all three cited
in Alexis Sanderson 20051, p. 258, n. 70-71). Prof. Sanderson had pointed out the existence
and relevance of this pre-existent military strata of rituals to me. Viudharmottarapura
2.158.6cd-7, Agnipura 267.13cd-16ab (repeating Viudharmottara); Varhapura
cited in the Kyaratnkara pp. 364-365
Chief aspects of the festival as inferable from available sources:
-> worships Bhadrakl, a goddess described as favourable for a king only when regularly worshipped.
-> celebrated on the Eighth and Ninth lunar days (Maham and Mahnavam) of the bright half of vina
-> worship of the goddess in a cloth in a shrine built in the north east part of a military encampment
-> worship of weapons with _lowers, perfume and food, adapted from the pre-existing model of military
festivities.
-> staged entertainment of the goddess
1 Religion and the State: aiva of_iciants in the territory of the Brahmanical Royal Chaplain, Indo-Iranian Journal 47, pp.

229-300.

-> kings to keep a night-vigil on Maham night and maintain a fast for victory (auryavrata)
-> worship repeated on Mahnavam followed by a parade.
-> buffalo sacri_ice
-> festival performed for the sake of victory and paci_ication

III. Expansion and inclusion of Tantric ritual aspects in Eastern Court Traditions
Sources: Devpura, Klikpura, Ktyakalpataru, Durgbhaktitaragi,
Durgpjtattva, Durgpjviveka, Bhadraklmantravidhiprakaraa in Alexis Sanderson
2007 2; Account of the Durg Pj in Kelomal, West Bengal (Ralph Nicholas 2013 3)
Chief aspects of the festival as inferable from available sources:
-> a ten day structure spread out over the First lunar day (Pratipat) to the Tenth lunar day (Vijay Daam) in
the bright phase of vina
-> recitation of the Devmhtmya (capha)
-> the _irst seven days involve: kalaapj (worship of deities including the goddess, the Mothers and waters
from the sacred fords in a vase); a king bathing in the sancti_ied waters; fasting, worshiping iva thrice daily,
animal sacri_ice; continuous worship of the royal horses; _ire oblations and feeding a maiden
-> the sixth (ah) and the seventh (Saptam) lunar days involve awakening the goddess in a bilva tree
(bodhana), worship of goddess as Cmu and Kl in the branch, summoning her nine radiations in nine
leaves (navapatrapj/patrikpj), enlivening a clay image of the goddess (prapratih)
-> nine wooden shrines to be built on the Eighth lunar day (Maham), and the goddess is to be installed in a
gold or silver image, in a sword or in a trident; worship involves chariot and palanquin processions
-> On Maham: worship of the Nine Durgs, the eight mothers, the sixty four yogins, puri_ication of the
gross elements (bhtauddhi), installation of mantras on the body nysa; restraining the breaths
(pryma); visualization and self-identi_ication with the deity, rite of the Sword in Nepal for powers
(siddhis); paubali and offering blood from a kings arms and narairapradna (offering a human head);
worship of weapons (astrapj/astrapj), goddess is believed to morph into a more uncontrollable
presence requiring constant placation.
-> Blood sacri_ice to pacify demons in various directions and the sacri_ice of a dough image of the kings
enemy (atrubali) for universal power (sarvavayat) to take place at midnight (ardhartrapj), when the
asterism Kany (Virgo) joins aam; navadurgpj
-> On Mahnavam: worship of Bhadrakl with mantras from the Klkula in Orissa (Sanderson 2007, pp.
255-295); worship of the goddess in a trident; repetition of rites on Maham; kumrpj; rathaytr of the
goddess;
-> On Daam: worship of Aparjit; barotsava; royal consecration of king with empowered water from the
opening kalaapj

Note: The Nepalese Tradition though deriving in the main from the Maithila tradition as
embodied in the Kra royal ceremony of the Ktyaratnkara and Durgbhaktitaragi,
is much more Tantric in character, involving mantra elements from the Kubjik cult.

IV. The Southern and Western Court Traditions

2 Atharvavedins in Tantric Territory In: The Atharvaveda and its Paippalda kh: Historical and Philological Papers on

a Vedic Tradition, edited by Arlo Grif_iths and Annette Schmiedchen. Aachen: Shaker Verlag, 2007. Geisteskultur Indiens:
Texte und Studien, 11, Indologica Halensis, pp. 195-311.
3 Night of the Gods: Durga Puja and the Legitimation of Power in Rural Bengal, Orient Blackswan: India, 2013.

Sources: Caturvargacintmai, Smrjyalakmphik, Pururthacintmai, Accounts of

ceremonies in ivagagai and Ramnad, Tamil Nadu (Pamela Price 1996 4), Portuguese
traveller accounts from the Vijayanagara Empire (Burton Stein 1983 5)
Chief aspects of the festival as inferable from available sources:
-> On Pratipat: King enthroned and given an amulet empowered by the goddesss mantra; vow of fasting and
abstinence to be undertaken by him; kings sword and sceptre ceremonially presented to him and placed at
the base of the lineage goddesss image; summoning of the goddess in the person of the king
-> King worships Durg, Lakm and Vgdev in lidded pots in a _lower pavilion (pupamaapam) specially
built to worship the goddess and the king; worship of the kings weapons, horses and elephants; court
assembly at the pupamaapa; king travels in pomp to an assembly hall (sthnamaapa) built for the
festival at which a durbar is held; public display of goddesss image next to the enthroned king; spectacles in
front of the sthnamaapa
-> worship repeated till Navam; _ire oblation to the goddess (cahoma); paubali,
king removes the amulet
-> On Vijay Daam: worship of a am tree according to the Gopathabrhmaa tradition; king given weapons
including _ive arrows by the priest; king goes to the am in pomp with his army; shooting of arrows in every
direction to destroy enemies; evening court assembly at the sthnamaapa.

4 Kingship and Political Practice in Colonial India, Cambridge.

5 Mahanavami: Medieval and Modern Kingly Ritual in South India in Essays on Gupta Culture, ed. Bardwell L. Smith,

Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, pp. 67-90.