Navratri: The Nine Nights, the Nine Forms of Durga, and How to Keep Them

Navratri — Sharad in autumn, Chaitra in spring — is nine nights of the Goddess, one form for each night. This year's dates and the ghatasthapana time for your city are in the box below. Computed for each city.

Navratri means "nine nights". For nine lunar days, from the first day of the bright fortnight, Hindus across India and the world worship Durga — one of her nine forms on each day — and on the tenth they celebrate the victory she won. In Gujarat the nights are danced, in Bengal the Goddess comes home to the pandal, in Punjab small girls are fed as the Goddess herself, and in Tamil homes the steps of the golu fill with dolls. Underneath all of it is one rite, kept the same way in a Delhi flat and a house in New Jersey: a pot of water is installed, a lamp is lit, and the Goddess is asked to stay for nine days.

This page is the way in. It gives the dates and why they move, the ghatasthapana, and the nine nights at a glance — and from each night, a page of its own.

Quick overview

• What it is: nine lunar days of worship of Durga, from Pratipada (the first day of the bright half) to Navami (the ninth). The tenth day, Dashami, is Vijayadashami — Dussehra.
• Two Navratris that everyone keeps: Sharad Navratri in the lunar month of Ashvin (September–October), the larger of the two, and Chaitra Navratri in Chaitra (March–April), which ends on Ram Navami.
• The first act: ghatasthapana (kalash sthapana) — installing the sacred pot on the morning of Pratipada, never at night.
• The nine forms, in order: Shailaputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalaratri, Mahagauri, Siddhidatri.
• The great days: Durga Ashtami and Maha Navami — the sandhi puja, kanya pujan and the havan.

This year

Chaitra Navratri 2027: Wednesday 7 April to Thursday 15 April

9 days in New Delhi

IndiaUSACanadaUKAustraliaUAESingapore

Ghatasthapana

Wednesday 7 April: 06:05–10:17, the first part of the morning

Abhijit (fallback)

11:58–12:49

Good choghadiyas

Labh 06:05–07:40 · Amrit 07:40–09:14 · Shubh 10:49–12:24

Note

Vaidhriti yoga from 07:26 through the abhijit muhurat. Disfavoured, not forbidden: where there is a choice, choose a time outside them.

Times are New Delhi clock time. Computed for each city from the positions of the Sun and Moon (Lahiri). Where your family or temple follows its own panchang, follow that.

The nine nights at a glance

Each night belongs to one form of the Goddess. Tap a name for her story, her mantra, her bhog and the worship of her day.

The bhog is a popular custom whose lists vary from family to family. The bhog for all nine days, and why it is offered · The colours of Navratri, day by day

Why the dates move, and why your country may differ

Navratri follows the Moon, not the solar calendar. It begins on the day the Pratipada tithi — the first lunar day after the new moon — is running at sunrise, and that day falls on a different date every year.

The rule has one firm prohibition: the worship must not begin while the previous Amavasya, the new moon, is still running. If Pratipada begins late in the morning, the kalash is still installed that day, before midday — never in the afternoon, and never at night.

A tithi is a stretch of the Moon's motion, not of the clock, so it begins at the same moment everywhere on Earth. What differs is the local sunrise. A Pratipada that begins after dawn in India may already be running at the previous dawn in New York or Toronto. So Navratri — and Dussehra with it — can begin on a different date in North America than in India. The box above gives the date for your country: the same rule, applied to a different sunrise.

Is Navratri always nine days? No. A tithi is not exactly a day long. When one begins and ends between two sunrises, it never touches a sunrise and is said to be lost; when one covers two sunrises, it is counted twice. So Navratri is sometimes kept over eight days and sometimes over ten. All nine forms are still worshipped; two simply share a day, or one is worshipped across two.

Ghatasthapana: installing the Goddess

Everything in Navratri hangs on this one act. A kalash — a pot of copper, brass or clay — is filled with water and set up as the seat of the Goddess for the nine days. In the north, barley (jau) is sown in a bed of earth beside it; the green shoots that come up, called jaware or khetri, are taken as the Goddess's blessing.

When. Dharmasindhu, the eighteenth-century digest of observance that many Hindu almanacs still follow, sets the worship to begin in the morning of Pratipada, in the first part of the morning after sunrise. If Pratipada itself begins late, the installation may be made as late as the abhijit muhurat, around local noon — but never in the afternoon, and never at night. Later almanac practice adds that the Chitra nakshatra and the Vaidhriti yoga are best avoided where there is a choice; they are disfavoured, not forbidden.

Many families also choose a choghadiya — one of the eight parts of the day named shubh, labh, amrit and so on — and install the kalash in a shubh, labh or amrit choghadiya. It is a later, popular reckoning; Dharmasindhu does not use it. So, in order: the first part of the morning; if that is not possible, the abhijit muhurat; and within either, a good choghadiya if your family keeps one. The box above gives all three for your city.

How. Dharmasindhu's order is the one most family priests still use:

1. Bathe in the morning, and sit facing east — the householder with his or her spouse.
2. Make the sankalpa, the stated intention: who you are, where you are, the date by the lunar calendar, and that you will worship the Goddess for these nine days.
3. Worship Ganesha first, as before any rite.
4. Set the kalash on a clean raised place, on five leaves — traditionally mango, peepal or betel.
5. Fill it with water, and add a coin, a betel nut, rice and flowers. Set mango leaves in its mouth and a coconut wrapped in red cloth on top. Tie a red thread (mauli) around its neck.
6. Sow barley in the bed of earth beside it, if that is your family's custom.
7. Invoke the Goddess into the kalash, offer her the day's worship, and light the lamp. Many families keep an akhand jyoti, a lamp that is not allowed to go out for the nine days.

The worship each day may be done three times, twice, or once, as your family keeps it. On the first day it is offered to the first form.

→ Night 1 — Shailaputri, daughter of the mountain

The nine forms of Durga, and the story they tell

The list of the nine comes from the Devi Kavacham, the "armour of the Goddess", recited before the Devi Mahatmya. In it, Brahma tells the sage Markandeya:

प्रथमं शैलपुत्री च द्वितीयं ब्रह्मचारिणी ।
तृतीयं चन्द्रघण्टेति कूष्माण्डेति चतुर्थकम् ॥
पञ्चमं स्कन्दमातेति षष्ठं कात्यायनीति च ।
सप्तमं कालरात्रीति महागौरीति चाष्टमम् ॥
नवमं सिद्धिदात्री च नवदुर्गाः प्रकीर्तिताः ।

Prathamaṁ Śailaputrī ca dvitīyaṁ Brahmacāriṇī, tṛtīyaṁ Candraghaṇṭeti Kūṣmāṇḍeti caturthakam. Pañcamaṁ Skandamāteti ṣaṣṭhaṁ Kātyāyanīti ca, saptamaṁ Kālarātrīti Mahāgaurīti cāṣṭamam. Navamaṁ Siddhidātrī ca navadurgāḥ prakīrtitāḥ.

"The first is Shailaputri, the second Brahmacharini; the third is called Chandraghanta, the fourth Kushmanda; the fifth Skandamata, the sixth Katyayani; the seventh Kalaratri, the eighth Mahagauri; the ninth Siddhidatri. These are proclaimed the nine Durgas."

Read in order, the nine tell one story. A girl is born in the mountains, the daughter of Himavat — Shailaputri. She takes a vow of penance to win Shiva, and keeps it for years — Brahmacharini. She marries him and wears the crescent moon like a bell — Chandraghanta. Behind her stands the power that made the world from a little warmth — Kushmanda. She becomes a mother, the child Skanda in her lap — Skandamata. She goes out to war — Katyayani. She turns black as the night of time to destroy what frightens her devotees — Kalaratri. She is washed white and radiant — Mahagauri. And she gives the attainments to all who ask — Siddhidatri.

The scripture of the festival is the Devi Mahatmya — the Durga Saptashati, seven hundred verses from the Markandeya Purana, read through over the nine days in many homes. It tells of the Goddess who rises from the combined anger of the gods to kill the buffalo-demon Mahishasura — the image on every Durga Puja pandal — and of the battles against Shumbha and Nishumbha. Its refrain is chanted at almost every Navratri gathering:

या देवी सर्वभूतेषु शक्तिरूपेण संस्थिता ।
नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः ॥

Yā devī sarva-bhūteṣu śakti-rūpeṇa saṁsthitā, namas tasyai namas tasyai namas tasyai namo namaḥ.

"To the Goddess who dwells in all beings in the form of power — salutation to her, salutation to her, salutation to her, again and again."

Every evening of the nine, the worship closes with the aarti — in most homes of the north and west, Jai Ambe Gauri.

→ The Navratri aarti: Jai Ambe Gauri, line by line

Why autumn? The older spring worship is not lost: Chaitra Navratri still ends on Ram Navami. In the Devi Bhagavata Purana, the sage Narada advises Rama to keep the Navratri vow before his war with Ravana, and Bengal tells it as akāl bodhan, "the untimely awakening": Rama wakes the Goddess out of her season, in autumn. His victory falls on the tenth day, which is why Navratri ends in Dussehra.

Durga Ashtami, Maha Navami and kanya pujan

The last two days are the greatest. Durga Ashtami is the eighth — and Dharmasindhu will not keep it on a day whose sunrise still belongs to the seventh tithi, which is why it sometimes falls a day later than a quick look at the calendar suggests. Where Ashtami ends and Navami begins, the sandhi puja is offered. Maha Navami closes the nine with the havan, offered by day.

On one of the two, as each family keeps it, young girls are invited home and fed as the Goddess herself: kanya pujan, or kanjak in Punjab. Dharmasindhu gives the ages, from two to ten, and a name of the Goddess for each.

Durga Ashtami: which day, the sandhi puja, and how it is kept · Maha Navami: the havan and the close of the nine · Kanya pujan: the ages, the names and the vidhi

The fast: what is eaten and what is not

The texts are less strict than many families. Dharmasindhu offers three ways to fast and leaves the choice to family custom: one meal a day (ekabhukta), a meal only at night (nakta), or eating only what comes unasked (ayachita). Some fast on water or fruit for all nine days; many keep only the first and last days, or Ashtami.

The common Navratri kitchen, especially in the north and west, sets aside grains and pulses and uses instead:

• flours: buckwheat (kuttu), water-chestnut (singhara), amaranth (rajgira);
• "rice": barnyard millet (sama or vrat ke chawal) and sago (sabudana);
• salt: rock salt (sendha namak), not ordinary salt;
• potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, milk, curd, paneer, fruit and nuts.

Onion, garlic, meat, eggs and alcohol are given up for the nine days in most fasting households. These are customs, not scripture, and they vary by family and region — follow your own.

How Navratri is kept across India and the world

Gujarat dances. Every night, people gather in circles around a lamp or an image of the Goddess — the garbo, "womb" — for garba, and then for dandiya raas with sticks. London, New Jersey and Toronto hold some of the largest garba nights outside India.

Bengal keeps Durga Puja. Saptami, Ashtami and Navami are the great days. On Dashami the images are immersed, and married women smear one another with vermilion (sindoor khela) before saying goodbye to her.

Punjab, Himachal and the north keep the kalash and the barley, the akhand jyoti, all-night jagratas of devotional singing, and kanjak on Ashtami or Navami. Pilgrims crowd the hill shrines of the Goddess — Vaishno Devi, Naina Devi, Chintpurni, Jwalamukhi, and in Jalandhar the Devi Talab Mandir. Ram Lila is staged over the nine nights, ending in Ravana's burning on Dussehra.

Maharashtra begins with ghatasthapana in almost every home, and is where the custom of wearing one colour for each day is kept most widely.

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra set up the golu (kolu, bommala koluvu): steps covered with dolls of gods, saints and village life, visited by neighbours each evening. On Navami, tools, books and vehicles are worshipped as Ayudha Puja, and Mysuru keeps the royal Dasara. Kerala ends with Vidyarambham, small children writing their first letters on Vijayadashami. Telangana celebrates Bathukamma, with flowers stacked into tall cones and floated on water.

Saraswati in the nakshatras. In Bengal, Maharashtra and the south, Saraswati is worshipped by the Moon's mansion rather than by the tithi. Dharmasindhu gives the rule: she is invoked in Mula, worshipped in Purva Ashadha, given her offering in Uttara Ashadha, and sent off in Shravana.

Chaitra Navratri and the Gupt Navratris

Chaitra Navratri follows the same rules and the same nine forms, in the spring month of Chaitra, which begins the Hindu lunar new year in much of India. Its ninth day is Ram Navami, Rama's birthday. In Maharashtra its first day is Gudi Padwa, and in the Deccan Ugadi. The two Gupt Navratris ("hidden Navratris"), in Magh and Ashadh, are kept quietly by fewer people, often in the tantric traditions.

The sky over Navratri

Navratri begins the day after the new moon, so its nine nights are nine nights of a waxing Moon — from a thin crescent at dusk on the first evening to a Moon a little past half on the ninth. The tithi itself is nothing but the distance between the Moon and the Sun, measured in twelve-degree steps; Navratri is the Moon pulling away from the Sun after their meeting at Amavasya.

Sharad Navratri falls when the Sun is in Virgo, close to its entry into Libra, where it is debilitated; Chaitra Navratri when the Sun is in Pisces, near its entry into Aries, where it is exalted. Autumn's festival faces the Sun's weakest season, spring's its strongest — and both are given to the Goddess, the power behind the light in either. In the Astro River reading order the Moon is read third, beside Saturn and Ketu, because it shows how a life is felt from the inside — and Navratri is the season given to that inner life.

What to begin, and what to finish

Navratri follows Pitru Paksha, the fortnight of the ancestors, in which nothing new is begun. Navratri reverses it. It is the season the tradition gives to new things: a practice, a vow, a course of study, a purchase that was put off, a business opened on Vijayadashami. What is put down is equally clear: anger, meat and alcohol, careless speech. The fast is not the point; it is the frame. The point is nine days in which attention is given to the Goddess every morning and evening.

Pitru Paksha: the fortnight that comes before Navratri ·

Questions we are asked

What is Navratri? Nine lunar days of worship of the Goddess Durga, one of her nine forms on each day, from the first to the ninth day of the bright fortnight. The tenth day is Vijayadashami, Dussehra. There are two main Navratris a year: Sharad Navratri in autumn and Chaitra Navratri in spring.

Navratri kab hai — when is Navratri this year? The dates for this year, and the ghatasthapana time for your city, are in the box at the top of this page. They are computed from the tithi for each country, so they can differ by a day between India and North America.

Aaj kaun sa Navratri hai — which day of Navratri is it today? Count from the ghatasthapana day as Day 1: Shailaputri, then Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalaratri, Mahagauri and Siddhidatri on Day 9. When a tithi is lost or doubled, two forms share a day or one is kept over two.

When should ghatasthapana be done? On the morning of Pratipada, after sunrise, ideally in the first part of the morning; if Pratipada begins late, up to the abhijit muhurat around local noon. Families who follow choghadiya choose a shubh, labh or amrit choghadiya within that time. Never in the afternoon, never at night, and never while the Amavasya is still running.

Kalash me kya dalna chahiye — what goes into the kalash? Water (with Ganga water if you have it), a coin, a betel nut, rice and flowers. Mango leaves are set in its mouth, and a coconut wrapped in red cloth on top, with a red thread tied around its neck.

What is not done during Navratri — Navratri me kya nahi karna chahiye? In fasting households: no meat, eggs or alcohol, and usually no onion or garlic. The kalash is not installed at night, and the akhand jyoti, if lit, is not allowed to go out. Many families in the north also avoid cutting hair and nails for the nine days. These are customs and vary by family.

Is Navratri only a Gujarati festival? No. Garba made Gujarat's Navratri famous worldwide, but Navratri is kept across India and abroad — as Durga Puja in Bengal, with the golu in the south, with kanjak and jagratas in Punjab and the north, and with ghatasthapana in Maharashtra.

What is the mantra for Navratri? The most widely chanted verse is Yā devī sarva-bhūteṣu śakti-rūpeṇa saṁsthitā, namas tasyai namas tasyai namas tasyai namo namaḥ from the Devi Mahatmya. Each of the nine forms has her own short mantra, given on her page.

This page teaches. The dates and times are computed for each city from the positions of the Sun and Moon. Where a family or temple follows its own panchang, follow that.

For a question about your own chart — which form of the Goddess, which remedy, which time to begin something new — a private consultation is where it is read in full.

→ Book a private consultation