Navratri 2027: Ghatasthapana and the nine nights of Devi
Navratri, the nine nights of the Goddess, is kept in the bright half of Ashwin. It begins with Ghatasthapana, the setting of a sacred pot, and ends on the tenth day with Dussehra, Vijayadashami.
When it falls next
Ghatasthapana
Installing the kalash that opens Sharad Navratri, the nine nights of the Goddess.
Mahashtami
The eighth day of the bright fortnight of Ashwin, the eighth day of Sharad Navratri; in Bengal and eastern India, one of the principal days of Durga Puja.
Mahanavami
The ninth day of the waxing moon of Ashwin, the culminating day of Navaratri.
Dussehra
Vijayadashami.
Ghatasthapana in each region
What Navratri is
For nine nights families worship Durga in her nine forms, the Navadurga, from Shailaputri on the first day to Siddhidatri on the ninth. The days remember the Goddess's long battle with Mahishasura and her triumph on the tenth.
Mahashtami and Mahanavami, the eighth and ninth days, are the most important for many families: the day of kanya puja, when young girls are worshipped as the Goddess and fed, and of the havan that closes the nine days.
Vijayadashami, or Dussehra, is the day of victory: Durga's over Mahishasura, and Rama's over Ravana in the Ramayana. It is counted among the days auspicious in themselves for beginning something new.
How families keep it at home
On the first day a kalash is set in the puja ghar, with grain sown in soil beside it. The lamp beside it is kept burning, and the shoots that grow over nine days are offered on the last.
Many keep a fast, some for all nine days, some on the first and last, eating once a day or only fruit and milk. The Durga Saptashati or the Durga chalisa is read through the nights.
In Maharashtra a garland of flowers is added each day above the kalash, and on Dussehra the leaves of the apta tree are exchanged as gold, with the greeting that the year be as good as gold.
Tools, books and vehicles are worshipped on Dussehra, the ayudha puja, and children often begin a new lesson that day.
How it differs by region
In Maharashtra, families visit the Devi's temples, and many households keep the Goddess of their family line, their kuladevi, through the nights.
In Gujarat the nights are for garba and dandiya, danced in circles around a lamp. In Bengal the last days become Durga Puja, from Saptami to Dashami, with the Goddess worshipped in pandals.
In the south many homes set out the golu, steps of dolls and figures, and keep Saraswati puja on the ninth day.
How its date is set
Ghatasthapana is kept on the pratipada of the bright half of Ashwin, in the morning; families avoid setting the pot at night or on the amavasya. The nine nights run to the navami, and Dussehra is the dashami.
Because a tithi can be skipped or repeated, the festival sometimes runs eight nights or ten, and Mahashtami and Mahanavami can fall on one day.
Read the Durga aarti and the Durga chalisa, and see the Durga and Navdurga yantra cards.