How to do Durga Puja at home: a simple step-by-step guide

You can do a meaningful Durga Puja at home without a pandal, an idol or a priest. Set up a ghat (a small water-filled pot that stands for the Goddess's presence) or a picture of Ma Durga, make a simple sankalpa (statement of intention), offer flowers, incense, a lamp and food, perform aarti, and on Maha Ashtami offer pushpanjali (flowers with a mantra). On Dashami you bid her farewell and retire the ghat.

This is how a great many families actually observe the festival. In Bengal, most households go out to see the Goddess at a community (barowari) or family puja, and keep a smaller daily worship at home. Outside Bengal, the same home practice lines up with the nine nights of Navratri.

What a home puja is, and what it isn't

A full Durga Puja, of the kind you see at a pandal or a bonedi bari (old family home), involves bodhon (awakening the Goddess), prana pratishtha (invoking life into the idol), the bathing of the Kola Bou, the sixteen offerings of shodashopachara, Sandhi Puja and a yajna (fire offering). These are traditionally led by a purohit (priest) who knows the mantras and sequence, and many families are careful about not beginning them without that guidance.

A home puja is simpler: it is personal worship, called upasana, done with devotion. Nothing below is a substitute for the full ritual, and nothing below needs special training.

When to worship

• Bengal tradition: Shashthi to Dashami. In 2026 that is Saturday 17 October to Wednesday 21 October, with Saptami on Sunday 18, Maha Ashtami on Monday 19 and Maha Navami on Tuesday 20 October. See Durga Puja 2026 dates.
• Navratri tradition: nine nights from Pratipada, the lunar day that follows the new moon of Mahalaya (Saturday 10 October 2026). Confirm the first day and the ghatasthapana timing in your local panchang.

Morning puja after a bath is most common. Many families also do a short evening aarti.

Preparing the space

Choose a clean corner that won't be disturbed. If you can, face east or north while you sit. Spread a red or yellow cloth on a low stool, keep a mat to sit on, and gather everything from the samagri list on a plate before you begin. A small alpana (white rice-paste design) at the threshold is a lovely Bengali touch.

Ghat sthapana: setting up the ghat

The ghat is the heart of a home puja. Seat it on a small mound of rice or earth, fill it with clean water (a few drops of Ganga water if you have it), draw a swastika on it with sindoor, put five mango leaves in its mouth and rest a coconut or a fruit on top. Some families tie a red thread around its neck. Place the picture of Ma Durga behind it.

Once set up, the ghat is not moved until Dashami.

Sankalpa in simple words

A sankalpa is your promise of what you are about to do. Formal versions name the year, month, tithi and family lineage (gotra). At home, plain words are enough. Hold a little water, a flower and a few grains of rice in your right hand and say something like:

"Today, on Saptami, I, (your name), worship Ma Durga with devotion for the peace and wellbeing of my family. Please accept my offering."

Then let the water and flower fall before the ghat.

Dhyana: picturing the Goddess

Dhyana means meditating on the deity's form. Close your eyes and picture Ma Durga: ten arms holding weapons given by the gods, riding her lion, with Mahishasura at her feet and Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartik around her. A simple name-mantra many people use is:

ॐ दुं दुर्गायै नमः
Om Dum Durgayai Namah
Salutations to Durga.

Also readDurga Puja samagri list

The five offerings (panchopachar)

Panchopachar means "five services", the simplest complete form of worship:

Offer each with a short name-mantra or simply "Ma, please accept this."

Chandi Path and aarti

The Chandi Path, also called the Durga Saptashati or Devi Mahatmya, is the 700-verse text that tells of the Goddess's victories. Families who read it often spread its chapters across the puja days. If you don't read Sanskrit, a translation or an attentive listen to a recording is a sincere offering too.

End the puja with aarti: wave the lamp in circles, then incense, then a conch of water and flowers, while others ring a bell, blow the shankha (conch) or sing. Two well-known verses many households recite are:

या देवी सर्वभूतेषु शक्तिरूपेण संस्थिता। नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः॥
Ya devi sarvabhuteshu shakti-rupena samsthita, namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namo namah.
To the Goddess who dwells in all beings as power: salutations to her, again and again.

सर्वमङ्गलमङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके। शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते॥
Sarva-mangala-mangalye shive sarvartha-sadhike, sharanye tryambake gauri narayani namostu te.
O auspicious one, giver of every good, refuge of all, three-eyed Gauri, Narayani: salutations to you.

Pushpanjali on Ashtami

On Maha Ashtami morning, Bengalis offer anjali: flowers and bel leaves held in folded palms, offered after reciting a mantra, usually three times. Many people stay without food until they have offered it. You can do it at home before your ghat, or join your local pandal. The full text, transliteration and meaning are in our pushpanjali mantra guide.

Bhog ideas

Bhog doesn't have to be elaborate. Common home offerings include:

• Simple: cut fruit, sandesh, batasha, a little kheer (payesh).
• Cooked: bhoger khichuri with labra (mixed vegetables) and fried brinjal; luchi with alur dom or chholar dal.
• Navami/Dashami: many Bengali homes cook a festive non-vegetarian lunch for the family, but the offering to the Goddess at home is usually kept vegetarian. Customs differ by family.

Cook bhog fresh, don't taste it before offering, and share it as prasad afterwards. More ideas are in Durga Puja food and bhog.

Visarjan of the ghat on Dashami

On Bijoya Dashami (Wednesday 21 October 2026), do a short final puja, offer curd and flattened rice (doi-chire) if that is your family's custom, and ask forgiveness for any shortcomings. Gently tilt or shift the ghat to mark her departure. Pour the water into a plant or clean water, and return flowers to soil rather than plastic bins. Married women in many families play sindoor khela at the pandal, and everyone exchanges Bijoya greetings and sweets.

A note on variation

Bengali, Odia, Assamese, north Indian and south Indian homes all honour the Goddess differently, and families hand down their own sequence, mantras and food rules. If an elder or your family priest does it a certain way, follow that. This page is a starting point for people who want to begin, not a rulebook.