Women have been worshipped in different forms in India from time immemorial. They have been looked on as creator, preserver and destroyer. Our traditions and festivals do show that. Navatri or Dussehra is a tribute to womanhood, the great powers that women have within them and can learn from the outside world. When the world shuddered in fear of the ferocious demon, Mahishasura, it was Shakti or woman power that was deemed fit to fight and succeed in destroying the greatest evil that the world had ever seen.

• Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva became enraged at the actions of Mahishasura, the demon.
• Their anger came out from their eyes in the form of flames. The anger was so intense that it formed a mountain that shone like a million suns.
• Durga took shape as a goddess more powerful than all the gods.
• Each one of the gods gave her a weapon. Shiva gave the trident; Vishnu the discus; Varuna the conch; Agni gave her his spear; Yama the cudgel and so on.
• In short, the Gods equipped her with the most powerful weapons to fight one of the fiercest demons that had ruled the world.
• Mahishasura, on setting eyes on the goddess, fell in love with her because she was so bewitching. The goddess promised to marry him if he defeated her in battle.
• The battle continued for nine days. On the ninth day, Durga assumed the terrible form of Chandika. She pinned down the demon with her foot and pierced his neck with her spear and then cut off his head.
• Goddess Durga is worshipped in the first three days of the festival.
• Goddess Lakshmi, or the goddess of wealth, is worshipped the next three days.
• The last three days are devoted to the Goddess of Learning, Saraswathi.
  

If women today no longer are treated with this kind of respect, we have only ourselves to blame because we are not teaching those values to our generation and to the next generation. This Navaratri or Dussehra, let's salute women!

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