नवरात्र -1

This celebration in honor of the goddess, the mother of the world, begins on the first day of Ashvin, and goes on for nine days.
The goddess is the personification of Power, or 'Shakti'.
She is known by many names:
'Kali',
'Laxmi',
'Sarasvati',
'Chandi-ka',
'Durga',
'Bhavani',
'Ambika',
'Ashtabhuja' (eight hands).

Her main task is to punish the wicked. She is engaged in war, and weapons are in her hands (four, eight, eighteen...) She is sitting on a lion. Her weapons are the 'shul' (pike), 'chakra' (wheel), 'parshu' (axe) and 'talvar' (sword).

Kali is known as 'Mahisha-surmardini', the slayer of the demon Mahishasur. The fight against the demon begins on the first day until he is defeated on the ninth day.

Rambh and Karambh

Once upon a time there were two brothers, Rambh and Karambh. They were demons who did a lot of penance. But their intention was evil. So Indra, the king of the gods, stopped their penance. Rambh was standing in the hot sun. Karambh was standing in water. Indra took the form of a crocodile and killed Karambh. Rambh got angry and was about to commit suicide. But �agni dev�, the fire god, appeared to him and offered him a boon. Rambh asked to have a son who should never be defeated by anyone, and who could take any form he wanted. Agni granted the boon and disappeared.

Mahishasur

Rambh married a woman from the Mahish caste (Mahish means buffalo). Their son was named Mahishasur. He had the come to you only by a woman's hand. Here I am. I have come to kill you. If you want to save your life go immediately to hell.The battle started. Mahishasur became a lion, then an el-ephant, a locust and a buffalo. The goddess stood on the buffalo's back, and while Mahishasur was coming out of the buffalo's mouth, the goddess chopped his head with her sword. With the death of Mahishasur all the demons fled to hell.

Shumbha and Nishumbha

According to another story Shumbha and Nishumbha were two demons who had made penance for 10,000 years, and they pleased Brahmadev. Their boon was that they would not die by the hand of men. Of women they were not afraid. Shumbha was king and Nishumbha his prime minister. Chanda and Munda were two generals of the army. One day they came with their army to Shumbha. With them came Dhumralochan of the colour of smoke and soot ('Dhumra' = smoke, 'lochan' = eye), and Raktabij (seed of blood) who was a reincarnation of Mahishasur.
Shumbha and Nishumbha became very strong. They defeated Indra, who with all the other gods escaped from heaven. Bruhaspati, the guru of the gods, suggested that they have recourse to the goddess. All the gods gathered on the Himalayas and began to pray, "O goddess, protect us. Save us from the tyranny of the demons."