Festivals & Observances पर्व एवं व्रत

The fortnight of the ancestors. For sixteen lunar days the pitṛs are said to draw near their descendants, and food and water offered in their name reaches them. Each ancestor is remembered on the tithi of their passing; the offering is an act of gratitude that blesses the living with health, children and prosperity.

The fortnight of the ancestors. For sixteen lunar days the pitṛs are said to draw near their descendants, and food and water offered in their name reaches them. Each ancestor is remembered on the tithi of their passing; the offering is an act of gratitude that blesses the living with health, children and prosperity.

The fortnight of the ancestors. For sixteen lunar days the pitṛs are said to draw near their descendants, and food and water offered in their name reaches them. Each ancestor is remembered on the tithi of their passing; the offering is an act of gratitude that blesses the living with health, children and prosperity.

The fortnight of the ancestors. For sixteen lunar days the pitṛs are said to draw near their descendants, and food and water offered in their name reaches them. Each ancestor is remembered on the tithi of their passing; the offering is an act of gratitude that blesses the living with health, children and prosperity.

The fortnight of the ancestors. For sixteen lunar days the pitṛs are said to draw near their descendants, and food and water offered in their name reaches them. Each ancestor is remembered on the tithi of their passing; the offering is an act of gratitude that blesses the living with health, children and prosperity.

The fortnight of the ancestors. For sixteen lunar days the pitṛs are said to draw near their descendants, and food and water offered in their name reaches them. Each ancestor is remembered on the tithi of their passing; the offering is an act of gratitude that blesses the living with health, children and prosperity.

The fortnight of the ancestors. For sixteen lunar days the pitṛs are said to draw near their descendants, and food and water offered in their name reaches them. Each ancestor is remembered on the tithi of their passing; the offering is an act of gratitude that blesses the living with health, children and prosperity.

The fortnight of the ancestors. For sixteen lunar days the pitṛs are said to draw near their descendants, and food and water offered in their name reaches them. Each ancestor is remembered on the tithi of their passing; the offering is an act of gratitude that blesses the living with health, children and prosperity.

The fortnight of the ancestors. For sixteen lunar days the pitṛs are said to draw near their descendants, and food and water offered in their name reaches them. Each ancestor is remembered on the tithi of their passing; the offering is an act of gratitude that blesses the living with health, children and prosperity.

The new moon that closes the ancestors’ fortnight. Every ancestor — whether the day of passing is known or not — may be honoured today, which is why it is Sarvapitṛ, “of all the fathers”. In Bengal it is Mahālaya, the dawn on which the Goddess is invited to begin her journey to earth.

The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.

The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.

The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.

The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.

The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.

The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.

The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.

The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.

The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.

Mahāṣṭamī, the great eighth — the height of the nine nights. On this day Cāmuṇḍā sprang from the brow of the Goddess to destroy Caṇḍa and Muṇḍa, and the Sandhi-pūjā at the junction of the eighth and ninth tithis marks that very moment.

The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.

The tenth of victory — of Rāma over Rāvaṇa, of Durgā over Mahiṣāsura, of the Pāṇḍavas’ return to arms. The whole day is a self-standing muhūrta for beginning study, a craft, a journey or an enterprise, and the afternoon Vijaya-muhūrta is held to make every undertaking succeed.

The brightest full moon of the year, when the Moon is said to shine with all sixteen of his kalās and to drip nectar. It is the night of Kṛṣṇa’s Mahā-rāsa, and the night Lakṣmī walks the earth asking “ko jāgarti?” — “who is awake?” — and blesses the wakeful.

A wife’s day-long fast, without food or water, for her husband’s long life — broken only when the moon rises. Karaka is the small earthen pot through which arghya is offered to the moon and which is gifted with the vow.