Navratri 2026: The Navarna Mantra and Nine Sankalpas for the Nine Devis
Navratri begins on Sunday 11 October 2026 and runs until Monday 19 October, with Dussehra on Tuesday 20 October. Nine nights, nine forms of the Goddess.
Every year people ask me the same questions. Which goddess should I worship for which planet? Which remedy should I do? This year I want to offer something different: one mantra for all nine days, and one small promise for each Devi, drawn from her own story. Keep these promises until the next Navratri. In my experience they do more for a life than any list of remedies.
A gentle word about the planet lists
You will find lists online that pair each goddess with a planet. Please do not run after them. Different sources give completely different pairings, and none of them comes from the Durga Saptashati or the Devi Mahatmya. The Mother is not a remedy for one planet; all nine planets work under her. So rather than a list, here are two things to carry through the nine days.
The Navarna mantra
ॐ ऐं ह्रीं क्लीं चामुण्डायै विच्चे Om Aim Hreem Kleem Chamundayai Vichche
This is the Navarna mantra, the root mantra of the Durga Saptashati. Navarna means nine letters: nine syllables for nine nights. Aim is Mahasaraswati, the power of knowledge. Hreem is Mahalakshmi, the power of abundance. Kleem is Mahakali, the power that removes fear. Together they are offered to Chamunda, the Mother who destroyed the demons Chanda and Munda.
How to chant it. During Navratri, chant one mala, 108 times, every morning after your bath, facing east or north. After Navratri, keep at least eleven a day. Correct pronunciation matters more than speed, and feeling matters more than both. If your family tradition asks you to receive this mantra from a guru, follow your tradition.
How to take a sankalpa
A sankalpa is a promise made before the Divine. Take one each day, after the day's puja and your mala.
Take a little water in your right palm.
Say: “Maa [the day's Devi], I, [your name], take this sankalpa: [the promise]. I will keep it until the next Navratri. Give me the strength to keep it.”
Let the water fall at the base of the kalash or into a plant.
The nine Devis and their sankalpas
Day 1, Sunday 11 October: Maa Shailputri (शैलपुत्री)
Daughter of the Mountain
Shaila means mountain. Shailputri is the daughter of Himavan, the mountain king, but her story begins one life earlier. She was Sati, the daughter of Daksha. When her father insulted Lord Shiva at his yajna, Sati gave up her body in the sacrificial fire. She was born again as the daughter of the Himalaya, and through that birth she returned to Shiva.
So the very first form of the Goddess is a form of beginning again. She has lost everything once, and she comes back rooted and steady like a mountain. That is why Navratri opens with her. She rides Nandi the bull, with a trident in one hand and a lotus in the other, and in yoga she is linked to the Muladhara, the root.
A mountain does not react to every wind. Her sankalpa is about steadiness.
Sankalpa: I will begin each day with five minutes of stillness, before I touch my phone.
Day 2, Monday 12 October: Maa Brahmacharini (ब्रह्मचारिणी)
The Goddess of Tapas
Brahmacharini is Parvati in tapas. She wanted Shiva, who was lost in meditation, so she chose the hardest path there is: austerity. For years she lived on fruits, then on leaves alone, and at last she gave up even leaves. That is why she is also called Aparna, the one who did not eat even a leaf.
Look at what she carries. No weapon. Only a japa mala and a kamandalu, a water pot. Her strength is discipline. She teaches that what we truly want is not won by force but by staying with it, day after day, when nobody is watching.
Not ten habits. One habit, given up for a whole year, is real tapas.
Sankalpa: I will give up one habit that weakens me.
Day 3, Tuesday 13 October: Maa Chandraghanta (चन्द्रघण्टा)
She of the Bell-shaped Moon
Chandra is the moon and ghanta is the bell. After her marriage to Shiva, Parvati wears a half-moon shaped like a bell on her forehead. She is a bride and a warrior at the same time, ten-armed and riding a lion, ready for battle.
It is said that the sound of her bell alone drives negative forces away. She does not even need to strike. She is completely calm and completely ready, and calm has never meant weak.
What is our bell? Our voice. Every word we speak rings out either peace or poison. If you cannot say it kindly, wait until you can.
Sankalpa: I will guard my speech: no gossip and no harsh words.
Day 4, Wednesday 14 October: Maa Kushmanda (कूष्माण्डा)
Creator of the Universe
Ku means a little, ushma means warmth or energy, and anda is the cosmic egg. When there was nothing and darkness was everywhere, Maa Kushmanda smiled, and from that smile the universe was born. She is described as dwelling at the very core of the Sun and giving light even to the Sun.
The whole of creation, from one small warmth and one smile. She is called Ashtabhuja, the eight-armed one, and an ash gourd, the kushmanda, is a traditional offering to her.
Her lesson is simple and very powerful: a little warmth creates a whole world.
Sankalpa: I will carry warmth wherever I go, and greet people first.
Day 5, Thursday 15 October: Maa Skandamata (स्कन्दमाता)
Mother of Skanda
Skandamata is the mother of Skanda, Lord Kartikeya, who led the army of the gods and destroyed the demon Tarakasura. She is shown seated on a lotus with her child in her lap.
It is said that when you worship her you receive Skanda's blessing too, because the child is always in the mother's lap. Her power is not in a weapon but in nurturing. She raised the warrior who saved the gods. Every capable person you have met had someone who was patient with them.
A child, a student, an elderly parent, a junior at work. Be the lap someone else grows up in.
Sankalpa: Every week, I will give time and patience to someone who depends on me.
Day 6, Friday 16 October: Maa Katyayani (कात्यायनी)
Slayer of Mahishasura
The sage Katyayana prayed for many years that the Goddess would be born as his daughter. When the demon Mahishasura grew so powerful that the gods could not stand against him, the energies of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva came together and the Goddess appeared in Katyayana's ashram. That is why she is called Katyayani, and it is she who destroyed Mahishasura.
In the Bhagavata Purana, the young gopis of Vrindavan kept a month-long vrata to Katyayani, praying for Krishna as their husband. Even today she is worshipped for a good marriage.
She is the Goddess who rose when wrong had gone too far. You do not have to fight the whole world. But do not look away.
Sankalpa: I will speak up when I see something wrong.
Day 7, Saturday 17 October: Maa Kaalratri (कालरात्रि)
Destroyer of Darkness
Kaalratri is the darkest and fiercest of the nine forms. Her hair is unbound, fire comes from her breath, and she rides a donkey. In the battle with the demon Raktabija, every drop of his blood that touched the ground gave birth to a new demon. The fierce form of the Mother ended him by letting not a single drop fall.
And yet one of her names is Shubhankari, the one who brings only good. She is terrifying to darkness, never to her devotee.
Fear behaves like Raktabija: every time we run from it, it multiplies. A difficult conversation, a test, a decision you keep postponing. Face it once, and it stops multiplying.
Sankalpa: I will face one fear I have been avoiding.
Day 8, Sunday 18 October: Maa Mahagauri (महागौरी)
The Radiant One
After her long years of tapas, Parvati's body had darkened with dust and heat. Lord Shiva bathed her in the waters of the Ganga and she shone a brilliant white. That is Mahagauri, the great fair one, pure, calm and forgiving.
She is often described as a girl of eight, which is why Ashtami is the day of kanya pujan, when we honour young girls as the Goddess herself.
Her story carries a quiet lesson. The dust was not her fault; it came from the hard road she walked. All of us gather dust like that, from people, from years, from life. Carrying it only keeps the dust on us.
Sankalpa: I will forgive one person and let go of one grudge.
Day 9, Monday 19 October: Maa Siddhidatri (सिद्धिदात्री)
Giver of Fulfilment
Siddhidatri is the giver of siddhis, the eight perfections the scriptures describe. It is said that Lord Shiva received his siddhis through her grace, and that through her half of his body became the Goddess: Ardhanarishvara, half Shiva and half Shakti.
She is worshipped by gods, sages and every kind of being, and she comes last for a reason. After the steadiness of Shailputri, the discipline of Brahmacharini, the courage of Kaalratri and the purity of Mahagauri, fulfilment arrives. Siddhi is not where we begin. It is where the journey brings us.
A grateful person is already fulfilled.
Sankalpa: I will end each day with gratitude, and serve without expecting anything back.
Keep it until the next Navratri
Do not leave these nine promises behind on the ninth day. Write all nine on a small card and keep it at your puja place. Read it every morning when you chant your eleven Navarna mantras. Once a month, on Ashtami, check yourself honestly: which promise did I keep, and which did I break?
If you break one, do not feel guilty and do not give up. Take it again the next morning. The Mother is not counting your mistakes. She is watching whether you get up again.
People ask me for remedies all the time: gemstones, pujas, donations. They have their place. But in more than twenty years with astrology, this is what I have seen. The planets stay where they are. What changes is the person. A calmer, more disciplined, more forgiving person meets the same Saturn and the same Rahu very differently. That is the real remedy. These nine promises will make you a better human being, and a better human being lives a better life.
Ghatasthapana muhurat on 11 October is 6:19 am to 10:12 am.
Some regional calendars place Maha Ashtami and Navami differently, so please follow your family panchang.
Which of the nine sankalpas will be hardest for you to keep? Watch the full video on the Griha Lok YouTube channel, and if you would like your chart read properly, book a consultation or call +91-9991937055.
Jai Mata Di. शुभं भवतु.
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