Mumbai: Navaratri is a Hindu festival that spans nine nights and ten days. It is celebrated differently in various parts of the Indian cultural sphere. The Durga Puja is synonymous with Navaratri wherein goddess Durga battles and emerges victorious over the buffalo demon to help restore Dharma.
People celebrate Navaratri in different ways across India. Many devotees of Maa Durga fast for the whole nine days and worship the Goddess sincerely. During the Navaratri fasting days, people follow a strict vegetarian diet and refrain from consuming certain foods like cereals, grains, non-vegetarian food, regular salt and alcohol.
People believe that one should not eat non-veg, onion and garlic during these nine days. Read below to know the reasons.
Scientific reason: In Hinduism, consumption of alcohol and meat is considered a bad omen on these fasting days. As per scientific reasons, Navaratri falls in the month of October-November wherein there is a change in weather condition and can also affect our immunity system. So consuming non-veg can spoil our health, people believe.
Spiritual reason: Fasting in these days strengths a person’s body and mind. Not only this, spiritual purification also takes place in the body. It is also said that those who fast gain spiritually and they will feel close to God.
Ayurvedic: According to Ayurvedic, consuming egg, meat, grains, alcohol, onion and garlic makes the body absorb negative powers. Another reason is that the body’s resistance power weakens a person can fall ill easily.
Garlic-Onion: Garlic and onion comes under ‘Taamasic’ category of food. These foods make the body sluggish and take long time to digest. Onions are also said to produce heat in the body. Therefore, they are avoided during the Navaratri fasts.
What should we eat?
By fasting, the body gets a break from the routine food cycle. Devotees’ have light foods which are full of nutrition and is easily digest able. But on the contrary, whole grains like millet, wheat are difficult to digest. Due to which the digestive system slows down. This is the reason that people like to consume fruits, juices and light vegetables along with more and more dairy products during the fast.
PNN/Agencies