Navratri 2024: What are the 9 Colors of Navratri | The Nine Colours of Navratri

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Navratri is an auspicious Hindu festival that is celebrated to worship the nine divine form of Goddess Durga. It is one of the biggest festivals celebrated in almost every parts of India. Durga Puja especially in Kolkata, West bengal is a well known festival all over the world. Shardiya Navratri is the most popular and significant Navratri of all Navratris. That’s why Shardiya Navratri is also known as Maha Navratri. The name Shardiya Navratri has been taken from Sharad Ritu.

Since there are nine different avatars of Goddess Durga, each day is dedicated to one of her forms or avatar. Also, there is a distinct food and color significance attached to each day of Navratri.

In certain regions of India especially Maharashtra, Gujarat and few other states of North India people wear different colors specific to each Navratri day.

Since the festival is celebrated for nine days there are nine colors of Navratri with each color holding its relevance for a particular day of Navratri.

Navratri festival this year will be observed for nine days starting from 03rd October 2024 until 11th October 2024 and will be followed by Dussehra next day 12th October 2024. Though celebrating Navratri by wearing a different color each day is important from religious perspective, it is also becoming common in different parts of the world where Navratri is celebrated.

During the nine-days of Navratri, people in different parts of India tend to stock up wide variety of foods and sweets to be consumed as Navratri fast food.

Many people prefer to prepare Navratri fast food or Navratri Vrat food at home since it is very easy to cook.

People often prepare these dishes from food items such as Tapioca pearls (Sabudana), Amaranth grain flour (Rajgira Aata), Water Caltrop flour (Singhada Aata) and Buckwheat flour (Kuttu Atta).

For Navratri recipes idea check our article on Navratri 2024: 10 Easy Navratri Recipes

So as we understand that food and colors have a special place in this festival, let us try to understand what these colors of Navratri are and what is the color for each day of Shardiya Navratri this year 2024.

Colors of Navratri

Navratri Day 1 (3rd October 2024 – Thursday)

Navratri starts with a ritual of Ghatasthapana which is performed to invoke the energy of goddess Durga. On this day, devotee worships Shailputri who is an incarnation of goddess Parvati. The name Shailputri translates to – “Daughter of Mountain” which represents nature.

The color of this Navratri day is Yellow.

Navratri Day 2 (4th October 2024 – Friday)

Second Day of Navratri is celebrated by worshiping Brahmacharini who represents unmarried form of goddess Parvati. She is known to undertook great penance to get Lord Shiva as her husband.

The color of this day is Green

Navratri Day 3 (5th October 2024 – Saturday)

The avatar – Chandraghanta of the goddess is workshipped on the third day of Navratri. She represents married form of goddess Parvati and her name is derived from the half-moon on her forehead.

The color of this day is Grey

Navratri Day 4 (6th October 2024 – Sunday)

The fourth day of Navratri is also called as Chaturthi (literal meaning fourth day in Sanskrit). The avatar – Kushmanada is believed to be the creator of the world. Based on her name the goddess is referred to as Goddess of the cosmic egg where “Ku” means “little”, “Ushma” means “Energy” and “Anda” means “Cosmic egg”.

The color of this day is Orange.

Navratri Day 5 (7th October 2024 – Monday)

Skandamata is the fifth form of Durga which is made of two Sanskrit words – Skanda and Mata where the former means the war God – Kartikeya or Murugan and latter means Mother.

The color of this day is White.

Navratri Day 6 (8th October 2024 – Tuesday)

The sixth form of goddess Durga is called as Katyayani. She is associated with the fierce form of Shakti or Durga.

The color of this day is Red.

Navratri Day 7 (9th October 2024 – Wednesday)

Day 7 also called as Saptami is the day of Kalaratri, the seventh form of Durga. She is considered as one of the many destructive forms of the Mother goddess or Navadurga. She is also referred to as Kali, BhadraKali, Chandi and Chamunda.

The color of this day is Royal Blue.

Navratri Day 8 (10th October 2024 – Thursday)

Mahagauri is the eighth avatar of goddess Durga and is workshiped on Ashtami i.e. the eight day. Mahagauri means extremely white which refers to her color and beauty.

The color of this day is Pink.

Navratri Day 9 (11th October 2024 – Friday)

The ninth form of Navadurga is Siddhidatri which means giver of Supernatural and meditative powers (Siddhi – Supernatural and Meditative power, Datri – Giver).

The color of this day is Purple.

The nine days of Navratri are considered to be pure and religious according to Hindu religion.

Hence, during these days people prefer to eat Satvik Bhojan or the pure food. In many parts of the world and some states in India such as Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat people also love to play Dandiya and Garba which is a form of dance.

In other states such as Uttarakhand, Navratri is characterized by Ramleela plays followed by Dussehra on the 10th day which is the day to celebrate victory of good over evil. This year Dusshera will be held on 12th October 2024 (Saturday).

Ramleela basically means Acts of lord Ram or basically how the god wants to play as a human being. Many people consider Ramleela to be a part of Hindu culture.

Ramleela is basically an enactment or play which follows through all major life events of Lord Ram along with the deadly battle with evil Ravana.

On 10th day of Ramleela the actors who enact Lord Ram and allies kill Ravana which marks the closure of Dussehra as the evil burns and all the people cheer in the name of god.

Many times different Navratri days including Dussehra overlap with each other. This is because the nine days of Navratri does not follow the english calendar. Based on how days (Tithi) are calculated as per Hindu calendar and astronomy, the nine days of Navratri vary and are sometimes clubbed into one day.

Navratri is a great festival which includes fasting through out the day and closing it with delicious food and traditional dances thereby representing the beautiful colors of Navratri and of India.