Maha Navami: homa, bhog and the last night of the puja

Maha Navami is the last full day of Durga Puja worship. Its rites complete what began on Shashthi: the Navami puja, the homa (fire offering), and the bhog, the cooked food offered to the goddess and then shared. By evening the mood turns bittersweet, because Navami night is the goddess's last night on earth before she leaves on Dashami. In 2026 Maha Navami falls on Tuesday 20 October.

Depending on the tithi timings in a given year, the second half of Sandhi Puja falls at the very start of Navami. As always, details and timings follow the family tradition and the panjika.

The Navami puja

The priest performs the day's worship to Durga and all the deities of the image, much as on the previous days, with flowers, lamps, incense, fruit, sweets and cooked offerings. Many pujas hold a Navami pushpanjali as well, usually less crowded than the one on Ashtami.

Homa: the fire offering

The homa or yajna is a ritual fire, kindled in a small square pit or vessel, into which the priest offers ghee, wood from sacred trees such as bel, and other materials while chanting mantras, often with a set number of offerings. It is understood to complete and seal the worship of the puja days. Families and committee members often sit around the fire, and in some pujas the ash is afterwards applied as a mark on the forehead.

Bhog: food for the goddess and for everyone

Navami bhog is usually the largest of the festival. In many community pujas the menu includes:

• khichuri, rice and lentils cooked together, often with vegetables;
• labra, a mixed vegetable dish;
• bhaja, fried vegetables such as brinjal;
• chutney, often tomato or plum;
• payesh, rice pudding, and sweets.

The food is first offered to the goddess, after which it becomes prasad and is shared. Many neighbourhood pujas serve bhog to anyone who joins the queue; some issue coupons in advance. Old family pujas follow their own menus, and in some of them fish or other non-vegetarian items are part of the offering, according to family custom. Read more in food and bhog.

Sacrifice and its symbolic replacements

Historically, bali (sacrifice), including animal sacrifice, was part of Durga Puja in some Bengali households and temples, most often at Sandhi Puja and on Navami. Over the last century most pujas have stopped the practice. Many now offer symbolic substitutes such as an ash gourd (chalkumro), sugarcane or banana, cut ritually in its place. The Ramakrishna Mission's pujas, for example, do not include animal sacrifice. A small number of older traditions still continue it where the law permits. Practices differ, and this page describes them without endorsing or judging any.

Also readMaha Ashtami

Joining the bhog queue

If you would like to receive bhog at a community puja, a few things help:

• Ask a volunteer when bhog will be served; it usually follows the midday puja, and the time depends on how long the rites take.
• Some pujas give bhog only to residents or coupon holders, others to anyone in the queue. Respect whichever system is in use.
• Bhog is often served on sal-leaf plates or in earthen cups. Eat it where indicated and dispose of the plate in the bins provided.
• Take only what you will eat; bhog is prasad, and wasting it is frowned on.

The last night

Navami evening's sandhya arati is often the most charged of the festival. Dhakis play with full force, and men and women dance with smoking clay incense burners in the dhunuchi naach. Many pujas hold cultural programmes, and the streets stay full until very late, because tomorrow the goddess leaves. Bengalis often speak of a particular sadness on Navami night, the sense that the festival is ending.

If you are visiting, Navami night is one of the two most crowded nights in Kolkata. Plan your route with the Kolkata guide and our pandal hopping tips, and see the dhak and dhaki page to understand the rhythms you will hear.

What comes next

On Bijoya Dashami the goddess is bid farewell with darpan bisarjan, sindoor khela and immersion. For the full sequence see Durga Puja rituals day by day. Outside Bengal, Navami is the last day of Navratri, often marked by kanya pujan.