When is Sharad Navratri 2027?

Sharad Navratri 2027 begins on Thursday, 30 September 2027 in New Delhi with Ghatasthapana, and the nine days follow, with Vijayadashami after them. Pratipada tithi runs 8:06 AM to 5:35 AM (1 Oct); the day-by-day table and this year's colours are on the Navratri pages.

Three honest reasons. The tithi can be running at the deciding moment on two days or on none. North India reckons the month purnimanta and the south and west amanta, which names the same krishna fortnight differently. And almanacs differ on which moment of the day decides an observance. The instants above are the astronomy; the day is an interpretation of them.

Pratipada begins after one deciding moment and ends before the next this year, so it touches none — a kshaya tithi. The observance is not cancelled: it is kept on the day the tithi runs through, which is the day given above.

In New Delhi the Ghatasthapana muhurat is 8:06 AM to 10:11 AM, in the first third of the day while Pratipada runs. If the morning is short or missed, the Abhijit window, 11:47 AM to 12:34 PM, is the accepted alternative. It is not done after midday or at night.

Sow barley in a tray of clean soil. Draw a swastika on the kalash, tie mauli, fill it with water and Gangajal with a coin, supari, turmeric, durva and rice, set mango leaves at its mouth, cover it with a lid of rice and place a coconut wrapped in a red chunri on top. Stand it on the soil in the muhurat with the kalash verse, then install and worship the Goddess.

The katha most read is the Devi Mahatmya, the Goddess's victories over Madhu and Kaitabha, Mahishasura, and Shumbha and Nishumbha. The Devi Bhagavata tells how Rama kept the Navratri vrat before going to Lanka, and the popular vrat booklet tells of Sumati, whose husband was healed by the merit of a Navratri fast. A short version of each is above.

The popular list goes by the weekday: day one takes the colour of the weekday Navratri opens on, each later day its own weekday's colour, and days eight and nine, which fall on weekdays already used, take that weekday's second colour, so no colour repeats. It is a convention, not a scriptural rule; the Navratri colours page gives this year's nine.

Fruit, milk, curd and dry fruit, with dishes of kuttu, singhara or rajgira flour, sama rice, sabudana, potato, sweet potato and makhana, cooked in ghee with sendha namak, cumin and green chilli. Grains, pulses, onion, garlic and table salt are left out.

Take a sankalp on the first day; eat only phalahari food, or one meal a day, as you vowed; keep the house sattvik, without onion, garlic, meat or alcohol; light the lamp and do the puja morning and evening; and break the fast after Kanya Pujan and the havan, or on Dashami. Fast only as far as your health allows.

For Ghatasthapana: a clay tray and soil, barley, a kalash, Gangajal, mango leaves, a coconut with a red chunri, mauli, a coin, supari, turmeric, durva, rice and roli. For the nine days: a picture of Durga on a red-covered chowki, red flowers, shringar items, lamps and ghee, incense, camphor, fruit and sweets, and the Durga Saptashati. The full list is above.

Many families break it on Navami after the havan and Kanya Pujan. The dharma texts set the parana on Dashami, after Navami tithi has ended, and many families who fast all nine days follow that. Break it with a light sattvik meal after a prayer.

No. Tradition keeps the kalash in the first part of the day while Pratipada runs, and it is not set up after midday or at night. If you miss the morning window, use the Abhijit window around noon, 11:47 AM to 12:34 PM.

Customs differ. In many families a woman on her period does not touch the kalash, the idol or the akhand jyoti for those days and another member does the physical puja, while she continues the fast and prays or chants mentally; many families no longer keep this rule. Follow your family's custom and your own comfort.

In most families that keep a phalahari fast, tea or coffee with milk is allowed; those keeping a strict or waterless fast avoid it. It is a household custom rather than a scriptural rule — just don't let it replace water and food all day.

Yes. The Navratri vrat is for anyone devoted to the Goddess — men, women, the young and the old — and in the Devi Bhagavata it is Rama himself who keeps it. Children, the elderly and the unwell may keep a lighter fast or simply do the daily puja.

Tradition is gentle about it: ask the Goddess's forgiveness at the next puja, continue the fast from that point, and if you wish add a small act of daan or an extra mala of the Navarna mantra. The sankalp and the devotion matter more than a slip.