We celebrate the Indian festival of Navarathri ending in Vijaya Dashami at the Main library in Fremont.

Navaratri literally translates to “Nine Nights” (“Nava” means nine, “ratri” means night) is a Hindu festival celebrating “Shakti” or power. It is believed that Goddess Durga or “Shakti” fought the demon king Mahishasura for nine days and was finally victorious on “Dussehra” (the tenth day in Hindi) or “VijayaDasami” (the victorious tenth day in Tamil, “Vijaya” means victorious, “Dasami” means tenth day). The festival is a symbol of victory of good over evil. Today “Shakti” is celebrated in all its creative forms - arts, painting, woodworking, pottery, dance, music, singing etc. 

To the Hindus hailing from the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and across the global diaspora it is a celebration of the creative power of womanhood. Three principle female deities - Goddesses Parvati (Goddess of Power and Bravery), Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity), and Saraswati (Goddess of Knowledge and Creativity) are welcomed home and celebrated for 10 days. In theory, the first three days are dedicated to Goddess Parvati, the next three to Goddess Lakshmi, and the last three days to Goddess Saraswati.

Families keep colorful “Golu” or dolls of various Hindu deities on steps (usually in odd numbers - 3, 5, 7, 9 etc.) in their homes for the 10 days. The dolls are often handmade by artisans and are made of either clay, wood, or paper maché and come in various sizes, shapes, and some as part of a mythological story theme. Homes are beautifully decorated with streamers, flowers, garlands, paper crafts, and adorned with “Kolams” or “Rangoli” (geometric line drawings  composed of straight lines, curves and loops, drawn around a grid pattern of dots using rice flour, white stone powder, chalk or chalk powder, often along with natural or synthetic color powders). 

Families often develop concepts, themes, stories around their Golu every single year, buy, and display dolls for the same. This is one methodology  of teaching the next generation the important Hindu mythological stories and morals with a simple or elaborate “show and tell”, passing on key concepts and tradition. 

Celebration includes inviting (at least) nine young girls and nine married ladies (signifying creativity and fertility), offering them “Sundal” prasadham (lentil cooked with spices that is offered to the Gods first), along with “Thamboolam”, a goody bag comprising of beetal nut leaves, beetal nuts, Manjal-Kungumam” (“Manjal” means turmeric, “kungumam” is a red colored powder), fruit (often banana), and a gift, a token of appreciation for gracing the Golu. 

Young children (who are learning to sing, dance, and/or play instruments) are often encouraged to perform in front of the Golu. These events are usually young musicians’ and singers' first small informal concert settings that help them overcome their inhibitions before they later perform formally on stage.

The tenth day of VijayaDasami is also known colloquially as Ayudha Poojai in Tamil (“Ayudham” means machinery, “Poojai” means worship). School age children often start schooling, toddlers write their first alphabet, and young children start their drawing, singing, dancing, and or learning their first music lessons with blessings from the “Gurus” of the respective discipline. Business owners worship and offer thanks to the machinery or anything operative at their place of work (think printing press, automotive assembly factories, cash registers etc.). Everyone worships or offers thanks to all things operative at their homes (think cars, bikes, stove, refrigerator, air conditioner etc.) In short, everything that has “Shakti” or power is worshiped and thanked. The underlying and overarching belief is that collective prayers and gratitude, i.e. collective goodness wins over evil (residing within and outside of us). 

With this display we aim to bring our tradition and practices confined within our homes out into the community. In that spirit, we would like to acknowledge and thank our friends listed below who have generously loaned and/or donated Golu dolls and volunteered in various capacities to this project!  

Thank you! 

Anandi Velayuthan

Anusha Selvakumar

Ashwini Srivatsan

Bhagirathi Lakshmivarahan (Latha) 

Haripriya Prakasam 

Madhuramba Krishnamurthy & Satish Narayanan

Nikita Shah

Radha Hayagreev & Hayagreev Pattabhiraman

Rama Pattabhiraman & Baskar Pattabhiraman

Sujanitha Sambasivan & Rajaram Ramamurthy

Vijeyarupaa Muralidhara & Rajeevi Muralidhara 

Happy Navaratri!