Durga
Honoured alongside: The nine forms — Navadurga · Lakshmi · Saraswati
The Goddess across nine nights, worshipped in a different form each night — Shailaputri through Siddhidatri. Many traditions read the nine as three sets of three: Durga for strength, Lakshmi for abundance, Saraswati for knowledge.
What the puja consists of
- Ghatasthapana on the first morning — install a kalash, and sow barley in earth to be watched through the nine days.
- Keep a lamp burning without break, where the household keeps akhand jyoti.
- Worship the night's form with its colour, flower and bhog.
- Read the Durga Saptashati across the nine days, or have a paath performed.
- Kanya pujan on Ashtami or Navami — feed and honour young girls as the Goddess.
- Aarti each evening; garba and dandiya where that is the custom.
Core chants
Named, not printed — each links to a recording where the catalogue has one.
- Paath
Durga Saptashati (Devi Mahatmyam)दुर्गा सप्तशती
The seven hundred verses read across the nine days — the core text of the festival.
Not in the catalogue yet — ask at your local temple or gurdwara, or learn it from a teacher in your tradition.
- Stotra
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshuया देवी सर्वभूतेषु
The refrain from the Saptashati, recited daily on its own.
Not in the catalogue yet — ask at your local temple or gurdwara, or learn it from a teacher in your tradition.
- Stotra
Devi Kavachदेव्याः कवचम्
The armour recited before beginning the Saptashati.
Not in the catalogue yet — ask at your local temple or gurdwara, or learn it from a teacher in your tradition.
- Chalisa
Durga Chalisaदुर्गा चालीसा
The household recitation where a full paath is not kept.
- Mantra
Om Dum Durgayei Namahॐ दुं दुर्गायै नमः
Seed mantra for japa through the nine days.
- Aarti
Jai Ambe Gauriजय अम्बे गौरी
The evening aarti of the Goddess.
It differs where you are. Bengal, Assam and Odisha keep the last four days as Durga Puja with community pandals and Mahalaya's Chandipath; Gujarat dances garba around the garbo lamp; Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra arrange Golu or Bommai Kolu doll displays; Telangana keeps Bathukamma with flower stacks. There are four Navratris in the year — Chaitra and Sharad are public, two are gupt.
This page is editorial context, not religious instruction. Where your family, region or lineage does it differently, that is the version to follow — ask an elder or a teacher in your tradition rather than a website.