Navratri being celebrated across the country with devotion and fervor, Tuesday is the eighth day of the nine-day celebration. Nine forms of the Goddess Durga is offered puja during the period and the eighth day is dedicated Mahagauri, a form of the Devi that is believed to liberate the worldly life from the influence of the evil forces and bring for her individual devotees emancipation from the effects of the sins committed in this life and countless those preceding it.
Mahagauri means a great goddess endowed with immaculately white complexion. She has three eyes and four hands. Her lower right arm holds a trishul (trident) and the upper right is in the mudra of abhaya, allaying fear. Her lower left arm is in a pose of granting boons to her devotees while she holds a damaru (a small drum) in her upper left arm. Known also as Shwetambardhara, she personifies pristine purity.
Goddess Mahagauri is attired in white sari and she is saddled on a bull. Personifying benign mercy for one and all, the goddess purifies the souls of her devotees, cleansing them of all their sins. The scriptures say one can attain the divine state of absolute bliss by rightly propitiating her.
“We, her devotes, are convinced that goddess is mercy incarnate and there is no obstacle that cannot be removed by her grace,” said Renu Devi, a resident of Salawala in Dhradun.