Navratri, twice a year: Chaitra and Sharad

Nine nights, two seasons

Navaratri means "nine nights". The name covers several festivals of the goddess, two of which are kept across India: Chaitra Navratri in spring and Sharad Navratri in autumn. Both run through the first nine tithis, or lunar days, of the bright fortnight (Pakṣa) of their month, from Pratipada (the first) to Navami (the ninth).

• Chaitra Navratri begins on the first tithi of the bright half of Chaitra, usually in March or April, and ends on Ram Navami. In much of North India it also opens the lunar year, and in the amanta regions of the Deccan the same first day is Ugadi or Gudi Padwa.
• Sharad Navratri begins on the first tithi of the bright half of Ashwina, the day after the new Moon that closes the fortnight of the ancestors, usually in September or October. It ends on Maha Navami and is followed by Vijayadashami (Dussehra) on the tenth.

Two further Navratris, in the bright halves of Magha and Ashadha, are called gupta (hidden) and are kept mainly in Shakta circles†.

Why spring and autumn

Both festivals sit at turning points of the year. Chaitra opens close to the Sun's entry into sidereal Mesha, and Ashwina falls in sharad, the autumn Ṛtu, or season, after the rains. Almanacs speak of the two as junctions of the year, and the goddess is worshipped at both. The autumn festival carries more public weight in many regions, a pattern often linked to the story of Rama's worship of Durga before his battle, told in later retellings such as Krittivasa's Bengali Ramayana†.

The Devi Mahatmya, thirteen chapters of the Markandeya Purana, is the text recited in many homes and temples during both Navratris. Its date is debated, with many scholars placing it around the fifth or sixth century CE†. Thomas Coburn's studies are a standard reference on its composition and use.

How the first day is fixed

The rule for the first day is the rule for the majority of observances: the civil day whose sunrise carries Pratipada is the first day of Navratri. Two complications follow from the fact that a Tithi is defined by an angle, not by the clock.

First, the installation of the sacred pot, ghatasthapana, has its own time. Almanacs place it in the forenoon of the first day and, where they can, outside Chitra Nakṣatra and Vaidhriti yoga. If the forenoon is unsuitable, the Abhijit muhurta around local noon is often given instead. The details of these preferences vary between almanacs†.

Second, Pratipada may begin after sunrise on one day and end before sunrise on the next, in which case it "owns" no sunrise. This is a kshaya (lost) tithi, and the almanac must then decide which day begins the festival. Digests such as Kamalakara Bhatta's Nirnaya Sindhu discuss these cases, generally preferring a Pratipada not joined to the preceding Amavasya†.

Eight days, nine days, ten days

Since tithis vary in length from about twenty to about twenty-seven hours, the nine tithis do not always fit nine civil days. If one of them is lost (Kṣaya), two tithis are honoured on one day and Navratri lasts eight days. If one covers two sunrises (vriddhi, "increase"), it lasts ten.

In 2026, in New Delhi, Sharad Navratri began on 11 October. Saptami, the seventh tithi, covered the sunrises of both 17 and 18 October, so the nine tithis ran over ten civil days. Navami ended shortly before 1 pm on 20 October, and Dashami ran through that afternoon. Vijayadashami is fixed by the tithi current in the afternoon, so our calendar places it on the same date as Maha Navami†.

Ashtami, Navami and the junction

The eighth and ninth days carry particular rites in many regions, and their dates have their own rules. Almanacs generally avoid an Ashtami joined to Saptami and accept one joined to Navami†. In Bengal, sandhi puja is performed at the junction of the two tithis, in the last twenty-four minutes of Ashtami and the first twenty-four of Navami. That window can fall at any hour of the day or night, because it is fixed by the Moon's angle, not the clock.

One festival, many forms

The same nine nights are Durga Puja in Bengal, with its main rites from Shashthi to Dashami; the nights of garba in Gujarat; the Dasara of Mysuru; the Ramlila performances of the north, ending with the burning of Ravana's effigy on Vijayadashami; and Bathukamma in Telangana. In Kullu, Dussehra begins on Vijayadashami and continues for a week. Chaitra Navratri is quieter in public but widely kept with fasts and with the reading of the Devi Mahatmya at home.

These are regional customs, and families keep the forms of their own community. The calendar's task is narrower: to say which civil day carries which tithi, at which part of the day.

Try it

The Sharad Navratri and Chaitra Navratri pages give this year's first day for your city and the rule behind it. The Durga Ashtami, Maha Navami and Vijayadashami pages show how the closing days are fixed. The Panchang shows each day's tithi, nakshatra and yoga.

† Marked dates or readings are debated among scholars or still being confirmed by our faculty.