Sharad Navratri

Sharad Navratri is the principal and most widely celebrated of the four Navratris observed in the Hindu calendar, a nine-night festival honoring the goddess Durga that falls in the lunar month of Ashwin, corresponding to September-October in the Gregorian calendar, and culminates in Vijayadashami.

Timing and the four Navratris

The Hindu calendar recognizes four Navratri observances a year, though only two are widely celebrated publicly. Chaitra Navratri, in the spring lunar month of Chaitra (March-April), marks the Hindu new year in many regional calendars and culminates in Ram Navami. Sharad Navratri, in the autumn month of Ashwin, is the larger and more widely observed of the two and culminates in Vijayadashami (Dussehra). The remaining two, in the months of Magha and Ashadha, are known as Gupta Navratri ("hidden" Navratri) and are observed primarily by tantric practitioners rather than in mainstream public celebration. Because the Hindu calendar is lunisolar, the exact dates of Sharad Navratri shift from year to year against the Gregorian calendar, and the festival's length can occasionally be extended or shortened to accommodate the alignment of the lunar and solar cycles.

Mythic associations

Sharad Navratri commemorates Durga's nine-day battle against and eventual victory over the buffalo demon Mahishasura, a narrative recounted in the Devi Mahatmya (also called the Durga Saptashati), the central text of the Markandeya Purana devoted to the Goddess. The festival's tenth day, Vijayadashami, also marks Rama's victory over the demon king Ravana in the Ramayana. Bengali tradition connects the two narratives through the story of Akal Bodhan, Rama's "untimely" invocation of Durga, worshipped out of her usual autumn season to seek her blessing before his battle with Ravana, a story most fully developed in the medieval Bengali retelling of the Ramayana by Krittibas Ojha and reflected in the timing of Durga Puja.

Ghatasthapana and the nine nights

The festival opens with Ghatasthapana, or Kalash Sthapana, the ritual installation of a sacred pot representing the presence of the Goddess, performed at an astrologically favored time on the first day. Across the nine nights, devotees invoke in sequence the Navadurga, the nine forms of Durga: Shailaputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalaratri, Mahagauri and Siddhidatri. Recitation of the Durga Saptashati, along with the accompanying Argala Stotra and Kilaka Stotra, is considered especially meritorious during this period, and many households and temples maintain continuous readings or daily recitations throughout the nine nights.

Regional celebrations

Sharad Navratri takes markedly different public forms across India. In West Bengal, Assam, Odisha and Tripura, it is celebrated as Durga Puja, centered on elaborately sculpted clay idols installed in temporary pavilions (pandals) and immersed in a river or the sea on the festival's final day; Kolkata's Durga Puja was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021. In Gujarat, the festival is marked by Garba and Dandiya Raas, communal circular dances performed around a central lamp or image of the Goddess. In Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and other parts of South India, households arrange tiered displays of dolls and figurines known as Golu or Bommai Kolu. In much of North India, the nine nights are marked by Ramlila performances dramatizing the Ramayana, culminating on Vijayadashami in the burning of effigies of Ravana, his brother Kumbhakarna and his son Meghnad. Mysuru in Karnataka holds Dasara as a major state festival with a royal procession, a tradition maintained by the former Wadiyar dynasty and continued today as a public civic event.

Fasting and dietary practice

Many devotees observe a vrat, or partial fast, throughout the nine days, avoiding grains, pulses, onion, garlic, alcohol and non-vegetarian food and instead eating foods classed as falahar ("fruit food"), including buckwheat flour (kuttu ka atta), water chestnut flour (singhare ka atta), sago (sabudana), amaranth (rajgira) and barnyard millet (samvat ke chawal), along with select vegetables such as potato, pumpkin, bottle gourd and spinach. The dietary restrictions are tied to broader observances of ritual purity and restraint expected during the festival, alongside regular prayer and, for many devotees, a period of reduced or simplified household activity.