The Navratri puja begins with ghatasthapana, the setting up of a sacred pot and a bed of sown barley on the first day, continues with a puja to one of the nine forms of Durga each day, and ends with kanya pujan, a havan and the breaking of the fast. In outline: install the kalash in the right window on Pratipada, light the lamp, worship the day's goddess morning and evening, keep the fast your family keeps, honour young girls on Ashtami or Navami, and close with parana and the immersion of the barley.
The dates and the ghatasthapana window for your city are on the Sharad Navratri and Chaitra Navratri pages, and the eighth and ninth days on Durga Ashtami and Maha Navami. This page does not give times, because they change every year and from city to city.
Samagri: what to keep ready
- A kalash of copper, brass or clay, with clean water, a little Ganga jal if you have it
- A coin, a betel nut, a little akshat and a few durva or flowers to put inside the kalash
- Five or seven mango leaves for the mouth of the kalash
- A coconut with its tuft, wrapped in a red cloth or chunri and tied with mauli
- A shallow clay dish or a wide pot, clean soil, and a handful of barley (jau) to sow
- A picture or small murti of Durga, a chowki, and a red cloth to cover it
- A red chunri, bangles, bindi and sindoor as shringar for the Goddess
- Roli, haldi, akshat, flowers (red ones especially), a garland, incense
- A ghee or oil lamp; a larger brass lamp with a glass cover if you will keep an akhand jyoti
- Fruit, sweets and a daily naivedya; for kanya pujan, halwa, puri and black chana
- A copy of the Durga Saptashati, if you read it, and the words of the aarti your family sings
Nothing here has to be costly. A steel lota can be the kalash, and a printed picture is as welcome as a murti.
Step by step
- Clean the house and the puja corner. The day before, many families clean the whole house and wash the puja place.
- Bath and sankalp on Pratipada. In the ghatasthapana window, after bathing, sit before the chowki and take water in your right hand. Say in your own words that you are keeping Navratri for nine days, or in the form you have chosen. Let the water fall.
- Ganesh first. Offer roli, akshat and a flower to Ganesha, and pray that the nine days pass smoothly.
- Sow the barley. Spread the soil in the clay dish and scatter the barley over it. Sprinkle water. These sprouts, called jaware or khetri, are watered lightly every day and grow green by the end.
- Set up the kalash. Mark the kalash with a swastika in roli and tie mauli round its neck. Fill it with water and drop in the coin, betel nut, akshat and durva. Place the mango leaves in its mouth and the coconut on top. Set it on the barley bed or beside it.
- Invoke the Goddess. Place Durga's picture on the chowki. With folded hands, invite her to dwell in the kalash and the image for the nine days. Offer the chunri, shringar, flowers, roli and akshat.
- Light the lamp. Light the diya. If your family keeps an akhand jyoti, it is lit now.
- Worship the day's goddess. Remember the goddess of the day, from Shailaputri on the first day to Siddhidatri on the ninth, hear her story from the Navratri katha, and offer naivedya.
- Path. Many read the Durga Saptashati, a few chapters each day or the whole text over the nine days; others read only the Devi Kavach or simply say "Om Dum Durgayai Namah". Then sing the aarti, often Jai Ambe Gauri.
- Each day after. Morning and evening: water the barley, offer fresh flowers and naivedya, read and sing the aarti.
- Kanya pujan on Ashtami or Navami. Invite young girls, usually nine and often with one small boy as Langur or Bhairav. Wash their feet, tie mauli on their wrists, apply tilak, feed them halwa, puri and chana, and give a small gift. Touch their feet as you would the Goddess's.
- Havan and parana. Many families do a small havan on Navami. The fast is broken after the kanya pujan and havan, or on the morning of Dashami, as your family keeps it.
- Farewell. On Dashami the kalash water is sprinkled round the house, the coconut is shared as prasad, and the barley is immersed in a river, a pond or the garden, while a few green shoots are kept in the puja place or behind the ear as a blessing.
Checking the time
The window that matters most is ghatasthapana on the morning of Pratipada; the date pages give it for each city, with the midday window many traditions allow when the morning is unsuitable. Ashtami and Navami change at the tithi boundary, so families check the Durga Ashtami and Maha Navami pages for kanya pujan and the moment of Sandhi Puja. For havan and parana, the choghadiya and muhurat pages help.
Customs families keep
None of this is a condition of the puja; your family's way comes first.
- Fasting takes many forms: all nine days on fruit and milk, one meal a day of fast foods, only the first and last days, or only Ashtami. Grains, onion and garlic are usually avoided; rock salt replaces ordinary salt. Pregnant, diabetic, unwell and older people keep a lighter fast or none, and a doctor's advice comes first.
- The akhand jyoti is a custom of some families, not a requirement. If you keep one, put it on a metal plate under a glass chimney, away from curtains and cloth, refill it before it runs low, and never leave it alone in a locked house. A lamp lit morning and evening is a complete Navratri.
- Many homes do not cut hair or nails, and keep the house simple and quiet through the nine days.
- Kanya pujan is done on Ashtami in some families and on Navami in others, according to their kuldevi.
Regional ways
- North India: kalash and jaware at home, kanya pujan, and Ramlila performances in the evenings, ending with Ravana's effigy burned on Dussehra.
- Gujarat: garba and dandiya each night around a garbo, an earthen pot with a lamp inside.
- Bengal, Assam and Odisha: Durga Puja in pandals from Shashthi to Dashami, with Sandhi Puja on the cusp of Ashtami and Navami and sindoor khela on the last day.
- Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh: steps of dolls are set up in homes, called Golu, Bombe Habba or Bommala Koluvu, and Ayudha Puja on Navami honours tools and books.
- Chaitra Navratri is kept in the same way, ending on Ram Navami; it is especially loved in the north and in Himachal and Jammu.
After the puja
Share the prasad and the coconut. The next day after Sharad Navratri is Dussehra. For a weekly fast of the Goddess, see the Santoshi Mata katha.