Kolam by Sudha Balaji

Navratri is one of the most important festivals celebrated for nine days , the tenth day being celebrated as Vijayadasami or Dusshera.  Different states of India celebrate it in different ways.  So I would like share how we celebrate the festival in Tamil Nadu.  Probably Andhra Pradesh and  Karnataka also have similar celebrations of the festival.  This post has been updated for Navratri 2016. Navratri 2016 dates are - Navratri starts on 1st of October the day after the new moon.                             Why do we keep Navratri golu Mythology has it that it is celebrated for the victory of Goddess Shakthi over evil. She became victorious on the tenth day and hence this day is celebrated as Vijayadasami and hence the belief that any auspicious deed commenced on this day will be successful.  That is why we find the advertisements Vijayadasami admission in schools and some private ...

Navratri golu vidhanam is traditionally followed with this procedure - Ganesha and Swayambu Gods are kept on the first padi ,  Avatars and other Gods are kept on the second padi .   Dolls of Gurus are kept on the third padi , the  kalash  or kalasam is also placed on the third padi . Dasavatharam  can be placed on the second or third step.    The fourth padi can also be used of various dolls of Gods the fifth step is used for marpachi bommai and the dolls of the humans .   The merchant and his wife usually Thanjavur Thalai atti bommai as they are called , because the head rests freely  on the neck and moves gently in the breeze.   I have placed a kalayanam set on the fifith step. Below the fifth step or on the side of the golu we can have the park.  I have shown an "aerial view " of the park.   We can have traditional rangoli also what I have shared through the pics is a floating rangoli ( this ran...

Navaratri is celebrated on the next day after Mahalaya Amavasaya , called Padwa. On  Pattimai as we say in Tamil all the dolls are taken out from the loft where we usually store them safely.The dolls are cleaned well after removing the protective cloth we cover them with The steps are arranged in odd numbers 3,5,7,9 or even 11 according to the space available. Lord Ganesha dolls are kept at the top on the first step. Dolls of other Gods are also kept on the first step On the second step dolls of Dasavatharam, Rama with Sita, Lakshmana, Hanuman are kept. On the third step dolls of Gurus like Raghavendra Swami, Sai Baba, Sankracharya , Mahaperiyava, Swami Vivekananda are kept Kalasam is on the third step ( Kalasam is a small silver or brass vessel decorated with a fruit like pomegranate or moosambi with a flower on the top.  Betel leaves are inserted on either side of the fruit. It is not necessary that we use coconut for the kalasam for this festival If we have three step...