Maha Navami 2027
8 October 2027

Maha Navami is Ashwin Shukla Navami, the ninth and last day of Sharad Navratri, given to Siddhidatri, the ninth form of the Devi. Families who close their Navratri on Navami do the havan and kanya pujan today, and the nine days of path and vrat end with the purnahuti, the last offering into the fire. The next day is Vijayadashami.

Northern calendars mark Maha Navami on the day Navami is running by the afternoon. When Ashtami ends early in the day, Ashtami and Navami fall on the same date, which is why in the north Durga Ashtami and Maha Navami are often kept on one day. In the south, the day is Ayudha Puja, when tools, vehicles and instruments are cleaned and worshipped as the means by which a household earns its living.

• Havan kund and mango wood
• Havan samagri, ghee, til and jau
• Dry coconut for the purnahuti
• Roli, akshat and kalava
• Red chunari, flowers and a garland
• Halwa, puri and kala chana for prasad
• Small gifts or dakshina for the girls
• Haldi, kumkum and flowers for Ayudha Puja

Source: Devi Mahatmya (Markandeya Purana), the slaying of Shumbha and Nishumbha

The asura brothers Shumbha and Nishumbha had taken the three worlds from the gods. The gods went to the Himalaya and praised the Devi, and she appeared before them. When Shumbha’s servants saw her, Shumbha sent word asking her to become his queen. She answered that she had vowed to wed only one who defeated her in battle.

One by one his generals fell: Dhumralochana, then Chanda and Munda, then Raktabija, from every drop of whose blood a new demon rose, until Kali drank his blood before it could touch the ground. Then Nishumbha was slain.

Shumbha mocked her for fighting with the strength of others. She replied that she alone existed in the world, and all the goddesses who had fought beside her went back into her. Alone, she fought Shumbha and killed him, and the gods praised her with the hymn known as the Narayani Stuti as peace returned to the worlds.

What to do

• Offer the purnahuti together as a family, as the close of the nine days of path and vrat.
• Check your calendar for the day Navami holds in your city; if Ashtami and Navami share a date, families often do the Ashtami and Navami pujan on that one day.
• Clean tools and vehicles the evening before Ayudha Puja, so the morning is kept for the puja itself.

What to avoid

• Onion, garlic and meat stay out of the kitchen until the vrat is closed, since the prasad is cooked for the Devi.
• In homes that keep Ayudha Puja or Saraswati puja, the tools and books placed for puja are commonly not used until they are taken back on Vijayadashami.

In Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, Navami is Ayudha Puja, and Saraswati is worshipped with books and instruments; in Kerala the books are placed for puja and taken back on Vijayadashami, when young children are first taught to write. In Mysuru it is Mahanavami of the Dasara. In Bengal, Maha Navami is the last full day of Durga Puja, with the Navami homa.

Amanta and Purnimanta calendars both call this Ashwin, since it is Shukla paksha. The date moves because Navami is read by the afternoon at each place: northern calendars often put it on the same day as Durga Ashtami, while Bengal’s panjikas, reckoning by their own rules, can put Maha Navami on the next day.