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Goddess Durga on her lion, many-armed with weapons, subduing the buffalo demon Mahishasura — a Ravi Varma Press print.
Durga Mahishasura-mardini — Ravi Varma Press, c. 1910

The nine kanyas as nine Durgas · 60–90 minutes including the meal

Kanya pujan (Ashtami/Navami)

Navratri Ashtami/Navami (19 Oct 2026; 7–9 Oct 2027)

In the simplest words

On Ashtami or Navami, little girls become the goddess, with feet washed, food served first and small gifts given, because Devi lives in them.

Navratri's most demanding rite needs no priest. It needs humility: nine girls received as the goddess herself, feet washed by the household's own hands, fed first and best, sent home honoured. The theology is a mirror; how the kanyas are treated is how the Devi was.

Perform this puja

6 steps, one at a time, with the lamp, the mantras and the bell, on this screen.

Samagri: what you need

0/5 gathered

The vidhi, step by step

0/6 done

  1. Invite the day before

    Kanyas are requested, not summoned. Homes go and ask, and a yes is received as the Devi's own.

  2. Receive & wash the feet

    At the door with akshat-pushpa; each kanya's feet washed and dried by the family, seated on clean asans.

    या देवी सर्वभूतेषु शक्तिरूपेण संस्थिता । नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः ॥

    Yā devī sarva-bhūteṣu śakti-rūpeṇa saṁsthitā, namas tasyai namas tasyai namas tasyai namo namaḥ

    To the Goddess who abides in all beings in the form of power: salutations to her, salutations to her, salutations to her, again and again. The litany's grammar is its teaching. She is not summoned from elsewhere; she is found already standing (samsthita) in every being, as power itself. The triple salute is for a presence discovered in creatures one had merely looked at until now.

    Source: Durgā Saptaśatī, chapter 5 (Devī Māhātmya)

  3. Moli, tilak, chunari

    Moli on the wrist, roli-akshat tilak, the chunari draped; the batuk honoured alongside as Bhairav.

    ॐ ऐं ह्रीं क्लीं चामुण्डायै विच्चे

    Oṁ Aiṁ Hrīṁ Klīṁ Cāmuṇḍāyai Vicce

    Om. Aim, Hreem, Kleem. Salutations to Chamunda. Nine syllables hold the Mother's three faces at once: great wisdom, great energy, great transformation. Vicce has no single agreed translation; commentators offer 'I bow' or 'I take refuge' among others, and recitation leaves it as it is. The navarna does not petition for one thing. It invokes the whole force by which anything is overcome.

    Source: Durgā Saptaśatī (Devī Māhātmya) recitation tradition

  4. The bhog, served kneeling

    Puri-chana-halwa served by the eldest with their own hands; the kanyas eat first, unhurried, asked twice.

  5. Dakshina & pranam

    Gift and dakshina in each palm; then the whole household bows, adults to children, and takes their blessing.

    ॐ दुं दुर्गायै नमः

    Oṁ Duṁ Durgāyai Namaḥ

    Om. Dum. Salutations to Durga. Her name means the fortress hard to assail; Dum is that protection struck as a single drum-beat of sound. The mantra is itself what it grants: something to hold when afraid. The reciter does not ask for a world without danger. The request is for the Mother's own quality inside it, unassailability of heart.

    Source: Traditional bīja-mantra of the Devi worship corpus

  6. See them home

    Walked to the door (or home) as honoured guests. The rite's afterlife: a home that fed girls as goddesses must keep treating them so.

Note: Ashtami or Navami is family custom; 2026's compressed tithis mean either day serves (see the Durga Ashtami entry). This is the northern kanjak form; Bengal's Kumari Puja honours one girl on Ashtami, as Belur Math does. Numbers flex; even one kanya honoured with full heart is the complete rite, say the elders.

Durga Ashtami →Sharad Navratri →Chaitra Navratri →