Durga Ashtami · Maha Ashtami Festival The eighth night of Sharad Navratri, the heart of Durga Puja.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Durga Ashtami · Maha Ashtami
- हिन्दी
- दुर्गा अष्टमी
- বাংলা
- মহাষ্টমী
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: a tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
What the day is
The eighth night of Sharad Navratri, the heart of Durga Puja. The Sandhi Puja is performed in the twenty-four minutes before and after the Ashtami turns into Navami, the fiercest moment of the nine nights; young girls are worshipped and fed as the Kumari Puja, and in many houses the weapons and tools are laid out.
- Deity
- Durga, Mahagauri
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
Ashwina Shukla Ashtami at sunrise. The Sandhi Puja is at the junction of Ashtami and Navami, whenever in the day or night that falls.
The fast
The strictest fast of the nine days for those who keep them; it is broken after the Sandhi Puja or on the Navami with the kanya bhojan.
Where the regions differ
Bengal's Maha Ashtami and the north's Ashtami puja fall together; Karnataka and Andhra keep it as Durgashtami, and where Ashtami and Navami share a sunrise the almanacs put both pujas on one day.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it. A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.