Navratri Day 4 2026: Maa Kushmanda Puja Vidhi, Mantra, Royal Blue Colour, Malpua Bhog & Sun Remedies

Chaturthi is a long tithi this year - more than twenty-five hours - and in India it runs past midnight into October 15. The day is also kept as Kapardisha Chaturthi in some calendars.

The name joins ku (a little), ushma (warmth or energy) and anda (the cosmic egg): she is the one who produced the universe from a little warmth. Before creation there was only darkness; her smile brought forth the brahmanda, the cosmic egg, and with it light. She is said to dwell at the core of the Sun itself, which is why she is the only one of the nine forms associated with living inside a celestial body.

She has eight arms, which gives her the name Ashtabhuja Devi, and holds a kamandalu, bow, arrow, lotus, a pot of nectar, discus, mace and a japa mala. She rides a lion. The kushmanda, or ash gourd, is her preferred offering, and in some traditions it is offered in place of an animal sacrifice.

The Sun in Jyotish is the soul and the self: vitality, confidence, the father, recognition, leadership and relationships with authority and government. A weak Sun shows as low self-belief, being overlooked at work, poor stamina, and strained relations with the father or a boss. An afflicted Sun can make a person proud or domineering instead.

On Day 4 the Moon is debilitated in Scorpio in Anuradha nakshatra, a sky that tends to feel heavy and inward. In the same week the Sun is completing its passage through Virgo before it enters Libra - its own sign of debilitation - on October 17. Both lights are under strain across the middle of Navratri 2026, which is unusual and worth paying attention to. Kushmanda, the goddess of the Sun's core, is the traditional remedy for exactly that combination: dim confidence and a heavy mind.

Her worship is especially recommended for Leo Moon signs and ascendants, for people running a Sun Mahadasha or Antardasha, for those in government service or seeking promotion, and for anyone whose relationship with their father needs healing.

Because she dwells in the Sun, begin Day 4 by offering arghya to the rising Sun before the indoor puja.

Kushmanda shares her name with the ash gourd, the white pumpkin known as kushmanda or petha, and it is the offering most closely tied to her. A whole ash gourd placed before the Goddess is the traditional form; petha, the translucent sweet made from it, is the easiest substitute and is usually available in Indian grocery stores abroad.

Malpua is the classic Day 4 bhog. Traditional malpua is made with flour, so if you keep a strict grain-free vrat, offer it and share it as prasad, and keep to petha and fruit yourself. Some households also offer curd or halwa.

Her worship is associated with health, longevity and strength - the gifts of the Sun.

Knowing what each line says turns the 108 repetitions into a meditation rather than a count. The mool mantra is a simple salutation, the stuti salutes the Goddess who lives in every being as Kushmanda, and the Surasampurna verse, recited as her prarthana or dhyana, pictures her holding two kalashas in her lotus hands.

A second dhyana verse describes her form directly: eight-armed, riding a lion, crowned with the crescent moon. Recite whichever your family or temple follows - both are addressed to the same Devi.

The Kushmanda Stotra can be read after the mool mantra on Day 4. Its verses ask her to remove misfortune and poverty and to grant victory and prosperity.

Navratri 2026 opens on a Sunday, so Wednesday's colour, royal blue, falls on Day 4 - the depth of the sky into which Kushmanda brought light, and a colour associated with calm strength.

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.

Hindu festival days follow the tithi present at local sunrise. Chaturthi in 2026 lasts more than twenty-five hours, and depending on where your sunrise falls inside it, it can touch one sunrise or two. In Sydney and Melbourne, Chaturthi begins at 4:58 AM AEDT on October 14 and is still running at sunrise on October 15, so both days carry it. New Zealand had a doubled Tritiya the day before, so its Chaturthi day moves to October 15.

In practice, if your local temple publishes its own calendar, follow it. If you observe at home, worship Kushmanda on the first day Chaturthi is present at your sunrise, and continue the day's mantra if the tithi carries into the next. Continental Europe also keeps Day 4 on Wednesday, October 14.