Navratri Day 3 2026 (October 13): Maa Chandraghanta Puja Vidhi, Mantra with Meaning, Red Colour, Kheer Bhog and Retrograde Venus Remedy

Tritiya is the third lunar day of the bright fortnight. In some North Indian calendars the day is also kept as Sindoor Tritiya, when married women offer sindoor to the Goddess and apply it themselves for the long life of their husbands.

Chandraghanta takes her name from the crescent moon (chandra) shaped like a temple bell (ghanta) on her forehead. In the story most often told, she is the form Parvati took on her wedding day. When Shiva arrived at Himavan's palace with his procession of ghosts, ascetics and wild beings, her family was terrified; Parvati assumed this fierce, radiant form to protect them and to meet Shiva as an equal.

She is golden in complexion, rides a tiger, and has ten arms holding a trident, mace, sword, kamandalu, lotus, bow, arrow and japa mala, with the remaining two hands in the gestures of blessing and fearlessness. The sound of her bell is said to drive away negative forces and disturbing spirits. She is therefore both bride and warrior - grace that does not need to be fragile, beauty that can protect itself.

Venus is the karaka of marriage, romantic love, luxury, beauty, vehicles, the arts and pleasure. A strong Venus brings grace and ease in relationships. A weak or afflicted Venus shows as repeated disappointment in love, delayed marriage, overindulgence or a life that has comfort but no joy in it.

Venus turned retrograde on October 3, 2026, and for all of Navratri it sits in Libra, its own sign, moving back through Swati nakshatra. A retrograde planet in its own sign is strong but turned inward: it reviews rather than initiates. This is the classic period when former partners reappear, old attachments resurface, and people reconsider commitments they thought were settled. It is a poor time to begin something new in love purely on impulse and an excellent time to understand what you actually want from it.

Chandraghanta's worship is especially recommended for Taurus and Libra Moon signs and ascendants, for those running a Venus Mahadasha or Antardasha, for anyone whose marriage is delayed, and for couples going through a difficult phase. Married women traditionally worship her for marital harmony.

The bell is central to her worship. Ring a small bell steadily during the aarti; it is the one day of the nine when the sound itself is the offering.

Most of what Day 3 needs is already on the altar from Ghatasthapana. The items specific to Chandraghanta are the bell, red offerings for Sindoor Tritiya and a milk-based bhog.

If you are keeping the Navratri fast, ordinary grains are avoided, so make the kheer with samak (barnyard millet, sold as vrat rice) or with makhana instead of rice. Use milk and sugar or jaggery as usual. The offering stays a milk kheer and stays within the vrat.

Her mantras are associated with fearlessness and protection from unseen disturbances, and with peace in the home.

Chanting with the meaning in mind is the difference between recitation and japa. These are plain-English renderings of the three verses above, not literal word-for-word translations.

Day 3 is a Tuesday, Mars's day, so the colour is red - courage, passion and the auspicious red of a bride's attire, fitting for a goddess worshipped as both warrior and bride.

The full 2026 sequence for India: Day 1 Shailaputri (Oct 11), Day 2 Brahmacharini (Oct 12), Day 3 Chandraghanta (Oct 13), Day 4 Kushmanda (Oct 14), Day 5 Skandamata (Oct 15), Day 6 Katyayani (Oct 16), Day 7 Kalaratri (Saptami, Oct 17 and 18), Day 8 Mahagauri (Durga Ashtami, Oct 19), Day 9 Siddhidatri (Maha Navami, Oct 19, with Navami tithi running to 12:51 PM IST on Oct 20), and Vijayadashami on Tuesday, October 20.

Most of the world keeps Day 3 on October 13. The exception is New Zealand: Tritiya begins at 5:44 AM NZDT on October 13 and is still running at sunrise on the 14th, so in Auckland the tithi touches two sunrises and Chandraghanta can be worshipped on both days. Day 4 in New Zealand then moves to October 15.

The festival day follows the tithi at local sunrise, so Day 3 is Tuesday, October 13 across North America. The puja timing still matters, because Tritiya ends early in the day there. On the US East Coast and in Toronto it ends at 1:58 PM, in Chicago and Houston at 12:58 PM, and in California and Vancouver at 10:58 AM. Anything done on Tuesday evening in North America falls in Chaturthi, which is Maa Kushmanda's tithi.

The practical rule for North American families is to do the main Chandraghanta puja, the 108 japa and the bell aarti in the morning, between sunrise and the end of Tritiya. If work makes that impossible, do at least the mantra and the lamp before the cutoff and keep the evening aarti as a family gathering.

In the UK Tritiya lasts until 6:58 PM, so the whole working day and the early evening are available. In India it runs until 11:28 PM and in Dubai until 9:58 PM. In Singapore, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne it covers all of Tuesday's daylight. In Auckland Tritiya is present at sunrise on both October 13 and 14, but on the 14th it lasts only twenty minutes after sunrise, from 6:38 AM to 6:58 AM. That makes October 13 the main day for New Zealand.