Chaitra Navratri 2023

The auspicious festival of 9 days…

The nine-day-long, Chaitra Navratri festival is celebrated with great enthusiasm and devotion across the country.

This year, Chaitra Navratri started on March 22 and ended on March 30, 2023. This auspicious and revered festival of the Hindu religion begins on the first day of the Hindu Luni-Solar calendar, falling in March or April. This year, Chaitra Navratri will begin on March 22 and end on March 30.

Throughout North India, people fast for nine days and worship the Goddess on the ninth day, marking the culmination of the festival.

According to Hindu scriptures, each day of the week Goddess Durga arrives, and her vehicle indicates either auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, natural calamity, or war.

It is believed that Maa Durga arrives with an elephant if Navratri starts on Sunday or Monday. She arrives on a horse if the festival starts on Tuesday or Saturday.

Similarly, if Navratri commences on Thursday or Friday, Mata Rani is believed to come riding on a 'doli', whereas if the festival begins on Wednesday, Maa Durga is believed to arrive by boat.

This year, as Chaitra Navratri begins on March 22 (Wednesday), hence Goddess Durga will be arriving on a boat.