Navratri, Durga Puja & Dussehra: Nine Nights Across India and What to Wear

Few Indian festivals take on as many forms as Navratri. Its name simply means “nine nights”, and for those nine nights in the month of Ashvin — usually late September or October — the whole country honours the goddess Durga and the triumph of good over evil. Yet travel a few hundred kilometres and the festival looks completely different: a dance in Gujarat, a homecoming in Bengal, a festival of flowers in Telangana, a royal parade in Mysuru. On the tenth day, Dussehra (Vijayadashami), it all comes together in one big celebration of victory.

Why Navratri is celebrated

At its heart, Navratri tells the story of Durga’s battle with Mahishasura, the buffalo demon. She fought him for nine days and nights and defeated him on the tenth. Each night is dedicated to one of her nine forms, together called the Navadurga — Shailaputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalaratri, Mahagauri and Siddhidatri.

Across much of North India the tenth day carries a second story too: Lord Rama’s victory over Ravana. That is why Ramlila plays run through the nine nights, and why towering effigies of Ravana go up in flames on Dussehra evening.

Many families keep a fast or eat simple sattvic food during the festival. On the eighth or ninth day, young girls are welcomed into homes and honoured as forms of the goddess in Kanya Puja, with puri, chana and halwa.

One festival, many Indias

Gujarat: garba and dandiya

In Gujarat, Navratri means dancing. Every evening, people gather in wide circles around the garbo — a lit clay lamp that represents the goddess — for garba, then pair up with decorated sticks for dandiya raas. Society compounds, city squares and huge open grounds stay full of music and colour until long after midnight.

Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Tripura: Durga Puja

In the east, the last five days of the festival become Durga Puja. The goddess is welcomed home along with her children — Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikeya — in thousands of pandals, each one a work of art. Evenings are for pandal-hopping, the air carries the scent of dhunuchi smoke, and on Dashami married women smear each other with vermilion in sindoor khela before the idol is immersed.

Telangana: Bathukamma

In Telangana, women stack seasonal flowers — marigold, celosia, tangedu and more — into tall, tiered cones called Bathukamma. They sing and dance in circles around them, and on the final day float the flower towers gently on a lake or tank.

Karnataka: Mysuru Dasara

Mysuru has celebrated Dasara with royal grandeur for centuries. The palace glows with close to a hundred thousand bulbs, and on Vijayadashami the Jamboo Savari procession carries the goddess Chamundeshwari through the city in a golden howdah atop an elephant.

Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh: Golu

Homes set up Golu, also called Bommai Kolu — tiered steps lined with dolls of gods, saints and scenes from everyday village life. Each evening friends and neighbours drop by to sing, admire the display and take home a little sundal.

North India: Ramlila and Dussehra

From Delhi to Varanasi, Ramlila retells the Ramayana night after night, building up to the burning of Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghnad on Dussehra. In Himachal Pradesh, Kullu’s famous Dussehra actually starts on Vijayadashami and carries on for a full week.

The nine colours of Navratri

In Maharashtra and Gujarat especially, each day of Navratri has its own colour, and offices, colleges and friend groups dress to match. The sequence depends on the weekday the festival begins on, so it changes every year — check this year’s list when Navratri starts, then plan nine easy looks around it.

What to wear for Navratri

• For garba and dandiya: you’ll be dancing for hours, so pick light cotton or mulmul that breathes, a flared silhouette that moves with you, and a dupatta you can tie at the waist. Mirror work, bandhani and bright block prints catch the light beautifully.
• For Durga Puja: pandal-hopping means long evenings on your feet. Comfortable kurta sets in cotton or chanderi in red, white, mustard and deep green feel just right — and on Dashami, red and white is the classic pairing.
• For the nine colours: keep a few neutral basics — a white palazzo, an ivory dupatta — and simply switch the kurti each day to follow the colour.
• For Dussehra and family puja: a co-ord set with a touch of zari or gota patti looks festive without feeling heavy.

Explore our festive edit and the full new arrivals, or come and try pieces on at the Aavari store in Ajmer.

When is Navratri?

Sharad Navratri starts on the first day of the bright half of Ashvin and usually falls between late September and October, with Dussehra on the tenth day. There is also a spring Navratri, Chaitra Navratri, in March or April, which ends on Ram Navami.

Shubh Navratri from all of us at Aavari.