Navratri Vrat - Vrat Vidhi
Navratri Vrat माँ दुर्गा
The nine-night fast of Maa Durga - Chaitra and Sharad Navratri, ending with kanya pujan.
Vrat mantra
ॐ दुं दुर्गायै नमः
Om Dum Durgayai Namah
What you can eat - and what to avoid
You can have
- One phalahar meal a day (or fruits and milk only, per your sankalpa)
- Fruits and fresh fruit juices
- Milk, curd, paneer, butter, ghee
- Sabudana - khichdi, kheer or vada
- Kuttu (buckwheat) and singhara flour rotis / puris
- Samak (barnyard millet) rice
- Makhana, dry fruits and nuts
- Potato, sweet potato, arbi - cooked with sendha namak
- Sendha namak (rock salt) only
- Tea, coffee or coconut water in moderation
✗ Avoid
- Onion and garlic - strictly, for the whole household during Navratri
- Non-veg and alcohol - strictly
- All grains - wheat, rice, semolina (sooji), besan, oats
- Pulses and legumes - dal, chana, rajma, soy
- Regular table / sea salt (use only sendha namak)
- Onion and garlic
- Non-vegetarian food and eggs
- Alcohol and tobacco
- Heavy spices - keep to jeera, kali mirch, green chilli
Step-by-step vrat vidhi
Sankalpa - the vrat morning
Wake early, bathe and wear clean clothes. With water, akshat and a flower in the right palm, state your name, the vrat (Navratri Vrat), its count if it is a series, and your prayer - then release the water.
Morning puja
On Pratipada do Kalash Sthapana (Ghatasthapana) with jau sowing; daily, bathe and worship Maa Durga with red flowers, chunari, dhoop-deep and the day's Devi mantra.
Keep the fast through the day
Keep the fast as prescribed - nine-day phalahar (one phalahar meal a day, or fruit-milk only). Spend free moments in japa of "Om Dum Durgayai Namah", and keep the mind sattvik: no anger, gossip or harsh speech.
Katha & evening puja
Do the evening aarti "Jai Ambe Gauri" daily; recite Durga Saptashati, Argala-Kavacha or Durga Chalisa as per capacity; keep the akhand jyot fed if you have taken that sankalpa.
Kanya pujan (Ashtami / Navami)
Worship nine young girls as forms of the Devi - wash their feet, apply tilak, feed them (traditionally puri, chana, halwa) and give dakshina.
Paran - breaking the fast
After Ashtami or Navami kanya pujan (per family tradition) - feed nine kanyas, then break the fast.
Daan & prasad
Share the prasad with everyone present and give some daan (food, fruit or dakshina) as per capacity - the vrat is completed by giving.
Special rules for this vrat
- If you keep the akhand jyot, it must burn unbroken for all nine days.
- Keep the house sattvik for nine days - no onion, garlic, non-veg or alcohol.
- First and last day fasting (Pratipada + Ashtami/Navami) is an accepted lighter form.
Family and regional traditions (parampara) vary - where yours differs, follow your parampara. Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and anyone unwell or on medication should keep a softened vrat (fruit and milk) or skip it - a vrat is bhakti and restraint, never hardship to the body.
Choose another vrat
What is a Vrat Vidhi?
A vrat vidhi is how to keep a sacred fast: morning sankalpa, the deity's puja, the day's food discipline, the katha and aarti, and paran at the right time. Most vrats allow phalahar (fruits, milk, sabudana, kuttu, singhara, samak, sendha namak). Some are nirjala. Ekadashi drops grain; Santoshi Mata drops sour food; Ravivar vrat drops salt.
A vrat is bhakti and restraint, not hardship. Children, the elderly, pregnant women and the unwell should soften the fast. Parampara comes first. Pick a Dev or Devi for the day, fast type, food rules, paran, mantra, katha and aarti.
This is not a full puja manual. Worship steps are Puja Vidhi. Gather items from Puja Samagri. Read the story on Vrat Katha.
