Navratri and Dussehra across India: a guide to how every community celebrates

India keeps one festival season and many festivals. The nine nights after the new moon of Mahalaya belong to the Goddess everywhere, but what people do with them depends on where they come from: a clay Durga in a Kolkata pandal, a lamp in a pot at the centre of a garba circle in Ahmedabad, steps of dolls in a Chennai living room, towers of flowers floating on a Hyderabad lake, an elephant carrying the goddess through Mysuru. This guide walks through the main traditions, region by region, and links to a fuller guide for each.

In 2026 the season opens with Mahalaya on Saturday 10 October and the nine nights begin on Sunday 11 October. Most national calendars place Dussehra on Tuesday 20 October; Bengal's calendar places Bijoya Dashami on Wednesday 21 October. Communities follow their own panchang (almanac), so a festival can fall a day apart in different states. Check yours before you plan.

At a glance

East: Durga Puja

In Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand, the season is Durga Puja. The Goddess arrives with her four children, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh, and is worshipped in community pandals and old family homes for the last five days, Shashthi to Dashami. Bengal treats her as a daughter, Uma, visiting her parents, which is why Dashami feels like a farewell. Odisha is known for silver filigree decorations in Cuttack; Assam and Tripura keep their own village and temple traditions alongside the pandals. Start with what Durga Puja is, and if you are in Kolkata, the pandal guide.

West: garba and dandiya

Gujarat's Navratri is danced. Every night people gather around a garbo, a pierced clay pot with a lamp inside, and circle it with claps and turns; later the dandiya sticks come out. Many families also keep a nine-day fast and worship the Goddess at home. Maharashtra marks ghatasthapana (setting up the sacred pot) at home, girls sing bhondla songs around an image of an elephant, and on Dussehra people exchange apta leaves as "gold". See garba and dandiya and ghatasthapana.

South: dolls, flowers and a royal procession

Golu. In Tamil homes, and as Bommala Koluvu in Andhra Pradesh and Gombe Habba in Karnataka, families build an odd number of steps and arrange dolls of gods, saints and everyday life on them. Women visit each other's displays in the evenings, sing, and leave with thamboolam (betel leaves, turmeric and a small gift) and a cup of sundal. Read the Golu guide.

Bathukamma. Telangana's state festival is a women's festival of flowers. Each evening for nine days, women stack seasonal flowers into a cone, dance in a circle around it singing, and set it afloat on a lake or tank at dusk. It closes with Saddula Bathukamma on Durgashtami. Read the Bathukamma guide.

Mysuru Dasara. Karnataka's Nadahabba (state festival) lights up Mysuru Palace every night and ends with the Jamboo Savari, when the goddess Chamundeshwari rides through the city in a golden howdah on an elephant. Read the Mysuru Dasara guide.

Ayudha Puja and Vidyarambham. Across the south, Navami is the day to clean and worship tools, vehicles, instruments and books; in Kerala the books stay with the Goddess until Vijayadashami morning, when small children write their first letters in rice. Read the Ayudha Puja and Vidyarambham guide.

North: fasting, kanjak and Ravana's fall

Across Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, many families fast for the nine days, worship the nine forms of Durga one by one, and feed young girls as the Goddess on Ashtami or Navami (kanya pujan). In the evenings, neighbourhood Ramlila troupes act out the Ramayana; on Dussehra, effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghnad are burned. Varanasi's Ramnagar Ramlila is famous for lasting about a month. See fasting rules and Dussehra.

Also readNavratri 2026

The hills and the heartland

Kullu Dussehra in Himachal Pradesh starts when Dussehra ends elsewhere: for a week from Vijayadashami, deities from the valley's villages are carried to Dhalpur Maidan to attend on Raghunath (Rama). Read the Kullu Dussehra guide.

Bastar Dussehra in Chhattisgarh is often described as the longest of all, running for about 75 days, and honours the local goddess Danteshwari with a great wooden chariot, built anew by the tribal communities of the region.

Beyond India

In Nepal the same season is Dashain, the year's biggest festival: barley sprouts (jamara) grown from the first day are worn on the tenth with a red tika from elders. Bengali, Gujarati and South Indian communities abroad keep their own versions, which is why London, New Jersey and Singapore now have pandals, garba nights and Golu displays too.

Same season, many kinds of worship

What ties these together is the Goddess and the victory of good over evil, told as Durga's defeat of Mahishasura in the east and as Rama's defeat of Ravana in the north. Practices vary by family as much as by state, so treat this as a map, not a rulebook. If you are in Kolkata this year, the Navratri in Kolkata guide shows how to combine your own traditions with the city's Durga Puja.