Bornika Das
Updated:Sep 25, 2024
Navratri, the nine-day festival, has already begun. People across India as well as the globe are observing fasts and offering prayers to Goddess Durga. While preparing vrat food, lots of restrictions go into it. There are certain spices that can be consumed during Navratri. Read below to learn more.
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Devotees perform fasts or keep vrat for these nine days. They eat simple vegetarian, sattvik food. While some observe fast for nine days, some keep vrat in jodas (couples), picking only two days of the nine-day festival. Moreover, there are multiple dos and don’ts that need to be followed for preparing vrat ka khana. The devotees are not allowed to have meat, eggs, grains, legumes, or lentils. These are replaced by kuttu (buckwheat), singhara atta (water chestnut), sabudana (saggo), and many others. Besides, veggies like potatoes and lauki dominate the curry preparations. Moreover, there are only certain spices that can be used while preparing these foods. Let’s take a look at them:
Rajasic Food: Rajasic foods are typically spicy, pungent, and salty, often containing excessive amounts of stimulants like caffeine and spices such as chilli peppers.
Tamasic Food: This type of food is often devoid of essential nutrients and can be overly processed or spoiled. Tamasic foods include items that are excessively fried, stale, or overly processed, and they lack vitality and freshness.
Sattvik Food: These foods are characterised by their natural, unprocessed, and fresh qualities, typically including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and dairy products. Sattvik foods are believed to have a calming and harmonious effect on the body and mind.
Sattvik food is followed during fasts in Navratri. Vegetables like bottle gourd and pumpkin are considered sattvik vegetables. Similarly, there are spices as well. Have a look at them:
