Chaitra Navratri Navami 2026 Date

About Chaitra Navratri Navami

The closing day of spring Navratri — and the only Navami in the year that is also the birthday of Rama, born at midday in Ayodhya. Devotees worship Siddhidatri, the lotus-seated giver of the eight siddhis, with an offering of sesame seeds.

Two streams of worship meet on this day. Siddhidatri is the ninth Navadurga — she appeared from the left half of Shiva when he prayed for perfection, and that joining is why Shiva is called Ardhanarishvara (half-woman lord). She grants the eight classical siddhis named in the Devi Purana — Anima, Mahima, Garima, Laghima, Prapti, Prakamya, Ishitva, Vashitva — and the Brahmavaivarta Purana extends the list to eighteen. Unlike most Navadurgas she rides no animal; she sits on a lotus, and her prasad is til (sesame). The same Navami is Rama Navami, Vishnu's seventh avatar's birth-tithi, born at Madhyahna in Ayodhya. So in Chaitra alone, Navami closes the Devi fast with a homa for Shakti and a midday Rama puja in the same household — Kanya Pujan in the morning, Ramcharitmanas paath by noon.