Festival Jagaddhatri, Durga
Jagaddhatri Puja
The ninth day of the bright fortnight of Kartik, kept for Jagaddhatri, the holder of the world: the goddess in a red sari on a lion, with the elephant Karindrasura under its paw, four arms and a calm face.
Jagaddhatri Puja 2026 falls on Wednesday, 18 November, computed for Chennai.
Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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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
Bengal calendar, computed for Chennai
- Wednesday, 18 November 2026
- Sunday, 7 November 2027
- Thursday, 26 October 2028
Where Jagaddhatri Puja falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2026: 18 Nov
- 2027: 7 Nov, 11 days earlier
- 2028: 26 Oct, 11 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Bengal calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The ninth day of the bright fortnight of Kartik, kept for Jagaddhatri, the holder of the world: the goddess in a red sari on a lion, with the elephant Karindrasura under its paw, four arms and a calm face. Chandannagar and Krishnanagar keep it as their Durga Puja, and the lights of Chandannagar, strung a fortnight after Kali Puja, are what people come for. The four days from the Shashthi are kept, though most houses do all four pujas in one on the Navami.
- Deity
- Jagaddhatri, Durga
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Bengal tells her story with the one in the Kena Upanishad: after a victory over the asuras the gods grew proud, and could not burn or blow away a single blade of grass set before them until Uma appeared and showed them whose strength had won; Jagaddhatri, holding the world, is that strength, and the elephant under her lion is pride brought to heel. Krishnanagar says that Raja Krishnachandra of Nadia, held by the Nawab over unpaid revenue through the autumn and unable to keep his Durga Puja, saw her in a dream and was told to worship her a month later, and Indranarayan Chaudhuri, the dewan of the French at Chandannagar and his friend, took the puja home to his own town. At Jayrambati the puja that Sarada Devi's mother began is kept still, in Sarada Devi's own village. Families keep the day for a goddess of steadiness rather than battle, the one who holds the house together as she holds the world.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Jagaddhatri Puja: how it is kept
Keep ready
- the image, or a ghat where no image is made
- red flowers, especially jaba
- sandal, dhoop and the panchapradip
- the bhog of khichuri and labra
- new clothes for the anjali
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
The bhog is the autumn one: khichuri, labra, five fried vegetables, chutney and payesh. Visitors to Krishnanagar go home with its sarpuria and sarbhaja, the sweets the town is known for.
The hour
Clock times for Wednesday, 18 November 2026 at Chennai
Kartik Shukla Navami at sunrise; the four pujas of the day are done in sequence from dawn, or spread over the four days from the Shashthi.
The main rite. Kartik Shukla Navami at sunrise; most houses do the pujas of the four days one after another on the Navami from dawn, while Chandannagar and Krishnanagar spread them over the days from the Shashthi.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:09 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 06:09, sunset 17:39, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Navami from 06:06 until next day 07:07 | then Shukla Dasami until 2 days later, 07:16 |
| Nakshatra | Shatabhisha until next day 06:11 | then Purva Bhadrapada until 2 days later, 06:57 |
| Rahu kaal | 11:54 to 13:20 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 07:35 to 09:01 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 10:28 to 11:54 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:31 to 12:17 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, not counted on a Wednesday |
| Moonrise | 12:55 | moonset next day 01:01 |
For Wednesday, 18 November 2026 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Those who keep it fast until the first anjali. The bhog is the khichuri, labra and payesh of the autumn pujas.
What is avoided
Those who keep the puja take nothing before the first anjali, and the cook does not taste the bhog before it is offered.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Chandannagar, Krishnanagar and the Hooghly towns keep it largest; Rani Rashmoni and Ramakrishna gave it a place in the Kolkata houses as well. Outside Bengal the form of the goddess is little known.
In other regions
- Bengal (the dates above)
- Chandannagar keeps it with the light-makers' illuminations and a procession of lit trucks for the bisarjan, Krishnanagar with the great images carried to the water on bamboo frames on men's shoulders, and neighbouring Bhadreswar keeps large pujas of its own.
The dates above are the Bengal reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
শুভ জগদ্ধাত্রী পূজাShubho Jagaddhatri Puja
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
Temples of Durga near you
Not recorded for this day in particular: the nearest temples of the day's own gods, for a reader whose own temple is not listed above.
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adi Kamakshi and Kamakshi, standing on the pancha agni penance
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Devi Karumariamman in her three forms
- Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu · Kamakshi Devi seated in padmasana with the Sri Chakra
- Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu · Adhiparasakthi as the swayambhu in the anthill
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
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A temple is listed here only where the gazetteer's own line names this day, or where this day's own entry names the town, or where the day belongs to the ancestors or the nagas and the temple is recorded for that rite. Where neither table says anything, nothing is listed as kept for the day; where fewer than three are, the nearest temples of the day's own gods are added under a heading of their own.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
- Durga Saptashati (Devi Mahatmyam)
- Sarvamangala Mangalye
- Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu
A name without a link is a long reading, read in full from the family’s own copy or at the place of worship; the library prints the shorter prayers.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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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.