About Sharad Navratri
Sharad Navratri is the nine-night autumn festival of the goddess, and in 2026 it opens with Ghatasthapana on Sunday, 11 October 2026. Households keep it very differently: fasting and Durga Path in the north, all-night garba in Gujarat, a tiered display of dolls in Tamil and Kannada homes, and Durga Puja in Bengal. The tenth day that follows is Vijayadashami.
Navratri means nine nights. Hindu calendars count four of them in a year, and this is the autumn set, held in the bright fortnight of the lunar month Ashvin. The spring one, Chaitra Navratri, ends in Ram Navami. Two more, the Gupt Navratris of Magha and Ashadha, are kept quietly by Shakta and tantric practitioners. When people say Navratri without qualifying it, they almost always mean this one.
How are the nine days of Navratri counted?
Sharad Navratri is counted from Pratipada, the first lunar day after the new moon, to Navami. Tithis are lunar and do not line up with calendar days, so one can be repeated or dropped. That is why Navratri sometimes runs eight days instead of nine, and why Maha Ashtami and Maha Navami occasionally share a single morning.
The festival opens with Ghatasthapana, also called Kalash Sthapana: a water pot set on a bed of soil with barley sown around it, installed in the home shrine. Drik Panchang's rule is that it belongs in the first third of the day while Pratipada is running, not in the afternoon and not at night, and never while Amavasya is still on. If Pratipada begins too late for that window, priests fall back on Abhijit Muhurta near midday. Chitra nakshatra and Vaidhriti yoga are avoided where possible, though neither is treated as a bar. The barley shoots, called jowara, are watered each day and read as a sign of the year's harvest and fortune.
Each day is given to one of the Navadurga: Shailaputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalaratri, Mahagauri and Siddhidatri. In Gujarat the nine nights are also read in three sets of three, for Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati in turn.
How do people fast during Navratri?
Navratri fasting is not one rule. Some people fast only on the first and eighth days. Others eat a single meal a day for all nine. Many families simply drop onion, garlic, meat, eggs and alcohol and call that their vrat.
Where a full vrat kitchen is kept, grains and pulses go out and pseudo-grains come in: kuttu (buckwheat), singhara (water chestnut), rajgira (amaranth) and samak, the barnyard millet. Table salt is replaced with sendha namak, rock salt. Turmeric, coriander powder, mustard and asafoetida are set aside; cumin, black pepper and green chilli stay. Potatoes, sabudana, makhana, peanuts, curd and fruit carry most of the eating.
Doctors at Medanta make a practical point about this: nine days of deep-fried sabudana and potato is a poor fast. Small frequent meals, fluids through the day, and roasted or steamed food work better. Anyone diabetic or hypertensive, pregnant, nursing or on daily medication should check with a doctor before keeping a strict fast, and should not skip medicines for it.
On Ashtami or Navami many north Indian homes do Kanya Pujan, also called Kanjak. Young girls are invited in as the goddess, their feet are washed, and they are fed halwa, puri and kala chana and sent off with a small gift.
The nine colours came from a newspaper
The colour of the day is treated as ancient custom in plenty of offices and family groups. It is about two decades old. Maharashtra Times, the Marathi daily, began printing a colour for each night in 2003 under editor Bharatkumar Raut, as a circulation push aimed at women readers, and other papers and channels copied it. The order changes every year because the first colour is fixed by the weekday Navratri starts on, after which a set cycle follows.
None of that makes it wrong. Wear the colour if your office is doing it. Just don't tell a fasting grandmother it is scripture.
How is Navratri celebrated in different states?
Navratri takes a different form in each region: garba and dandiya in Gujarat, Golu doll displays in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the worship of books in Kerala, Durga Puja in West Bengal, Assam, Tripura and Odisha, and fasting and Ramlila in north and central India.
| Where | What the nine nights look like | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Gujarat | Garba and dandiya raas every night around a garbo, a perforated clay pot with a lamp inside | UNESCO added Garba of Gujarat to its Representative List in 2023. Vadodara and Ahmedabad run the largest grounds |
| Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana | Bommai Golu, Bombe Habba or Bommala Koluvu: dolls arranged on an odd number of steps, usually three to eleven | Women and children visit each other's displays and leave with thamboolam, a small parting gift |
| Kerala | The last three days matter most; books are placed for worship on Ashtami and taken back on Vijayadashami | Puja Vaipu and Puja Eduppu bracket a short, deliberate break from reading and study |
| West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Odisha | The same tithis are kept as Durga Puja, from Shashthi to Dashami | The goddess is treated as a daughter coming home, not a guest being invited |
| North and central India | Fasting, Durga Saptashati recitation, jagrata nights, and Ramlila staged in parallel | The Ramlila cycle runs through the nine nights and ends with Ravana's defeat on Dussehra |
What to write
Happy Navratri. Nine days of upvaas is no small thing. Rest when you can, drink water, and save me some jowara prasad.
Happy Navratri! Nine nights, one pair of shoes, zero regrets. Tell me which ground you're at and I'll come for at least one round.
Shubh Navratri, Maa and Papa. The house must already smell of the puja. Light the diya for me too, and please don't skip meals just because it's vrat.
Wishing you a very happy Navratri. Hope the late-night garba and the 9 am calls somehow both survive this week.
Happy Navratri to all of you. Send me a photo of this year's kolu padi. I want to see which new bommai made it to the top step.
Shubho Sharodiya. Wishing you a lovely Pujo with your family, and a proper plate of bhog on my behalf.
Happy Navratri. I know the garba there isn't the same, and neither is the food. Sending a bit of home anyway.
Thinking of you all through Navratri. No wishes this year, just love, and a call whenever you feel like talking.
Do
- Ask before sending sweets or a food hamper. Many households will not accept grain, onion or garlic during these days.
- Offer a fasting colleague a fruit or curd option at a work lunch instead of assuming they will sit it out.
- If you are invited to see a Golu, carry a small gift and accept the thamboolam. Refusing it is the awkward part, not taking it.
Avoid
- Don't say "Happy Dussehra" during the nine nights. The tenth day is its own occasion.
- Don't assume every Indian colleague fasts, dances or observes at all. Plenty do none of it.
- Don't gift alcohol, leather or non-vegetarian food during Navratri, even to someone who normally accepts it.
- Ghatasthapana
- Installing the kalash of water and sown barley on day one
- Jowara
- The barley shoots grown through the nine days and offered at the end
- Garbo
- The perforated clay pot with a lamp inside that garba circles
- Thamboolam
- Betel leaf, nut, turmeric and a small gift given to Golu visitors
- Sendha namak
- Rock salt, used in place of table salt during a vrat
- Kanjak
- The north Indian practice of feeding and honouring young girls on Ashtami or Navami
How to wish someone on Sharad Navratri
A Navratri wish lands when it matches how the person keeps the days. Someone fasting wants a note about strength and rest, not a photo of food. A garba regular wants energy for nine late nights. A family with a Golu wants to be asked about the dolls, or visited. Use Navratri for the nine nights and save Vijayadashami lines for the tenth day. Keep it warm rather than grand, and skip festive wishes for a household that has had a death this year.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Hindi + recipient language.
When is Sharad Navratri in 2026 and 2027?
Sharad Navratri is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 11 days earlier than in 2026. Sharad Navratri runs 9 days.
- 2026may vary by location
- 2027
Frequently asked questions
When is Sharad Navratri in 2026?
Sharad Navratri 2026 falls from Sunday, 11 October 2026 to Monday, 19 October 2026. The exact date can vary by location and local calendar, so confirm with your community.
Why does Navratri sometimes last eight days instead of nine?
Navratri runs by lunar tithis, not calendar days, and a tithi can be skipped when the moon moves quickly. In those years two tithis fall on one date, so Maha Ashtami and Maha Navami are kept on the same morning and the festival spans eight calendar days.
What can you eat during a Navratri fast?
Most fasting households eat fruit, milk and curd, potatoes, sabudana, makhana and peanuts, with flours made from kuttu, singhara, rajgira or samak instead of wheat and rice. Table salt is swapped for sendha namak, and grains, pulses, onion, garlic, meat, eggs and alcohol are left out.
Are the nine Navratri colours a religious rule?
No. The colour-a-day practice was started by the Marathi newspaper Maharashtra Times in 2003 as a circulation drive and spread through other media. It is popular in Maharashtra and Gujarat, the order changes each year with the starting weekday, and no scripture prescribes it.
What is the difference between Navratri and Durga Puja?
They cover the same lunar days but are observed differently. Navratri across most of India means nine days of fasting, home puja and dance, while Durga Puja in Bengal, Assam, Tripura and Odisha concentrates on four days, from Shashthi to Dashami, around a sculpted image of Durga in a community pandal.
How do you wish someone on Navratri?
"Happy Navratri" or "Shubh Navratri" works everywhere. Use "Shubho Sharodiya" for a Bengali friend and "Jai Mata Di" among many north Indian devotees, and keep "Happy Vijayadashami" or "Happy Dussehra" for the tenth day rather than the nine nights.
Is it alright to invite a fasting friend out for dinner during Navratri?
Yes, as long as you ask what they can eat first. Many restaurants run a vrat or falahari menu during these days, and a friend keeping a fast will usually appreciate the invitation more than being left out of the plan.
Last verified by the Kehdoo team on .