Astro River InstituteDurga Ashtami — Maha Ashtami — is the eighth day of Navratri and the greatest of the nine. This year's date and the sandhi puja time for your city are in the box below.
Of the nine days of Navratri, the eighth carries the most weight. It is the day of Mahagauri, the radiant form of the Goddess; the day many families feed young girls as the Goddess herself; the day Bengal offers flowers to Durga in the morning and 108 lamps at the turning of the night; and, for those who fast on only one day of the nine, the day they choose.
This page explains which day Durga Ashtami falls on — and why it is sometimes a day later than people expect — the sandhi puja that joins it to Navami, and how the day is kept at home and across India.
Quick overview
- What it is: the eighth lunar day (Ashtami) of the bright fortnight of Navratri — in autumn in Ashvin, in spring in Chaitra.
- The form of the day: Mahagauri, "the very bright".
- Which day: the day whose sunrise belongs to Ashtami — never a day whose sunrise is still held by Saptami, the seventh.
- The sandhi puja: the worship offered at the moment Ashtami ends and Navami begins, kept over about forty-eight minutes.
- Kanya pujan: on Ashtami or on Navami, as your family keeps it.
- The fast: kept by many who do not fast the full nine days.
This year
Chaitra Navratri 2027: Wednesday 7 April to Thursday 15 April
9 days in New Delhi
- Durga Ashtami
- Wednesday 14 April
- Ashtami tithi
- Tuesday 13 April 17:30 to Wednesday 14 April 15:25
- Sandhi puja
- Wednesday 14 April: 15:01–15:49
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.
Which day is Durga Ashtami?
Like every day of Navratri, Ashtami is a tithi — a stretch of the Moon's motion away from the Sun — and a tithi does not begin at sunrise. It may begin in the morning, in the afternoon or at night. So the question of which calendar day is "Ashtami" needs a rule.
Dharmasindhu, the eighteenth-century digest of observance that many Hindu almanacs still follow, gives it plainly for Durga Ashtami. An Ashtami "pierced" by Saptami — that is, a day whose sunrise still belongs to the seventh tithi, with Ashtami arriving only later in the day — is rejected. The Ashtami that runs on into Navami is the one preferred.
That is why Durga Ashtami sometimes falls a day later than a quick look at the calendar suggests: the date on which Ashtami begins is not always the date on which it is kept. And because the rule depends on the local sunrise, Durga Ashtami can fall on a different date in North America than in India. The box above gives the day for your country.
Masik Durgashtami. The eighth day of every bright fortnight is a small Durgashtami, kept by some devotees each month. The one that falls in Navratri is the great one — Maha Ashtami.
The Goddess of the day: Mahagauri
The eighth form of Durga in the Devi Kavacham is Mahagauri, "the very white, the very bright". The story told of her is that Parvati's long penance had left her body dark with dust and sun, and that Shiva washed her clean with the water of the Ganga, so that she shone. She is shown in white, on a white bull, with four arms.
Her day is one of purification and of grace — the fast and the long austerity of the first seven days giving way to radiance.
Mantra: ॐ देवी महागौर्यै नमः — Om Devī Mahāgauryai namaḥ — "Om, salutation to the Goddess Mahagauri."
The bhog commonly offered to her is coconut. Mahagauri: her story, her mantra and the worship of her day · The bhog for all nine days
The sandhi puja: the joint between two days
Sandhi means a joint — the place where two things meet. At the moment Ashtami ends and Navami begins, Dharmasindhu calls for a worship of its own, separate from the worship of either day. It is commonly kept over forty-eight minutes: the last twenty-four of Ashtami and the first twenty-four of Navami. The minute of the change is computed from the Moon's position, so it may fall at any hour — before dawn, at midday, late at night — and it is the same moment everywhere on Earth, at a different local clock time in each city. The box above gives the window for your city.
The sandhi puja is at its grandest in Bengal, where it is offered to the Goddess as Chamunda. As it is told there, the demons Chanda and Munda attacked Durga at that very joint of time, and the Goddess took the fierce form that destroyed them — the form the Devi Mahatmya names Chamunda for that victory. At the moment of sandhi, 108 lamps are lit and 108 lotuses offered, in memory of the 108 lotuses Rama offered to the Goddess before his war.
At home, the sandhi puja can be simple: a lamp lit at the start of the window, the Goddess's names or the Ya devi verse recited, flowers and a sweet offered, and the lamp kept burning until the window closes.
How Durga Ashtami is kept at home
The worship of the kalash continues, as on every day of Navratri, and Mahagauri is worshipped as the form of the day. Beyond that, families differ, and each of these is a family custom rather than a rule:
- The fast. Many who do not fast for all nine days fast on Ashtami. It is broken after the kanya pujan, or the next day.
- Reading the Devi Mahatmya. Those who read the Durga Saptashati through over the nine days often reach its closing chapters around Ashtami and Navami.
- Kanya pujan. In Punjab and across the north, kanjak is often kept on Ashtami: young girls are invited home, their feet washed, and they are fed halwa, puri and black chana as the Goddess herself. Other families keep it on Navami.
- The havan. Some families offer their havan on Ashtami; most offer it on Navami, by day.
Kanya pujan: the ages, the names and the vidhi · Maha Navami: the havan and the close of the nine
Durga Ashtami across India
Bengal calls it Maha Ashtami, the heart of Durga Puja. In the morning, people gather at the pandal, fasting, to offer flowers to the Goddess in the pushpanjali, repeating the Sanskrit after the priest. Kumari puja, in which a young girl is worshipped as the Goddess, is kept on this day in many places — most famously at the Ramakrishna Mission's Belur Math. Then comes the sandhi puja.
Punjab, Himachal and the north keep kanjak, the akhand jyoti, and jagratas — all-night devotional singing — around Ashtami; the hill shrines of the Goddess see their largest crowds.
Gujarat dances through the eighth night as on every night, and many families and temples offer a havan on Aatham, as the eighth is called there.
In the south, the last three days of Navratri are given to Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. In Kerala, books and instruments are laid before Saraswati around Durgashtami, to be taken up again on Vijayadashami.
Abroad, temples hold the Ashtami worship and the sandhi puja at the local time of the change — which is why the sandhi puja may be held in the small hours in London and in the evening in Houston for the same Ashtami.
Questions we are asked
Durga Ashtami kab hai — when is Durga Ashtami this year? The date for your country and the sandhi puja time for your city are in the box at the top of this page. They are computed from the tithi at local sunrise, so the date can differ between India and North America.
Why is Durga Ashtami sometimes a day later than the calendar shows? Because Ashtami is kept on the day whose sunrise belongs to Ashtami. Dharmasindhu rejects a day whose sunrise is still held by Saptami, even if Ashtami begins later that day.
What is the sandhi puja time? The forty-eight minutes around the moment Ashtami ends and Navami begins — the last twenty-four of Ashtami and the first twenty-four of Navami. The moment is the same everywhere; the local clock time differs by city.
Which goddess is worshipped on Durga Ashtami? Mahagauri, the eighth of the nine forms. At the sandhi puja, Bengal worships the Goddess as Chamunda.
Should kanya pujan be done on Ashtami or Navami? Either. Families keep it on one or the other by their own custom. Girls from two to ten years old are worshipped.
What is offered on Durga Ashtami? Coconut is the bhog commonly offered to Mahagauri; for kanya pujan, halwa, puri and black chana. Lists vary by family.
Can I fast only on Ashtami? Yes. Dharmasindhu leaves the form of the Navratri fast to family custom, and many keep only Ashtami, or the first and last days.
What is the difference between Durga Ashtami and Maha Navami? Ashtami is the eighth day, of Mahagauri; Navami the ninth, of Siddhidatri, with the havan that closes the worship. The sandhi puja joins the two.
Why are Durga Ashtami and Maha Navami sometimes on the same day? Because when Navami begins during the day of Ashtami, Dharmasindhu keeps the Navami fast and worship on that same day. The morning belongs to Ashtami, the sandhi puja marks the turn, and the Navami worship and havan follow by day.
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.
Navratri: the nine nights, all on one page · Night 7 — Kalaratri, the night before · Night 9 — Siddhidatri, the night after
