Durga Ashtami

About Durga Ashtami

Significance

Durga Ashtami, or Maha Ashtami, is the eighth day of Sharad Navratri and the most intense day of the autumn worship of the goddess Durga. In the Devi Mahatmya of the Markandeya Purana the goddess, formed from the combined powers of the gods, destroys the buffalo demon Mahishasura and later the armies of Shumbha and Nishumbha, and the Navratri festival celebrates these victories.

In the scheme of the nine forms of Durga (Navadurga) followed in much of North and West India, the eighth day belongs to Mahagauri. In Bengal the Sandhi Puja, performed in the forty-eight minutes spanning the end of Ashtami and the start of Navami, honours Chamunda, the form in which, as the seventh chapter of the Devi Mahatmya tells, Kali slew Chanda and Munda.

How and where it is observed

In West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Tripura and Bihar, Ashtami is the climax of Durga Puja, whose Kolkata form UNESCO inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021. In North India the day is often kept with Kanya Puja (Kanjak), in Gujarat the nightly garba continues, and in Kerala books and instruments are placed for worship (Puja Veppu) on the evening of Durgashtami.

Rituals

In Bengal devotees fast until they have offered pushpanjali, flowers offered with mantras, in the morning; Kumari Puja, the worship of a young girl as the goddess, is performed at Belur Math and many other places, and the Sandhi Puja is accompanied by 108 lamps and 108 lotuses. In North India girls are invited home, their feet washed, and they are fed halwa, puri and black gram as forms of the goddess, and families who fast through Navratri conclude the fast on Ashtami or Navami according to custom.

How the date is fixed

Durga Ashtami is Ashvina Shukla Ashtami, the same month in both reckonings. It is kept on the day on which Ashtami prevails at sunrise (udaya tithi). If Ashtami is present at two sunrises, the first day is taken; if it touches no sunrise (a kshaya tithi), the day that contains it. Regional Panchangs may differ in such years, and the Sandhi Puja is timed by the actual end of Ashtami, which can fall on a different day from the date shown.

Sources

• Devi Mahatmya (Markandeya Purana): Mahishasura, Chanda–Munda, Shumbha and Nishumbha
• UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage: Durga Puja in Kolkata (inscribed 2021)
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Kanya Puja

Customs differ between regions, communities and families; this description is background, not a prescription. The date above is calculated by the rule shown on this page.