In India, the festive season is here, which begins in the month of September-October. According to the Hindu Calendar, the festival is celebrated from the first day of Shukla Paksha of the Ashvin month and according to the Gregorian calendar, it usually falls during the month of September-October.
This year, the nine days festival would start from October 7, 2021 and would end on October 14, 2021. Devotees worship the nine forms of Durga also called the Nav Durga during this period with plenty of offerings and bhog and observe special fasts to seek her blessings.
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In Hinduism, it is believed that during Navratri Maa Durga comes to the home of her devotees to bless them with strength, power and prosperity. Therefore, during this auspicious time, people consume pure vegetarian food items without onions and garlic.
People, who observe fast, do not consume food items like cereals, grains, non-vegetarian food, regular salt and alcohol. They eat food made with ‘vrat’ ingredients like Singhara atta, buckwheat flour, sabudana, fresh fruits, sendha namak and samak ke chaawal.
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But why don’t people consume onion and garlic, let’s find out:
In Hinduism, food is divided into three main categories – 1. Rajasic, 2. Tamasic and 3. Sattvik Bhojan. Rajasic Bhojan refers to food items that do not impact the body, neither positively nor negatively, on the other hand, Sattvik Bhojan refers to food items that provide spiritual advancement, this puts all the vegetarian food items.
Tamasic Bhojan refers to food items that harm the mind or body is considered to be Tamasic in nature and it is believed that onion and garlic fall into this category. Therefore, people avoid eating onion and garlic during these auspicious nine days.