Navratri

About Navratri — Traditions & Observance

Navratri — the festival of nine nights — honours the nine forms of Goddess Durga and is celebrated four times a year, with Chaitra (spring) and Sharadiya (autumn) Navratri being the most widely observed. Devotees keep a fast for nine days, light an unbroken lamp (akhand jyoti), install the Goddess’s kalash at home, and recite the Durga Saptashati. Each day has its own goddess, colour and offering. The festival concludes with Kanya Pujan — worshipping young girls as forms of the Goddess — and, in autumn, with Dussehra, the victory of good over evil.