Navaratri - Day 4 - Jataveda Durga
October 3, 2008
Jataveda Durga is the form of Durga who is the source of the Vedas; the Durga of knowledge and is closely related to Saraswati. Another peaceful day and the flowers were arranged beautifully.
The priests were all trained at the Shankaracharya ashram and so adhere to those customs. One of the things that Adi Shankara did was to simplify the daily rituals to focus on just five forms of the divine. In the image below you can see a large copper square which is a Navagraha Yantra. To the right of the yantra is a shaligram which represents Vishnu, the other items are 2 tall crystal carvings that represent the goddess, a small shiva lingam in the center, a Ganesha, and Subramanyam.
After the Abishekam, they are decorated with lots of fragrant flowers.
After the daily Rudra Abishekam, there is the offering of burning camphor, called aarti.
For the Kanya and Suvasini Pujas, we were joined by Sampath’s (our Chief Priest) daughter, and Subramanyam’s two sons.
The fire yagya was very enjoyable, although the atmosphere was more serious than the Shanti Durga day.
The special ingredient for this day was a fruit mixture of bananas, oranges, limes, grapes, and lots of honey. While it may be Jataveda Durga’s favorite food, it doesn’t burn particularly well and there were clouds of smoke!
After the yagyas were completed, we were paid a visit by the neighborhood monkey. She wanted bananas and oranges. They aren’t particularly aggressive or dangerous as long as you give them some space…and feed them well.
