Navratri and Durga Puja — Nine Nights of the Goddess
A guide to Navratri — the nine nights of Durga, the Navadurga worshipped on each, the rituals of fasting and Kanya Pujan, the Bengali Durga Puja, and the Dussehra victory that closes the festival.
Navratri — literally “nine nights” — is the great festival of the Goddess, nine nights and ten days given over to Durga in her many forms. It is kept twice a year, but the autumn observance is by far the larger, and it closes on a tenth day, Vijayadashami, that celebrates her victory over the buffalo demon Mahishasura.
When it falls
The principal Sharad Navratri falls in the bright fortnight of Ashvin (September–October); a second, quieter Vasant Navratri falls in Chaitra (March–April) and shares its final days with Rama Navami. This guide describes the autumn festival, which is the one most widely observed as Navratri and Durga Puja.
The nine forms
The nine nights are traditionally given to the Navadurga, nine forms of the goddess worshipped one per night: Shailaputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalaratri, Mahagauri, and Siddhidatri. The sequence traces a movement from origin through discipline and battle to fulfilment, and many households colour their nine days — dress, offerings, focus — around this progression. You can read more about each on the Durga page.
How it is observed
Practice varies widely, but a few threads run through most households:
- Ghatasthapana. The festival often opens with the installation of a consecrated pot (kalash) and the sowing of barley seeds, tended through the nine days as a living emblem of the goddess.
- Fasting. Many keep a vrat across the nine nights, taking fruit, milk, or a single sattvic meal, and maintain an akhand jyoti, a lamp kept continuously alight.
- Recitation. The Durga Saptashati (the Devi Mahatmya, 700 verses) is recited by the devout; shorter forms serve daily practice.
- Kanya Pujan. On Ashtami or Navami, young girls are honoured as living embodiments of the goddess, their feet washed and fed with a festive meal.
In Bengal and eastern India, the same days are kept as Durga Puja: great clay images of the goddess slaying Mahishasura are installed in community pandals from Shashthi (the sixth day) and worshipped through to their immersion (visarjan) on Dashami.
Dussehra — the tenth day
The tenth day, Vijayadashami or Dussehra, celebrates the triumph of good over evil. For the Shakta tradition it is Durga’s victory over Mahishasura; in the Rama tradition, kept the same day, it is Rama’s victory over Ravana, marked across North India by the burning of towering effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakarna, and Meghnad at sunset. It is regarded as one of the most auspicious days of the year to begin something new.
Texts to recite
Navratri is the natural season for the Durga texts in our library. The Durga Chalisa offers a daily recitation across the nine nights, and the Durga Aarti — “Ambe Gauri” — is the lamp-song for the evening worship. Both, with full verses and meaning, are on the Durga page. Where the tenth day is kept as Rama’s victory, families may add a Rama recitation such as the Ram Raksha Stotra.