Maha Navami 2027

About Maha Navami

Maha Navami is the ninth day of Sharad Navratri, in the bright half of Ashwin. The Goddess is worshipped as Siddhidatri, the giver of siddhi, shown seated on a lotus with four arms holding a discus, a conch, a mace and a lotus. She is the last of the nine forms, and her day brings the nine nights to completion.

Many homes close their Navratri with a Navami havan, a fire ritual in which offerings of ghee, grains and herbs are made with mantras to the Goddess. In North India, families who did not hold kanya puja on Ashtami do it today, inviting young girls home, washing their feet and serving them halwa, puri and chana. Many break the nine-day fast after the havan or the kanya puja.

In Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Navami is Ayudha Puja. People clean and decorate the tools of their work, from farm implements and machines to vehicles, computers and musical instruments, mark them with turmeric and kumkum, and offer puja as a way of honouring the work that sustains the home. Vehicles are washed and garlanded, and many shops and workshops rest for the day. In Kerala, books and instruments are placed before Saraswati on the evening of Ashtami and rested through Navami, and in Tamil Nadu they are kept for Saraswati puja on Navami. They are taken up again on Vijayadashami. In Mysuru, Ayudha Puja is held at the palace during the Dasara festival.

In Bengal, Navami is the last full day of Durga Puja. Pandals stay crowded late into the night and the bhog is shared, with happiness mixed with the knowledge that the Goddess leaves the next day.

Navami follows the tithi, and in some years Ashtami and Navami fall close together on one calendar day. Each family follows its own custom for the havan, the kanya puja and the end of the fast.