शारदीय नवरात्रि
Nine nights of Durga, garba, colour and fasting, ending in Vijayadashami.
Counting down to Shardiya Navratri 2026
Your local time · Sunday 11 October 2026
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Shukla Paksha of Ashwin, nine nights ending on Maha Navami
Navratri means nine nights. The Shardiya Navratri, the one that falls before Dussehra, begins in the Hindu month of Ashwin and ends with Vijayadashami. In 2026 Ghatasthapana is on Sunday 11 October and the nine nights run through Maha Navami, with Dussehra on Tuesday 20 October.
Each of the nine days is dedicated to one of the nine forms of Durga, and many households assign a colour to each day. Gujarat is the festival's most visible centre: whole neighbourhoods run garba and dandiya raas every night, and the dance is the ritual rather than an accompaniment to it. West Bengal celebrates the same nine days as Durga Puja, the largest annual festival in the state, with elaborate pandals, dhunuchi naach and sindoor khela on Dashami. In Karnataka and Tamil Nadu the nine nights are Golu or Bommai Kolu, a display of dolls arranged on tiered steps in the home.
The practical shape of Navratri is fasting, night-time worship, and, in Gujarat especially, nine nights of social dancing. Fasting food (farali) is a whole cuisine of its own — sabudana, makhana, sama rice, singhara flour and rock salt instead of common salt.
Navratri is also the biggest fashion and shopping season in western India after Diwali itself, with new outfits needed for each night, which makes it a genuine commercial event as well as a religious one.
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May Maa Durga bless you with strength and prosperity on all nine nights. Happy Navratri!
Wishing you a Navratri filled with devotion, colour and the sound of dandiya. Jai Mata Di!
May the nine nights bring you nine times the happiness. Happy Navratri!
Jai Mata Di — may Maa Durga remove every obstacle from your path this Navratri.
Wishing you and your family a blessed Navratri and a victorious Vijayadashami.
May this Navratri bring new strength, new colour and new beginnings.
Nine nights, nine forms, one blessing — Happy Navratri to you and your family.
In the order a household actually does them.
Day 1 — Pratipada
Performed within a specific muhurat, usually the first third of the day. Sow barley or wheat seeds in a clay pot, install the kalash on top, and place the Durga idol beside it. Water daily for nine days.
Days 1–9
Light an akhand jyot if you can maintain it, and recite the Durga Saptashati, Devi Kavach or at minimum the Durga Chalisa nightly. Offer fresh flowers daily.
Day 8 — Ashtami
Worship the eight-year-old girl as the living form of Durga. Invite nine girls, wash their feet, apply tilak, and serve puri, halwa and kala chana.
Day 9 — Navami
A havan, then offering the sprouted barley to the household and consuming it as prasad. Many families also start new ventures or do their books on this day.
Day 10 — Dashami
In Bengal, sindoor khela and immersion of the idol. Elsewhere, Dussehra is observed with Ravana Dahan in the evening.
This is where most festival sites give one national answer to a question that has several.
The commercial and cultural centre of Navratri. Nine nights of garba at the neighbourhood and district level, culminating in large organised grounds. A different colour is prescribed for each night and the whole state follows it. The eighth and ninth nights (Ashtami, Navami) are the biggest.
Durga Puja, the state's largest festival. Pandal construction begins months ahead and the big reveal is on Maha Sasthi. Maha Ashtami and Maha Navami bring anjali, bhog and community lunches; Dashami ends with sindoor khela and immersion. Recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2021.
Observed as Golu or Bommai Kolu — dolls arranged on odd-numbered tiered steps in the home, with women and children visiting each other to sing and exchange sundal and kumkum. Saraswati Puja and Ayudha Puja fall on the last days.
Navratri is a fasting festival here rather than a dance one. Families keep vrat for seven or nine days, do Kanya Pujan on Ashtami or Navami, and treat it as a period of abstinence and nightly aarti.
Garba is now common in Indore and Bhopal, and many communities keep the fast. The festival closes with Dussehra on the tenth day.
Gift categories, honestly described — not a list of sponsored products.
Navratri needs a different colour for each of the nine nights, so a chaniya choli or kurta set is genuinely needed rather than decorative.
Suits: girlfriend, wife, sister, self, best friend
Rented and oxidised jewellery is the standard pairing for a garba outfit and is where most of the styling actually shows.
Suits: girlfriend, wife, sister, mother
Sabudana, makhana, singhara atta, rajgira and sendha namak in one box — practical for a household keeping a nine-day fast.
Suits: parents, grandparents, family
A permanent piece that comes out each year, unlike consumables.
Suits: parents, grandparents, new home
Needed by anyone joining a dandiya night; wooden sticks with a soft grip are safer than the plastic ones.
Suits: friends, team, students
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With honest budget ranges and a difficulty rating for each.
Build an odd number of steps (3, 5, 7 or 9) using wooden planks or stacked boxes covered with a white or bright cloth. Arrange dolls with the tallest at the back centre, on the top two steps. Invite neighbours to see it — the social round of visits is half the point.
Budget: ₹500–₹3,000
A fabric backdrop in red and gold, a Durga idol or framed image at the centre, and a banana-stem pair at the sides. Add a brass lamp in front. Keep the surrounding area uncluttered so the idol reads clearly.
Budget: ₹800–₹5,000
A small shelf with nine coloured cloth swatches, swapping the front one each day to match the day's colour. Cheap, visual and it makes the house feel like it is following the festival properly.
Budget: ₹300–₹800
If you keep a continuously burning lamp, place it on a steel or brass tray with a rim, filled with sand, and away from any fabric. Never leave an unattended flame on a wooden shelf.
Budget: ₹150–₹500
Including a note on why each dish belongs to this festival.
The staple Navratri breakfast across Maharashtra and Gujarat — a fasting dish that actually holds you through the day.
About 20 minutes
Ingredients
Made from water-chestnut flour, it is the fried bread that goes with aloo curry on fasting days.
About 30 minutes
Ingredients
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Shardiya Navratri 2026 begins with Ghatasthapana on Sunday 11 October 2026 and the nine nights conclude on Maha Navami, with Dussehra (Vijayadashami) on Tuesday 20 October 2026.
The nine colours are published by state authorities and by Gujarat's panchang each year, and they are not identical across every source. TyoharHub does not republish a colour chart we cannot verify, because a wrong colour defeats the purpose of following it.
Fasting foods include sabudana, sama/kutki rice, rajgira (amaranth), singhara (water chestnut) flour, makhana, potato, sweet potato, curd, milk, fruit, peanuts and sendha namak (rock salt). Common salt, wheat, rice and pulses are avoided.
They are the same nine days in the Hindu calendar, observed differently. Gujarat and North India call it Navratri, with garba, dandiya and fasting. West Bengal calls it Durga Puja, with pandals, community bhog and idol immersion.
Golu or Bommai Kolu is the South Indian Navratri tradition of arranging dolls and figurines on an odd number of tiered steps at home. Visitors sing, and sundal and kumkum are exchanged.
Last reviewed 6 October 2026. This page covers a nationally observed festival — where practices differ, they are described separately rather than averaged. If you spot an error, tell us and we will correct it.