First day of Navratri: Devotees will worship Goddess Shailputri

Devotees will kick start the celebrations of the auspicious Navratri today. The first day will commence with the worship of Maa Shailputri. In Sanskrit, ‘Shail’ means mountain and ‘putri’ means daughter. Since Devi Sati was incarnated as Goddess Parvathi to the lord of Himalayas, Parvathi is known as Shailputri.

On this day, Moon, which is believed as the giver of all fortunes will be governed by Goddess Shailputri. So on the first day devotees worship Maa Shailputri to overcome the bad effects of Moon. The iconography of Goddess Shailputri is elegant, beautiful and simple. She will be mounted over Nandi (bull) and because of that Shailputri is also known as Vrisharudha. Maa Shailputri will be pictured with two hands, carrying Trishul in the right hand and lotus flower in the left hand.

The previous birth of Goddess Shailputri was Goddess Sati. Similar to her previous birth as Goddess Sati, Goddess Shailputri also is married to Lord Shiva. Because of this, devotees mostly worship Goddess Shailputri along with Lord Shiva. She is also known as Hemavati and Parvathi.

The serene Maa Shailputri reflects the absolute form of Mother Nature. She is also known as the mother Ganesha and Karthikeya. According to the rituals, Maa Shailputri will be offered cow’s ghee and after that will be given to Brahman.

Mantra to worship Maa Shailputri:

“Vande Waddrictlabay Chandrardhkritsekharam
Vrisarudan Suldharan shailaputree Yashsvinim”

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