blog@Yantrajaal

based on an article by Devdatta Kali The Adoration of the Durga is the biggest and most popular festival in Bengal and coincides with Sharad Navaratri that is celebrated in the rest of Hindu India. The celebrations kick off from Mahalaya, the last day of the first dark fortnight of Ashvin, when Hindus recall and honour their ancestors. Mahalaya is associated in the popular Bengali psyche with a radio program produced by Birendra Krishna Bhadra for All India Radio, where the the Devi is symbolically invoked. This program is a combination of devotional songs and readings from the Chandi - a text that is revered by those who believe in the Divine Feminine or Shakti. For many of us, the radio program serves as a nostalgic reminder of a long vanished youth but very few of us have explored the mystical message of the Chandi. This article is an attempt in this direction. According to legend, Durga sat on the tip of a needle for nine days, doing a severe penance to destroy the evil Asura ...

1. I revere the Mother ! The Mother Rich in waters, rich in fruit, Cooled by the southern airs, Verdant with the harvest fair. 2. The Mother - with nights that thrill in the light of the moon, Radiant with foliage and flowers in bloom, Smiling sweetly, speaking gently, Giving joy and gifts in plenty. 3. Powerless ? How so, Mother, With the strength of voices fell, Seventy millions in their swell ! And with sharpened swords By twice as many hands upheld ! 4. To the Mother I bow low, To her who wields so great a force, To her who saves, And drives away the hostile hordes. 5. You our wisdom, your our law, You our heart, you our core, In our bodies the living force is thine. 6. Mother, you're our strength of arm, And in our hearts the loving balm, Yours the form we shape in every shrine. 7. For your are Durga, bearer of the ten-fold power, And wealth's Goddess, dallying on the lotus-flower, You are Speech, to you I bow, To us wisdom you endow. 8. I bow to the Goddess Fair, Rich in...