Navratri Celebration Across India: One Festival, Nine Versions

Navratri 2026 runs from Sunday, 11 October to Monday, 19 October, with Dussehra on Tuesday, 20 October. The dates are shared across the country. Almost nothing else is.

In Gujarat it is a nine night dance festival. In Bengal it is five days of pandal art. In Tamil Nadu it is a doll display in the front room. In Himachal it is a week long fair that starts on the day Dussehra ends everywhere else. The same tithis produce completely different festivals, and this guide walks through them.

Gujarat: garba and dandiya raas

Gujarat runs the largest participatory dance event in the world. Garba is danced in concentric circles around a perforated earthen lamp called the garbo, which represents the womb and the body with the divine light inside it. Dandiya raas uses sticks and is danced in pairs, and it re enacts the fight between Durga and Mahishasura.

The evening begins with aarti, then the dancing starts slow and speeds up through the night. Vadodara and Ahmedabad host commercial garba grounds with thousands of dancers, though the older neighbourhood sheri garba in the pols of Ahmedabad is the version worth seeing. Costume is the chaniya choli and kediyu, and many venues now sell season passes.

Practical note: most large garba venues close by midnight under noise rules, and entry is usually ticketed and often requires registration in advance.

West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Tripura: Durga Puja

The eastern states compress the festival into five days, Shashthi to Dashami, which in 2026 is 16 to 20 October. The focus is the idol and the pandal rather than dance or fasting. Sandhi Puja at the Ashtami and Navami junction, Kumari Puja, Sindoor Khela on Dashami, and then the immersion procession.

Kolkata's Durga Puja is on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list, added in 2021. Cuttack in Odisha is known for its silver filigree backdrops, and Guwahati and Agartala hold large community pujas.

Karnataka: Mysuru Dasara

Nada Habba, the state festival, and the most formally organised Navratri anywhere in India. The Mysore Palace is lit with close to a hundred thousand bulbs every evening for ten nights.

The festival closes with the Jamboo Savari on Vijayadashami, a procession in which a golden howdah carrying the idol of Chamundeshwari is borne on a decorated elephant from the palace to Bannimantap, followed by a torchlight parade that evening. The tradition traces to the Vijayanagara empire and was continued by the Wadiyars from the late sixteenth century.

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana: Golu and Bathukamma

Bommai Golu, also called Kolu or Bommala Koluvu, is a display of dolls arranged on an odd number of tiered steps, usually seven, nine or eleven. Figures of gods, historical characters, village scenes and, increasingly, contemporary subjects are arranged as a narrative. Women and children visit each other's homes, sing, and are given sundal, a seasoned legume, along with betel leaves and a small gift.

In Telangana, the same nine days are Bathukamma, where women stack seasonal flowers into a conical arrangement, sing around it in circles each evening, and immerse it in water on the final day, Saddula Bathukamma. It is a state festival and one of the most distinctive Navratri traditions in the country.

Ayudha Puja on Navami is common across the south, with tools, vehicles, books and instruments cleaned, decorated and left unused for the day. Vidyarambham on Vijayadashami is when young children in Kerala and Tamil Nadu are formally started on learning, writing their first letters in rice.

Maharashtra: Ghatasthapana and Ghagra

Households install the ghat on day one and keep a garland added to daily through the nine nights. Bhondla or Hadga, a circle game and song tradition, is kept by women and girls. Mumbai's garba scene has grown large enough to rival Gujarat's, driven by the Gujarati community in the city. On Dashami people exchange apta leaves as symbolic gold, a custom tied to the Raghuraja legend.

North India: Ramlila and Ravan Dahan

Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan mark the nine nights with Ramlila, a staged retelling of the Ramayana performed over successive evenings, ending on Dussehra with the burning of effigies of Ravana, Meghnad and Kumbhakarna.

Ramnagar Ramlila in Varanasi runs for a full month and is the most famous version, performed across the town without loudspeakers. Delhi's Ramlila Maidan and Lav Kush Ramlila draw the biggest urban crowds. Fasting is common through the nine days, with Kanya Pujan on Ashtami, which in 2026 is Sunday, 18 October.

Himachal Pradesh: Kullu Dussehra

The one that runs backwards. Kullu Dussehra begins on Vijayadashami, the day the rest of India finishes, and continues for seven days. More than two hundred village deities are carried in palanquins to the Dhalpur maidan to gather around Lord Raghunath. It was given international festival status by the state and is unlike anything else in the Navratri calendar.

Punjab and Jammu

Punjab keeps seven day fasts broken on Ashtami with Kanya Pujan. In Jammu, the nine days see very large numbers of pilgrims on the climb to Vaishno Devi, and the shrine board runs extra arrangements through the period.

Planning around the 2026 dates

• Sun, 11 October: Ghatasthapana, Navratri begins. Garba season opens in Gujarat and Mumbai.

•  Fri, 16 October: Shashthi. Durga Puja pandals open in the east.

•  Sun, 18 October: Durga Ashtami. Kanya Pujan in the north, Sandhi Puja in the east.

•  Mon, 19 October: Maha Navami. Ayudha Puja in the south.

•  Tue, 20 October: Dussehra. Ravan Dahan in the north, Jamboo Savari in Mysuru, immersion in the east, and Kullu Dussehra begins.

Frequently asked questions about Navratri across India

Q. When is Navratri 2026?

A. Sunday, 11 October to Monday, 19 October 2026, with Dussehra on Tuesday, 20 October.

Q. What is the difference between garba and dandiya raas?

A. Garba is danced in circles around a central lamp using claps and hand movements, usually before the aarti. Dandiya raas uses pairs of sticks and is danced with a partner, and it represents the fight between Durga and Mahishasura.

Q. Why does Kullu Dussehra start when Dussehra ends?

A. Because it is built around the gathering of village deities rather than the burning of Ravana. It begins on Vijayadashami and runs seven days, so it starts as the rest of the country finishes.

Q. What is Bommai Golu?

A. A South Indian tradition of arranging dolls on an odd number of tiered steps during Navratri, with visitors invited home, songs sung, and sundal given as prasad.

Q. What is Ayudha Puja?

A. The worship of tools, vehicles, books and instruments on Maha Navami. Everything is cleaned, decorated and left unused for the day, then resumed on Vijayadashami.

Q. Which state has the biggest Navratri celebration?

A. It depends what you are measuring. Gujarat has the largest participation through garba, West Bengal the largest artistic scale through Durga Puja, and Karnataka the most formal state procession at Mysuru.

Q. Is Navratri celebrated in South India the same way?

A. No. The south focuses on Golu doll displays, Bathukamma in Telangana, Ayudha Puja and Vidyarambham rather than garba or Ramlila.