Navratri: What, Why, When, How

What it is

Navratri means "nine nights". Sharad Navratri, the autumn Navratri, is kept in the bright half of the month of Ashvin. For nine nights families worship the Goddess (Devi) as Durga, the protector, and in many homes as Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati in turn. The tenth day is Dussehra, or Vijayadashami, which has its own guide.

Every region keeps these nights in its own way. North Indian families sow barley in a pot, keep a lamp burning and often fast. Gujarat dances garba and dandiya in circles around a lamp. Tamil, Telugu and Kannada homes set out steps of dolls (Golu, Bommala Koluvu, Gombe). Telangana keeps Bathukamma with towers of flowers. In Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Tripura the days from the sixth to the tenth (Shashthi to Dashami) are Durga Puja, the great autumn worship of the Goddess with her children.

There are other Navratris in the year. Chaitra Navratri, in spring, ends on Ram Navami. Some families also keep two quieter Navratris in Ashadha and Magha.

Why it is kept

The Goddess and the buffalo demon. The story behind Navratri is told in the Devi Mahatmyam, also called the Durga Saptashati or Chandi Path, a part of the Markandeya Purana (cantos 81 to 93 in F. E. Pargiter's translation). The demon Mahishasura, who could take the form of a buffalo, drove the gods out of heaven. The anger and power of all the gods poured out as light, and the light became one Goddess, Durga, also called Chandika and Ambika. Each god gave her a weapon, and the mountain Himalaya gave her a lion. She fought Mahishasura and his armies and ended his rule (cantos 82 to 84). The gods praised her, and she promised to come again whenever they called.

She comes again. Later the demons Shumbha and Nishumbha took the three worlds. The Goddess appeared once more. From her brow came Kali, who defeated the generals Chanda and Munda and so is called Chamunda. The Goddess also defeated Raktabija, from each drop of whose blood a new demon rose, and at last Nishumbha and Shumbha (cantos 85 to 91). The text itself names a time to hear it: “the great annual worship that is performed in autumn time” (Pargiter, canto 92). That autumn worship is Sharad Navratri.

Rama keeps the vow. The Devi Bhagavata Purana (book 3, chapters 26 to 30) describes the Navaratra vow and tells how the sage Narada taught it to Rama at Kishkindha, while Sita was held in Lanka. Rama kept the nine nights, worshipped the Goddess on the tenth day, and then set out to build the bridge to Lanka.

Durga's untimely awakening (Bengali tradition). Bengali families tell a further story, from Krittibas's Bengali Ramayana. The Goddess was worshipped in spring, and autumn was the time when the gods sleep. Rama, before his battle with Ravana, woke her out of season (akal bodhan) and offered her 108 blue lotuses. One lotus was missing, so Rama, called "lotus-eyed", began to offer one of his own eyes; the Goddess stopped him and gave her blessing. Bengali families also see the Puja as Uma's yearly visit to her parents' home, with her children Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartik. On Bijoya Dashami she returns to Shiva at Kailash.

The nine forms (Navadurga). Many families, above all in North India, give each night to one form of the Goddess, in the order named in a single verse of the Devi Kavacham, a hymn recited with the Devi Mahatmyam: Shailaputri (daughter of the mountain), Brahmacharini (the Goddess in austerity), Chandraghanta (with a bell-shaped crescent moon on her brow), Kushmanda (whose warmth, families say, brought the universe into being), Skandamata (mother of Skanda, or Kartikeya), Katyayani (born, tradition says, in the hermitage of the sage Katyayana), Kalaratri (the dark night, who ends fear), Mahagauri (the radiant one) and Siddhidatri (giver of every accomplishment). Other families give three nights each to Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati.

The texts behind the story

• Devi Mahatmyam (Markandeya Purana, cantos 81–93). F. E. Pargiter (tr.), The Markandeya Purana (Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, Bibliotheca Indica, 1904). Pargiter died 1927; published 1904: public domain. Quoted verbatim from canto 92, verse 11. (cantos 81–93, pp. 465–523; the autumn worship, canto 92, verse 11, p. 519)
• Devi Bhagavata Purana, book 3, chapters 26–30 (the Navaratra vow; Narada teaches it to Rama). Swami Vijnanananda (tr.), The Srimad Devi Bhagawatam, Sacred Books of the Hindus vol. 26 (Allahabad: Panini Office, 1921–23). Vijnanananda died 1938; published before 1931: public domain. Summarised in our own words. Read in the archive.org full-text transcription of this translation; the 1922 scan srimaddevibhagav26vijnuoft holds only books 9–12. (book 3, chapters 26–30 (chapter 30, verses 43–61))
• Krittibas Ojha, Sri Ram Panchali (the Bengali Ramayana, 15th century), the akal bodhan of Durga. Bengali tradition; summarised in our own words.
• Devi Kavacham, the hymn recited before the Devi Mahatmyam, for the order of the nine forms (Navadurga). Named, not quoted.

When it is kept

Sharad Navratri begins with Ghatasthapana, the setting up of the sacred pot, on the day the Shukla Pratipada of Ashvin is present in the first third of the daytime at your location. It then runs tithi by tithi to the day on which Navami is present at sunrise. This is the rule most Smarta panchangs use. Maha Navami, the day of its puja and fast, follows the Dharmasindhu and the Nirnayasindhu: when Navami begins after sunrise on the day of Ashtami and is present by the start of that evening (sayahna, the last fifth of the daytime), Maha Navami is that day, so it can fall on the same day as Durga Ashtami. Otherwise it is the day Navami is present at sunrise. When the two days differ, the app shows both. Because a tithi can repeat or drop out, Navratri can last eight, nine or ten days. The Bengali Durga Puja days (engine id durga-puja) follow a different rule: Maha Shashthi, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Bijaya Dashami fall on the days these tithis of the bright half of Ashvin are present at sunrise. Sandhi Puja is the 48 minutes (two ghatikas) around the moment Ashtami ends and Navami begins.

The date, from the calendar engine

• Navratri 2027: Ghatasthapana falls on Thursday, September 30, 2027 in Washington DC (computed for this city). The date is the same in New Delhi.

The date depends on your city. Every city we cover is on the year page.

Traditions and regional customs

• Smarta: Ghatasthapana in the first third of the day of Ashvin Shukla Pratipada; nine nights to Maha Navami
• Bengali (Vishuddha Siddhanta and Gupta Press panjikas): Durga Puja from Maha Shashthi to Bijoya Dashami
• Gujarati: garba and dandiya on each of the nine nights
• Tamil, Telugu and Kannada: Golu doll steps; Saraswati and Ayudha Puja on Navami
• Telangana: Bathukamma
• Mysuru: Dasara, ending on Vijayadashami

Why the day can differ

Ghatasthapana is decided by the first third of your own day, so it can fall on different dates in different cities. When a tithi repeats or drops out, Navratri gains or loses a day, and the Ashtami and Navami fasts move with it. Families also differ on the day of Kanya Puja (Ashtami or Navami) and on when to end the fast (Navami or Dashami).

For Durga Puja, the two main Bengali panjikas, Vishuddha Siddhanta and Gupta Press, can differ by a day, and a family or community follows the one it has always used. Check with your community puja before you plan. Abroad, many community Durga Pujas are held on the nearest weekend; the app still shows the panjika days, so families can keep anjali or Sandhi Puja at home on the day itself. The Sandhi Puja moment is computed for your city and can fall at any hour, even at night.

How to keep it at home

1. Before the first day, clean the puja place. Many families set up a low table with a red cloth and a picture or murti of the Goddess.
2. Ghatasthapana on the first day: spread clean soil in a wide clay tray and sow barley or wheat seeds in it. Set a kalash of water on it, with mango leaves in its mouth and a coconut wrapped in red cloth on top, and invite the Goddess into it with a prayer. Water the seeds each day; the green shoots (jaware or khetri) are offered at the end.
3. Many families keep a lamp burning day and night for all nine days (akhand jyoti). Abroad, an electric lamp or a lamp that an adult can watch is a safe choice; families also light the lamp only at the morning and evening puja.
4. Each day, worship the Goddess with water, kumkum, unbroken rice, red flowers such as hibiscus, incense, a lamp and a simple offering of fruit or sweets. Families who follow the nine forms remember the form of that day.
5. Prayers commonly read: the Devi Mahatmyam (Durga Saptashati), often spread over the nine days, with the Devi Kavacham, Argala and Kilaka stotras before it; the Durga Chalisa; the Siddha Kunjika Stotram; the Mahishasura Mardini Stotram; and the aarti "Jai Ambe Gauri". Many families also say "Ya Devi sarvabhuteshu", the refrain from the Devi Mahatmyam's hymn of praise.
6. Kanya Puja on Ashtami or Navami: invite young girls, often nine, and many families also one young boy. Wash their feet, put a tilak on their foreheads, serve them halwa, puri and black chana, and give a small gift, honouring the Goddess in them.
7. In South Indian homes, set up Golu: dolls of gods, saints and daily life arranged on an odd number of steps. Invite friends in the evening, sing, and give sundal (spiced lentils or chickpeas) and a small return gift. On Navami, place books, musical instruments and tools before Saraswati for Saraswati and Ayudha Puja, and rest them for the day.
8. Bengali Durga Puja: on Shashthi the Goddess is welcomed (bodhan). On Saptami a plantain plant with eight other plants, dressed as a bride (Kola Bou, the Nabapatrika), is bathed and set beside Ganesha. On Ashtami morning families fast until they offer flowers in anjali, and Sandhi Puja is done with 108 lamps and lotuses; some pujas also honour a young girl as the Goddess (Kumari Puja). Navami is the last full day of worship. On Bijoya Dashami married women offer sindoor to the Goddess and to each other (sindoor khela), the image is immersed, and everyone greets elders with pranam, embraces and sweets.
9. Abroad, much of Durga Puja and garba happens in community halls. At home, families can still keep the lamp, the daily prayer, the Ashtami anjali and the Bijoya greetings. Where local rules do not allow immersion in rivers or the sea, the image or the kalash is immersed in a tub of water at home or at the temple, and the water is later poured into a garden.

Fasting

Fasting customs vary widely. Some devotees fast all nine days on fruit, milk and fasting foods; some eat one meal a day; many fast only on the first day and on Ashtami or Navami. North Indian fasting food leaves out grains, lentils, onion and garlic and uses buckwheat (kuttu), water chestnut flour (singhara), amaranth (rajgira), barnyard millet (samak), sago, potatoes and rock salt. In Bengal the Puja days are a feast rather than a fast, apart from the Ashtami morning fast before anjali; many Bengali families eat fish and meat during the Puja. Anyone who is pregnant, unwell, diabetic, elderly or on regular medicine should keep a light fast, or none, and talk to a doctor first.

Food

Fasting dishes include sabudana khichdi, kuttu puri, singhara halwa, makhana kheer and potatoes cooked with cumin and rock salt. The Kanya Puja plate is halwa, puri and black chana. Bengali Puja bhog is khichuri, labra (mixed vegetables), fried aubergine and payesh, followed by sandesh and roshogolla. South Indian homes make a different sundal each evening and payasam on Navami.

For children

Once a buffalo demon named Mahishasura chased the gods out of their home in the sky. The gods joined their light together, and from that light came one great Goddess, Durga. She rode a lion and carried a gift from each god. Families tell that for nine days and nights she stood firm against him, and on the last day she won, and the gods could go home. That is why families light a lamp for nine nights and thank the Goddess for her courage.

Something to do together

On the first day, sow a few barley or wheat seeds in a small pot of soil. Water them together every morning and measure the shoots each day. By the ninth day you will have a little green garden to offer.

Sources

• Panchang engine rules navratri-sharad, durga-puja, navratri-chaitra and kojagara-puja (packages/panchang/data/festivals.json), with the sources each rule lists, including the note that the Vishuddha Siddhanta and Gupta Press panjikas can differ by a day.
• F. E. Pargiter (tr.), The Markandeya Purana (Calcutta, 1904), cantos 81–93. Public domain.
• Swami Vijnanananda (tr.), The Srimad Devi Bhagawatam (Allahabad: Panini Office, 1921–23), book 3, chapters 26–30. Public domain. The chapter content was read in a transcription of the same translation (archive.org SrimadDeviBhagavatamEnglish); the archive.org 1922 scan srimaddevibhagav26vijnuoft is part 3 of the volume and holds only books 9–12.
• UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, "Durga Puja in Kolkata" (inscribed on the Representative List in 2021): the community Puja, its days and its customs.
• Wikipedia, "Navaratri" (background on the four seasonal Navaratris and regional customs).

Related guides

• Durga Puja
• Dussehra (Vijayadashami)
• Sharad Purnima (Kojagari Purnima)
• Pitru Paksha (Shraddh)
• Diwali (Deepavali)