Astro River InstituteThe eighth night of Navratri — Durga Ashtami — belongs to Mahagauri, the Goddess washed white and shining. This year's date for Ashtami in your city is in the box below.
After the darkest night comes the brightest. On the seventh night the Goddess was black as the end of time; on the eighth she is white as a conch, as jasmine, as the moon — dressed in white, seated on a white bull, so bright that her name is simply "the great white one".
Maa Mahagauri is the Goddess of the eighth night, and her night is Durga Ashtami, the greatest of the nine. It is the day of kanya pujan in many homes, of the flower-offering in Bengal, of the sandhi puja at the turning into Navami. And at its centre is this radiant form: the long penance of the earlier nights ending, at last, in light.
Quick overview
- Night: the eighth of Navratri — Ashtami, the eighth lunar day of the bright fortnight: Durga Ashtami, Maha Ashtami.
- Her name: Mahāgaurī, "the very white, the very bright".
- Who she is: Parvati made radiant after her penance.
- How she is shown: in white, on a white bull, with four arms — a trident and a small drum (damaru), the other two hands in blessing.
- Her mantra: ॐ देवी महागौर्यै नमः — Om Devī Mahāgauryai namaḥ.
- Bhog commonly offered: coconut — a family custom whose lists vary.
- Her day also brings: kanya pujan in many families, and the sandhi puja.
This year
Chaitra Navratri 2027: Wednesday 7 April to Thursday 15 April
9 days in New Delhi
- Night 8 · Mahagauri
- Wednesday 14 April
- 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.
Who she is: the penance made radiant
The story told of Mahagauri goes back to the second night. In her long austerity for Shiva, Parvati had stood through sun and rain and winter; her body, the telling goes, had grown dark with dust and weather. When Shiva at last accepted her, he washed her with the water of the Ganga — and she shone, white and radiant. That shining Goddess is Mahagauri.
Read as a whole, the nine nights tell it in order: the girl who takes the vow (Brahmacharini), the fierce darkness that destroys what harms (Kalaratri), and then, on the eighth night, the radiance on the far side of both. Mahagauri is what austerity is for.
That is why her day is kept as a day of purification and of grace. Whatever has been carried through the first seven nights — the fast, the discipline, the worry — is set down on the eighth.
How she is shown
Everything about Mahagauri is white. She wears white; she rides a white bull; her ornaments are pearl and silver. She has four arms: in one a trident, in another a small hand-drum, the damaru; the other two hands are raised in the gestures of fearlessness and of blessing. Her face is young and perfectly calm.
Her mantra and her verse
The short mantra many families use on the eighth day:
ॐ देवी महागौर्यै नमः
Om Devī Mahāgauryai namaḥ — "Om, salutation to the Goddess Mahagauri."
Her meditation verse (dhyāna), as it is recited in the Navadurga worship:
श्वेते वृषे समारूढा श्वेताम्बरधरा शुचिः ।
महागौरी शुभं दद्यान्महादेवप्रमोददा ॥Śvete vṛṣe samārūḍhā śvetāmbara-dharā śuciḥ, mahāgaurī śubhaṁ dadyān mahādeva-pramodadā.
"Mounted on a white bull, clothed in white, pure — may Mahagauri, who gives joy to Mahadeva, grant what is good."
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 eighth night is kept
Mahagauri's day is Durga Ashtami, and it is kept more fully than any other day of the nine.
- The worship of the kalash and of Mahagauri, with white flowers where you can find them, and coconut as bhog.
- The fast — kept by many who do not fast the full nine days.
- Kanya pujan, in families who keep it on Ashtami: girls from two to ten are welcomed and fed as the Goddess.
- The sandhi puja, at the moment Ashtami turns into Navami.
- In Bengal, the pushpanjali — the flower-offering — at the pandal in the morning, and the Kumari puja.
Durga Ashtami: which day, the sandhi puja, and how it is kept · Kanya pujan: the ages, the names and the vidhi
Bhog and colour
The bhog most widely offered to Mahagauri is coconut. This is a popular custom rather than a rule of the texts; keep your family's list if it differs. In families who keep kanya pujan on Ashtami, the halwa, puri and black chana served to the girls are first offered to her.
The colour worn on the eighth day is not fixed to Mahagauri, though she herself is always shown in white; in the modern custom of nine colours, the day's colour 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 eighth day of Navratri? Mahagauri, the eighth of the nine forms of Durga named in the Devi Kavacham. Her day is Durga Ashtami.
Why is she called Mahagauri? Mahā, great; gaurī, white or bright. In the story told of her, Shiva washed Parvati with the water of the Ganga after her penance, and she shone white.
What is the mantra for Maa Mahagauri? Om Devī Mahāgauryai namaḥ — "Om, salutation to the Goddess Mahagauri." Her meditation verse is given above.
What bhog is offered to Mahagauri? Coconut, by popular custom; and in families who keep kanya pujan on Ashtami, the halwa, puri and chana offered first to her. Lists vary.
Is kanya pujan done on Mahagauri's day? In many families, yes — on Ashtami. Others keep it on Navami. Both are right.
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 7 — Kalratri, the night of time · Night 9 — Siddhidatri, the giver of attainment · The bhog for all nine days · Navratri: the nine nights, all on one page
