The Navratri katha is the story of Durga, the Goddess who arose from the united power of all the gods to defeat the buffalo demon Mahishasura, fighting through nine nights and winning on the tenth. Alongside it, each of the nine days has its own goddess, the Navadurga from Shailaputri to Siddhidatri, and a short story that is told on her day.
The dates, the ghatasthapana window for your city and the days of Ashtami and Navami are on the Sharad Navratri and Chaitra Navratri date pages. This page is only the story, retold in our own words.
Why Navratri: Durga and Mahishasura
Mahishasura, half buffalo and half man, did long penance and won a boon: no god and no man would be able to kill him. Safe in that promise, he drove the gods out of heaven and sat on Indra's throne.
The gods went to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. As they told their story, a great anger rose in each of them, and from their faces poured a light so intense it filled the sky. The light of every god flowed into it, and out of it stood a woman, radiant and calm. Mahishasura's boon had said nothing about a woman.
Each god gave her something of his own: Shiva his trident, Vishnu his discus, Indra his thunderbolt, Varuna his conch, Agni his spear. The mountain Himavan gave her a lion. She laughed, and the sound shook the three worlds.
Mahishasura sent his generals, then whole armies, and she cut through them all. Then he came himself, changing shape as he fought: a buffalo, a lion, a man with a sword, an elephant, and a buffalo again. At last she pinned him down with her foot and struck him with her trident as he tried to escape from the buffalo's body. The gods sang her praise and she promised to return whenever they called her. That is why the nine nights are hers and the tenth day is Vijayadashami, the day of victory.
Reading the story calmly
The Devi stories are full of battle, and it is worth saying what they mean to the people who keep the fast. Mahishasura is pride and stubbornness that refuses to change; the Goddess is the strength that rises when good people stop working alone and join together. No devotee is asked to be afraid. The fiercest form of the mother is still a mother.
Rama's autumn worship
A second story belongs especially to Sharad Navratri. Before his battle with Ravana, Rama wished to worship the Goddess. But autumn was not her season of worship, so he had to awaken her out of time, an akal bodhan. He gathered one hundred and eight blue lotuses for the puja. When he came to offer the last, one was missing; the Goddess had hidden it to test him. Rama, whom people called lotus-eyed, lifted an arrow to offer one of his own eyes in its place. The Goddess stopped his hand, appeared before him and blessed his victory. This telling, loved in Bengal and in Durga Puja tradition, comes from later Ramayanas rather than Valmiki's.
Chaitra Navratri, in spring, ends with Ram Navami, the day of Rama's birth, so both Navratris are tied to Rama in their own way.
The nine goddesses
Day one: Shailaputri
Shailaputri is the daughter of the mountain king Himalaya. In an earlier life she was Sati, daughter of Daksha, who gave up her body in the fire of her father's sacrifice because he had insulted Shiva. She was born again in the mountains, and in time found her way back to Shiva. Families usually tell the sorrow of Sati briefly, because the point of the story is her return. She rides a bull and holds a trident and a lotus. Her day is the day of roots and beginnings, which is why the kalash is installed on it.
Day two: Brahmacharini
Brahmacharini is Parvati in her years of penance. She wanted Shiva and nothing else, so she went into the forest and lived on fruit, then on leaves, then on nothing at all, which earned her the name Aparna, the one who gave up even leaves. She holds a rosary and a water pot. Her story is about patience: a goal reached by steady effort, not by force.
Day three: Chandraghanta
Chandraghanta wears a half moon shaped like a bell on her forehead. One telling says she took this form on her wedding day, when Shiva arrived with his wild procession of ghosts and ganas and her family was frightened; she stood before them, fierce and shining, and calmed the scene. The sound of her bell is said to drive away fear. She rides a tiger and is ready for battle, yet her face is peaceful.
Day four: Kushmanda
Kushmanda is the Goddess who made the universe. In the beginning there was only darkness, and she smiled, and from that smile came the cosmic egg and all light. She is said to live at the heart of the sun. She has eight arms, and some families offer her a pumpkin, kushmanda, from which her name is often explained.
Day five: Skandamata
Skandamata is the mother of Skanda, also called Kartikeya, the young general of the gods who defeated the demon Taraka. She sits on a lotus with the child on her lap. Her day is a day of tender, protective love, and many mothers keep it with special feeling.
Day six: Katyayani
The sage Katyayana prayed for years that the Goddess would be born as his daughter, and she was, in his hermitage; so she is Katyayani. In many tellings it is in this form that she fought Mahishasura. In the Bhagavata, the young women of Vraj worshipped Katyayani for a month, praying for Krishna as their husband, and girls still pray to her for a good marriage.
Day seven: Kalaratri
Kalaratri is the darkest and fiercest of the nine: dark-skinned, hair loose, riding a donkey. She is remembered for the battle with Raktabija, a demon from whose every drop of spilt blood another demon sprang. She made sure no drop fell, and he was overcome. She is also called Shubhankari, the one who does good, because her fierceness is turned only against harm.
Day eight: Mahagauri
After her long penance, Parvati's skin had grown dark with sun, dust and hardship. When Shiva at last accepted her, he washed her with the water of the Ganga, and she shone white as a jasmine flower: Mahagauri, the very fair one. She rides a white bull and wears white. Her day is Durga Ashtami, when many families honour young girls as the Goddess.
Day nine: Siddhidatri
Siddhidatri gives the siddhis, the perfections of the spirit. It is said that Shiva himself received his powers through her grace, and that half his body became hers, as Ardhanarishvara. She sits on a lotus and is worshipped by gods, sages and ordinary people alike. Her day, Maha Navami, closes the nine nights.
How the katha is heard
Most families do not read the whole story at once. The Mahishasura story is told on the first day or at the havan, and on each day the story of that day's goddess is read after her puja. Many homes recite or listen to the Durga Saptashati, a chapter or more a day, while others simply sing the aarti and tell the day's story to the children. The order of the ghatasthapana and daily puja is on the Navratri puja vidhi page, and the Ashtami and Navami days are on Durga Ashtami and Maha Navami.
What the story carries today
Navratri tells of a strength that is gentle and fierce at once: the patience of Brahmacharini, the tenderness of Skandamata, the fearless darkness of Kalaratri. Families kneel before the same Goddess as a daughter, a mother and a warrior in the course of nine days.
For a weekly fast of the Goddess there is the Santoshi Mata katha, and the Ganesh Chaturthi katha tells the story of Parvati's son. To choose a slot for the kalash or the havan, see the choghadiya and muhurat pages.