Sharad Navratri 2026 begins on Sunday, October 11 and runs through October 19, with Vijayadashami (Dussehra) on Tuesday, October 20.
An approximate Ghatasthapana muhurat
Published panchang sources give a Ghatasthapana muhurat for Delhi of roughly 6:19 AM to 10:12 AM on October 11, a window of about three and a half hours. This is determined by Pratipada tithi and Chitra nakshatra.
The nine-day calendar
The nine days of Navratri are dedicated to worshipping the nine forms of Maa Durga, with a different form honored each day, culminating in the celebration on Vijayadashami.
What the nine days honor, day by day
Each of the nine days is assigned to a specific form of Durga, and many households adjust small details of the daily puja, a particular colour worn, a specific food avoided, to match that day’s form: Shailaputri on day one, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalaratri, Mahagauri, and finally Siddhidatri on the ninth. Ashtami and Navami, days eight and nine, carry the most weight for most families, since Kanya Puja, honoring young girls as living forms of the goddess with a small meal and gifts, typically happens on one of these two days rather than spread across the whole week. If you can only manage a scaled-down version around a work schedule, these two days are worth prioritizing over the earlier ones.
What actually goes into the kalash
Ghatasthapana itself is a specific sequence, not just picking a lucky hour. An earthen pot is filled partway with soil, and barley seeds are sown into it, these are the sprouts you’ll see growing taller through the nine days, cut and distributed as prasad on Vijayadashami. The kalash is filled with water, sometimes with a few coins and a betel nut dropped in, and mango leaves are arranged around its rim. A coconut wrapped in red cloth sits on top, and the whole thing is placed on a small mound of rice or grain near the Durga idol or picture. Some families add a strand of moli (sacred red thread) tied around the pot’s neck before it’s set down. None of this needs a priest, most households do it themselves once the muhurat window opens, following whatever version their own mother or grandmother used.
Keeping the akhand jyoti burning for nine days
Many households light an akhand jyoti, a lamp meant to stay lit continuously from Ghatasthapana through Vijayadashami, alongside the kalash. In practice this means a larger brass or steel lamp with a thick cotton wick, topped up with ghee or oil every few hours rather than a small diya that burns out in twenty minutes. It has to sit somewhere with airflow but no direct draft, away from anything flammable, and someone needs to actually remember to check it, especially overnight. Families who work full-time and can’t monitor a flame around the clock often light a large enough lamp to run 10-12 hours unattended and relight it each morning instead, a reasonable adjustment rather than a shortcut that breaks the tradition.
How to check the exact time for your city
The exact Ghatasthapana time depends on your city’s sunrise, so it will differ by a few minutes from city to city. Select your city on the panchang page to confirm that day’s tithi and nakshatra, and perform Ghatasthapana with Rahu Kaal avoided.
The final call is the family’s
Different regions and even different households within the same city follow slightly different versions of this ritual, more or less elaborate, a priest present or not, a full akhand jyoti or a simpler daily lamp. None of these variations is the “correct” one against which the others fall short. What matters most, according to most priests asked directly, is getting the tithi and the broad muhurat window right and keeping the intention behind the ritual clear, rather than treating every detail as pass or fail.