Astro River InstituteThe third night of Navratri belongs to Chandraghanta, the Goddess who wears the half-moon like a bell. This year's date for the third night in your city is in the box below.
The first two nights belonged to a girl — born on the mountain, then lost in her long vow. On the third night the vow has been answered. The Goddess has married Shiva, and for the first time in the nine she is shown armed: ten hands, ten weapons, a lion or a tiger beneath her, and on her forehead a half-moon shaped like a temple bell.
Maa Chandraghanta is the moment the Goddess becomes formidable. She is still serene — her face is calm in every picture — but the calm now has weapons behind it. Her bell is said to ring out against everything that harms her devotees, and to send it running.
Quick overview
- Night: the third of Navratri — Tritiya, the third lunar day of the bright fortnight.
- Her name: Candraghaṇṭā, "she whose bell is the moon" (candra, moon; ghaṇṭā, bell).
- Who she is: Parvati, now Shiva's wife, in her first armed form.
- How she is shown: golden, with ten arms bearing weapons, riding a lion or tiger, a bell-shaped half-moon on her forehead.
- Her mantra: ॐ देवी चन्द्रघण्टायै नमः — Om Devī Candraghaṇṭāyai namaḥ.
- Bhog commonly offered: milk, or kheer and sweets made from milk — a family custom whose lists vary.
This year
Chaitra Navratri 2027: Wednesday 7 April to Thursday 15 April
9 days in New Delhi
- Night 3 · Chandraghanta
- Friday 9 April
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.
Who she is: the bride who takes up arms
Chandraghanta is the married Parvati. The penance of the second night has been answered, Shiva has come for her, and she wears on her forehead the crescent he wears in his hair — the half-Moon, here in the shape of a bell.
The bell is the key to her. In every temple a bell is rung before the deity is approached, and its sound is said to clear the air of what should not be there. Chandraghanta carries that sound on her own body. In the devotional reading of her, the ringing of her bell scatters fear and the beings that feed on it; those who worship her are said to hear it.
She is also the first of the nine to be shown ready for battle. Shailaputri held a trident; Brahmacharini held nothing but a rosary. Chandraghanta has ten hands, and most of them are armed. The story of the nine nights has turned: the Goddess who withdrew into the forest now stands between her devotees and harm.
How she is shown
Chandraghanta is golden or bright in colour, with ten arms. Her hands hold a trident, a mace, a sword, a bow and arrow, a lotus, a rosary, a water pot — the list varies between images — with one hand often raised in blessing. She rides a lion in most pictures, a tiger in some. Her eyes are often drawn with a third eye between them, and the half-moon sits on her brow like a bell.
Her expression is the thing to notice: perfectly calm, in the middle of all that iron. That is the quality she gives — courage without agitation.
Her mantra and her verse
The short mantra many families use on the third day:
ॐ देवी चन्द्रघण्टायै नमः
Om Devī Candraghaṇṭāyai namaḥ — "Om, salutation to the Goddess Chandraghanta."
Her meditation verse (dhyāna), as it is recited in the Navadurga worship:
पिण्डजप्रवरारूढा चण्डकोपास्त्रकैर्युता ।
प्रसादं तनुते मह्यं चन्द्रघण्टेति विश्रुता ॥Piṇḍaja-pravarārūḍhā caṇḍa-kopāstrakair yutā, prasādaṁ tanute mahyaṁ candraghaṇṭeti viśrutā.
"Riding the noblest of beasts, armed with weapons of fierce wrath, she who is renowned as Chandraghanta extends her grace to me."
The nine meditation verses come from the later ritual tradition of the Navadurga worship; the Devi Mahatmya itself gives only the nine names.
How the third night is kept
The kalash is worshipped as on every day, and Chandraghanta as the form of the day. Many families ring a bell through the whole of her worship — for her above all — and offer her milk and sweets made from milk. Her day is a good day to face something you have been afraid of: a hard conversation, a decision put off.
In Bengal, the third day falls before the great days of Durga Puja; the pandals are still being finished, and the city is filling with lights.
The daily worship of the kalash, and the nine nights at a glance
Bhog and colour
The bhog most widely offered to Chandraghanta is milk, or kheer and sweets made from milk. This is a popular custom, not a rule of the texts; keep your family's list if it differs.
The colour worn on the third day is not fixed to Chandraghanta; in the modern custom of nine colours it changes each year with the weekday on which Navratri begins.
→ This year's colours of Navratri, day by day
Questions we are asked
Which goddess is worshipped on the third day of Navratri? Chandraghanta, the third of the nine forms of Durga named in the Devi Kavacham — Parvati as Shiva's wife, in her first armed form.
Why is she called Chandraghanta? Because the half-moon on her forehead is shaped like a bell: candra, moon; ghaṇṭā, bell.
What is the mantra for Maa Chandraghanta? Om Devī Candraghaṇṭāyai namaḥ — "Om, salutation to the Goddess Chandraghanta." Her meditation verse is given above.
What bhog is offered to Chandraghanta? Milk, or kheer and sweets made from milk, by popular custom. Lists vary by family.
Why is a bell rung in her worship? The bell's sound is said to clear away what should not be present before the deity; Chandraghanta carries that bell on her own brow, so it is rung for her above all.
This page teaches. The dates are computed for each city from the positions of the Sun and Moon. Where a family or temple follows its own panchang, follow that.
Night 2 — Brahmacharini, the one who keeps the vow · Night 4 — Kushmanda, who made the world with a smile · The bhog for all nine days · Kanya pujan
