When is Sharad Navratri 2028? Tuesday, 19 September

Sharad Navratri 2028 is on Tuesday, 19 September. In New Delhi, Shukla Pratipada runs from 11:54 PM on 18 September to 8:01 PM on 19 September. At sunrise on 18 September (6:08 AM), Shukla Pratipada does not hold. At sunrise on 19 September (6:08 AM), Shukla Pratipada holds.

Ghatasthapana (main time): 6:08 AM to 10:12 AM (New Delhi).

• Abhijit Muhurat (alternative): 11:50 AM – 12:39 PM

Why two times? The main time is the first third of the day after sunrise, while Pratipada prevails. If that isn't possible, Abhijit Muhurat is given as the alternative.

These times are worked out from local sunrise and sunset, so they shift by city. Choose your city for your own times.

Shukla Pratipada runs 18 Sept, 23:54 → 19 Sept, 20:01.

Of the year's four Navratris (the Vasanta in Chaitra, the Sharad in Ashwin and two Gupta Navratris), the Sharad Navratri is the greatest, kept across almost all of Hindu India in one form or another.

It remembers the nine nights in which Durga, formed from the combined tejas of all the gods and armed by each of them, fought the armies and generals of Mahishasura and beheaded him on the tenth day: Mahishasura Mardini.

The nine days are read as three triads: Durga (days 1–3), who burns away impurity; Lakshmi (4–6), who gives sufficiency; and Saraswati (7–9), who gives knowledge. Ashtami and Navami are the peak, with the havan and Kanya Pujan.

In the North the nine days are also the run-up to Rama's war on Ravana (the akal bodhan, the out-of-season invocation of the Goddess that Rama is said to have made before the battle), so Ramlila and Navratri run together and end at Vijayadashami.

The Devi Mahatmya, which fixes the Mahishasura narrative and the liturgy of the nine nights, is dated to about the 5th–6th century CE, though goddess worship in India is far older.

The autumn Navaratra was a royal and martial rite in the medieval kingdoms: the king worshipped the Goddess and his weapons for nine days and, after Vijayadashami, crossed the border for the year's campaign: the shami-langhan and the seemollanghan. The Vijayanagara and later the Mysore Wodeyar Dasara are grand survivals of that court form.

Ramlila as a public cycle of pageant-plays grew in the North with the spread of Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas from the 16th–17th century; Garba and Dandiya Raas are old Gujarati folk forms now kept on a very large scale; the tiered Golu / Bommai Kolu of dolls is the southern household form.

• Devi Mahatmya, Markandeya Purana: c. 5th–6th c. CE
• Medieval Nibandha and rajaniti texts on the Navaratra and shami-puja
• Vijayanagara and Mysore Dasara records, 15th c. onward

1. On the Pratipada morning, in the first third of the day (or the Abhijit muhurat), Ghatasthapana is done: a kalash of water with mango leaves and a coconut set on a bed of sown barley, and an akhand jyoti lit to burn all nine days.
2. Each day a form of Durga is worshipped with her colour, flower and bhog, and the Durga Saptashati is read in whole or in parts; many keep a phalahar or nirjala fast for all nine days or on Ashtami and Navami.
3. On Ashtami or Navami a havan is offered and Kanya Pujan (Kanjak) is done: nine girls, as the nine Durgas, and often a boy as Bhairav, are washed at the feet, fed halwa, poori and kala chana, and given gifts.
4. On Navami or Dashami the kalash and any images are immersed, the barley shoots (jayanti) are worn or given, and the fast is broken.

Phala: The Goddess's protection and grace across the three fields of impurity, sufficiency and knowledge; by the Saptashati's phalashruti, freedom from fear and the fulfilment of a sincere prayer.

Mahishasura, a demon who could change between buffalo and man, had a boon that no male, god or mortal, could kill him. He drove the gods from heaven. Unable to defeat him, the gods released their anger as a single blaze of light, from which Durga took form; Shiva gave her his trishula, Vishnu his chakra, Vayu his bow, and each god a weapon, and Himavan gave her a lion.

Over nine nights she destroyed Mahishasura's forces and his commanders. In the fuller telling of the Durga Saptashati she also slays Chanda and Munda (as Chamunda), Raktabija whose every blood-drop became a clone, and the brothers Shumbha and Nishumbha.

On the tenth day she met Mahishasura himself, who shifted shape as he fought; she pinned him with her foot and beheaded him as he half-emerged from the buffalo's body. That tenth day is Vijayadashami, the day of victory.

Source: Devi Mahatmya (Durga Saptashati / Chandi Path), part of the Markandeya Purana; Devi Bhagavata Purana

1. Ghatasthapana and sankalpa. On the Pratipada morning, in the muhurat, sow barley in a pot, set the kalash with mango leaves and a coconut on it, light the akhand jyoti, and take the vow to keep the nine-day vrat and the daily worship of the Goddess.
2. Daily puja of the Nava Durga. Each day worship the day's form of Durga with her colour, flower, sindoor and bhog; read the Durga Saptashati whole or by chapters, and keep the akhand jyoti tended.
3. The fast. Keep a phalahar or nirjala fast by capacity: for all nine days, or on Ashtami and Navami. No grains or pulses; sendha namak; no anger or untruth, no daytime sleep.
4. Sandhi Puja and Ashtami. At the Ashtami–Navami junction offer the Sandhi Puja where kept; worship the weapons/tools (Ayudha Puja), and prepare for the Kanya Pujan.
5. Havan and Kanya Pujan. On Navami (or Ashtami) offer a havan with the Navarna mantra, then wash the feet of nine girls and a boy, feed them kala chana, halwa and poori, and give gifts and dakshina.
6. Parana and immersion. Break the fast after the Kanya Pujan and the final aarti; on Navami or Dashami immerse the kalash, wear or give the barley shoots, and give food and clothing in daan.

• An earthen pot and clean soil and barley for the jayanti; a kalash with water, mango leaves, a coconut wrapped in red cloth
• An image or picture of Durga, and a lamp for the akhand jyoti with enough oil/ghee for nine days
• Roli, akshat, sindoor, kalava, red flowers (hibiscus), the nine day-colours' cloth or flowers
• Dhoop, deep, camphor, a bell; the Durga Saptashati / Chandi Path
• For Kanya Pujan: kala chana, sooji, ghee, poori, fruit, and gifts for the girls and the boy
• Samagri for the Navami havan

• Keep the phalahar or nirjala fast by capacity through the nine days or on Ashtami and Navami; no grains or pulses.
• Tend the akhand jyoti so it does not go out; keep the ghat and the place of worship undisturbed.
• Truthful, gentle speech; brahmacharya; no anger; no daytime sleep; no cutting of hair or nails by custom in many families.
• Read the Durga Saptashati daily, whole or in parts.
• Do the Kanya Pujan with respect and without expectation of return before breaking the fast.

Who should not keep this fast: Pregnant and nursing women, the ill, the elderly, children, and anyone with diabetes, kidney conditions or another reason fasting is unsafe should keep a light phalahar and focus on the puja, the path and the Kanya Pujan. The vrat asks for devotion, not for harm.

• North India. Ghatasthapana, the akhand jyoti, daily Durga puja and the Saptashati; Ramlila each evening building to Ravana Dahan; Kanya Pujan on Ashtami or Navami.
• Gujarat. Garba and Dandiya Raas around the garbo, a perforated earthen lamp-pot, on all nine nights, with the aarti and the Ambe Maa songs.
• West Bengal and the East. The same window is Durgotsav: the pandal worship of Durga with her children from Shashthi to Dashami; see Durga Puja. →
• Maharashtra. Ghatasthapana with a mala of flowers added to the ghat each day; Ghagar phunkne, and the Bhondla / Hadga circle songs for girls.
• Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Karnataka. Golu / Bommai Kolu: a tiered display of dolls kept and visited for nine days; Saraswati and Ayudha Puja on the last days; the Mysuru Dasara procession.

• Vrat food: kuttu and singhare ki puri, sabudana, samak rice, aloo — No grains or pulses; sendha namak. Eaten as phalahar through the nine days by those who fast.
• Kanya Pujan: kala chana, sooji halwa, poori — The set meal offered to the nine girls and the boy on Ashtami or Navami.
• Sundal, payasam, malpua, khichuri bhog — Nine kinds of sundal for Golu in the South; malpua for Kushmanda; khichuri and labra as bhog in Bengal.

Sharad Navratri is kept on the day when Pratipada of Ashwin Shukla paksha prevails at sunrise. That day is Tuesday, 19 September 2028, and the Ghatasthapana muhurat is from 6:08 AM to 10:12 AM. Pratipada holds at sunrise only on this day.

at sunrise

Sharad Navratri runs from the Shukla Pratipada to the Navami of Ashwin: the first nine tithis of the waxing fortnight after the Ashwin new moon, as the Moon grows from new toward the first quarter. Ghatasthapana is done in the Pratipada, in the first one-third of the day or the Abhijit muhurta, and the Chitra nakshatra and the Vaidhriti yoga are avoided for it where possible. The tithis are counted so that the Dashami: Vijayadashami: falls on the tenth day. The Sun stands in sidereal Kanya or early Tula. The Gregorian date drifts about 11 days earlier each year and jumps back ~19 days in an adhika-month year.

A lunar date: Pratipada of the bright half of Ashwin drifts about 11 days earlier each solar year, then jumps back ~19 days when a leap (Adhika) month is inserted.