Navaratri begins Festival The first of the nine nights of the goddess in Ashwayuja, kept in the south as the Kolu or Bommai Golu: a stepped stand of an odd number of tiers is set up and filled with dolls, and women and children are invited every evening, given sundal, kumkum, betel and a small gift, and sung to.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Navaratri begins
- தமிழ்
- நவராத்திரி தொடக்கம்
- తెలుగు
- దేవీ నవరాత్రులు ఆరంభం
- ಕನ್ನಡ
- ನವರಾತ್ರಿ ಆರಂಭ
- മലയാളം
- നവരാത്രി ആരംഭം
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 first of the nine nights of the goddess in Ashwayuja, kept in the south as the Kolu or Bommai Golu: a stepped stand of an odd number of tiers is set up and filled with dolls, and women and children are invited every evening, given sundal, kumkum, betel and a small gift, and sung to. Three nights each are given to Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati.
- Deity
- Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
Ashwayuja Shukla Prathamai at sunrise; the kalasam is installed and the Kolu set up that morning, and the evening visits run for nine days.
The fast
Many keep the nine days without onion, garlic or non-vegetarian food; some keep one meal a day. A different sundal, made of a different pulse, is offered each evening.
Where the regions differ
The Kolu in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka; the garba and dandiya in Gujarat; Durga Puja in Bengal; the Bathukamma flower stacks in Telangana; and Ramlila in the Hindi belt. One festival, five quite different shapes.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules that go with this festival
A temple visit, or the first darshan at a new temple. No weekday is ruled out: Tuesday belongs to Murugan and the Amman, Saturday to Perumal and Sani, so the day usually follows the deity rather than the almanac. Ashtami and Chaturdasi are the two tithis held back for darshan, with the standing exceptions of Sivaratri on Krishna Chaturdasi and Kala Bhairava Ashtami, which are kept on those very days. Rahu kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika kaal are not scored here; the panchangam page prints them for the day you pick, and most families simply wait them out.
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.