Maha Navami is the ninth day of the waxing Moon in Ashwin, the last full day the goddess spends in her father's house. The worship closes with a homa and the offering of the Navami bhog; in the evening the dhunuchi dance is at its wildest and the crowds at their thickest. Under the brightness runs a sadness that the songs make explicit: tomorrow she goes.
The story
The agamani and vijaya songs of Bengal tell the festival from her mother Menaka's side: the year of waiting, the three days of the visit, and the plea on the last night that the dawn should not come.
It is the day the goddess killed Mahishasura. In the old zamindar houses a buffalo or goat was once sacrificed on Navami; most now offer a pumpkin, a cucumber or sugarcane.
ওরে নবমী নিশি, না হইও রে অবসান
O night of Navami, do not come to an end
A vijaya song, in Menaka's voice
How it is kept
- Navami puja and homaThe concluding fire offering.
- BhogThe grandest of the three days; in many houses it includes meat cooked without onion or garlic.
- Dhunuchi naachDancing before the goddess with clay censers of burning coconut husk.
- The last roundPandal-hopping until dawn.
Why this date
Maha Navami is the Navami of the bright fortnight of Ashwin, on the day it is present at sunrise.
Maha Navami in other years
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Tuesday | |
| 2027 | Saturday | |
| 2028 | Wednesday | |
| 2029 | Monday | |
| 2030 | Saturday | |
| 2031 | Friday |
More Bengali festivals
7 OctoberMaha Ashtamiমহাষ্টমী
10 OctoberBijoya Dashamiবিজয়া দশমী
29 OctoberKali Pujaকালীপূজা
4 SeptemberGanesh Chaturthiগণেশ চতুর্থী
24 AugustJanmashtamiজন্মাষ্টমী
14 NovemberRash Purnimaরাস পূর্ণিমা
Where to see Maha Navami
In West Bengal
- Maddox Square, KolkataWest BengalA south Kolkata park where people come to sit all night, the adda of the puja.
- Krishnanagar RajbariWest BengalThe palace of the Nadia kings, with one of the oldest family pujas in Bengal.
- BishnupurWest BengalThe Mrinmoyee temple of the Malla kings, whose puja is announced by cannon fire.
Across India
- MumbaiMaharashtraThe Bengal Club puja at Shivaji Park and the film world's pujas.
- AgartalaTripuraThe Durgabari, where the royal puja is now conducted by the state.
- VaranasiUttar PradeshThe Bengali quarter of the old city has kept its pujas for two centuries.