Navratri Day 6 2026: Maa Katyayani Puja Vidhi, Mantra for Early Marriage, Green Colour, Honey Bhog & Exalted Jupiter

Shashthi is the day the eastern Durga Puja begins. It is also Saraswati Avahan, observed especially in Kerala and parts of South India, when the goddess of learning is invoked on Mula nakshatra - which begins on the morning of Day 6 this year.

Katyayani is named after the sage Katyayana, who performed long austerities hoping the Goddess would be born as his daughter. When the buffalo demon Mahishasura could not be defeated by any god, the combined radiance of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva took form in Katyayana's hermitage, and the sage was the first to worship her. She went on to slay Mahishasura - the victory Vijayadashami celebrates.

She is radiant as gold, has four arms holding a sword and a lotus, with the other two in the gestures of fearlessness and blessing, and rides a lion. In the Bhagavata Purana the young gopis of Vraja kept a month-long vow to Katyayani on the banks of the Yamuna, praying for Krishna as their husband. That passage is the source of her best-known mantra and of her standing as the goddess of marriage.

Use the mool mantra for the day's puja, and add the Bhagavata marriage mantra below only if marriage is the purpose of your sankalpa.

Jupiter in Jyotish is wisdom, dharma, teachers, children and good fortune, and in a woman's chart it is the karaka of the husband. A weak or afflicted Jupiter is one of the most common astrological reasons for delayed marriage, along with afflictions to the 7th house and Venus.

In 2026 Jupiter transits Cancer, the sign of its exaltation, through Ashlesha nakshatra. An exalted Jupiter in transit is a period when Jupiter's significations - marriage, children, teachers, blessings - become easier to access. On Day 6, the Moon also moves into Sagittarius, Jupiter's own sign, at 6:47 AM IST, entering Mula nakshatra. So on the day of Katyayani, the Moon sits in Jupiter's sign while Jupiter itself is exalted. That is the astrological case for treating this Day 6 as the year's best window for the marriage mantra.

Note also that the Moon crosses from Scorpio into Sagittarius at exactly the junction of Jyeshtha and Mula - a gandanta point, traditionally treated as sensitive. Avoid starting a major new undertaking in the hour around 6:47 AM IST; the puja itself is unaffected.

This is the mantra the gopis chanted, from the Bhagavata Purana (10.22.4). It is traditionally recited by unmarried women seeking a good husband, but the tradition also allows it to be chanted by parents on behalf of a daughter, and by men with the word 'patim' (husband) replaced by 'patnim' (wife).

Chant it 108 times daily from Day 6 through Navami, and ideally continue for forty days. Offer a turmeric-coloured flower or a few strands of turmeric with each sitting.

Honey is her offering. Use raw honey in a small silver or brass bowl if you have one.

The Katyayani vrat has its own scriptural model. In the Bhagavata Purana (10.22) the unmarried gopis of Vraja kept it for the whole month of Margashirsha: they bathed in the Yamuna at dawn, worshipped an image of the Goddess and ate only plain, unspiced khichri. Navratri Day 6 is the traditional day to begin a shorter version, and the same principles hold - a clear sankalpa, simple food and an unbroken daily count.

Make the sankalpa specific. State your name, your gotra if you know it, the purpose - a suitable marriage, or the removal of a named obstacle - and the number of days you will keep it. Nine days and forty days are the usual lengths. A parent keeping it for a daughter or son names the child in the sankalpa.

Day 6 is a Friday, Venus's day, and the colour is green - new growth, fertility and harmony, apt for a goddess of marriage.

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.

Shashthi lasts over twenty-six hours in 2026. In Kolkata and Singapore it is present at sunrise on both October 16 and 17. In Bengal, Bodhon, Amantran and Adhivas - when the Goddess is awakened and invited, and pandals open - are held on the evening of Friday, October 16, the only evening on which Shashthi runs. In Australia and New Zealand Shashthi begins after sunrise on the 16th, so Day 6 is October 17 there.

Day 6 is the date on which Shashthi is present at your local sunrise, and Katyayani puja is best completed while Shashthi is still running. In India and the Gulf that leaves the whole of Friday, October 16 and the night that follows; in the UK Shashthi runs to 1:25 AM on Saturday. North America has a shorter Friday: Shashthi ends at 8:25 PM in New York and Toronto, 7:25 PM in Chicago and Houston, and 5:25 PM on the West Coast and in Vancouver, so an after-work puja there should start early enough to finish before then.

In Australia and New Zealand, Day 6 is Saturday, October 17, and Shashthi ends that same morning: 11:25 AM in Sydney and Melbourne, 1:25 PM in Auckland and 8:25 AM in Perth, where it is a sunrise puja. In Singapore Shashthi is present at both sunrises and ends at 8:25 AM on October 17. Once begun, the marriage mantra continues at your fixed daily time on the days that follow.

The Durga Puja guide in this series gives Australia's Shashthi as Friday, October 16. Both dates are correct: Bengal's Bodhon is an evening rite, held on the evening Shashthi runs, while Katyayani puja follows the tithi at sunrise.