Navratri Day 9 2026: Maa Siddhidatri Puja, Maha Navami Havan, Navratri Parana Time & Dussehra Vijay Muhurat - Why Australia Celebrates Dussehra on October 21

Navami follows a doubled Saptami in India, so Ashtami and the start of Navami share Monday, October 19. Abroad the sequence shifts with each country's sunrise.

Navratri 2026 ends with Maha Navami on Monday, October 19, the ninth and last night, and the festival closes the next day with Vijayadashami on Tuesday, October 20. The nine nights run from Ghatasthapana on Sunday, October 11 to the night of October 19. Saptami falls on two days in India this year, so Durga Ashtami and Maha Navami share Monday, October 19, and the last two forms of the Goddess are worshipped on the same date.

In practice Navratri ends in three steps. Navami tithi ends at 12:51 PM IST on October 20, the Navratri fast is broken after that, and the Kalash and the sprouted barley are taken down on Dashami that same afternoon in India. In Australia and New Zealand, where Dashami begins only on the evening of October 20, the closing rites and Dussehra move to Wednesday, October 21.

Navami completes the nine nights. It is the day of the concluding havan, of Kanya Pujan for families who keep it on Navami, of Ayudha Puja in South India, and of breaking the Navratri fast.

Siddhidatri means the giver of siddhis - perfections or spiritual powers. Before creation, Shiva worshipped the primordial Goddess as Siddhidatri and received from her the eight siddhis; it is said that half of his body became hers, which is how he came to be Ardhanarishvara, half male and half female. She is therefore the completion of the nine-night journey: the Goddess who gives not a particular boon but the capacity behind all boons.

She is seated on a lotus and also rides a lion. Her four hands hold a discus, a conch, a mace and a lotus. Gods, siddhas, gandharvas, yakshas and even asuras worship her. The eight siddhis traditionally listed are Anima (becoming minute), Mahima (becoming vast), Garima (becoming heavy), Laghima (becoming weightless), Prapti (reaching anything), Prakamya (fulfilling any wish), Ishitva (lordship) and Vashitva (control).

Ketu, the south lunar node, is the graha of detachment, spiritual insight, past-life skill, sudden endings and moksha. Where Rahu reaches outward and wants more, Ketu lets go. A difficult Ketu shows as confusion about purpose, unexplained losses, isolation or a sense of disconnection. A well-placed Ketu gives intuition, depth and the kind of mastery that comes from long practice. Siddhidatri, the goddess of completion, governs it.

Ketu has been in Leo since May 2025, opposite Rahu in Aquarius, and on December 5, 2026 the axis shifts to Cancer and Capricorn. This is the last Navami of Ketu's Leo cycle. For Leo Moon signs and ascendants, for anyone running a Ketu Mahadasha or Antardasha, and for those whose Ketu sits in the 1st, 4th, 7th or 10th house, the Navami havan this year doubles as the most fitting Ketu remedy of the cycle.

There is one more astrological detail worth knowing. On Vijayadashami, October 20, the Moon is in Shravana nakshatra in India until 6:01 PM IST. Dashami joined with Shravana is classically singled out as the most auspicious form of Vijayadashami, and in 2026 the combination holds through the Vijay Muhurat across India.

The Navratri havan is the concluding fire offering, performed on Navami while the tithi runs; some families perform it on Ashtami instead. In India Navami is available from 10:52 AM IST on October 19 until 12:51 PM IST on October 20, so either the afternoon of the 19th or the morning of the 20th is correct.

Parana, the breaking of the Navratri fast, is done after Navami tithi ends, on Dashami. In India that means after 12:51 PM IST on October 20. Families whose custom is to break the fast on Navami after the havan and Kanya Pujan may do so; the tradition accepts both.

The Navami havan is the concluding fire offering of Navratri, and the household form needs about an hour. Perform it after the Siddhidatri puja and before Kanya Pujan, while Navami tithi is running in your city. Sit facing east or north, keep the havan kund on a raised base, and let the senior member of the family make the sankalpa naming the date, the place and the purpose.

Vijayadashami is kept on the day Dashami prevails in the afternoon, in the Aparahna period that contains the Vijay Muhurat. Dashami begins at 12:51 PM IST on October 20. In India, the Gulf and the Americas it covers that afternoon. In Australia and New Zealand it begins only on the evening of the 20th, so Dussehra moves to Wednesday, October 21.

The tradition records two valid views on Navratri parana. The first allows the fast to be broken on Navami itself, once the havan and Kanya Pujan are complete. The stricter view holds that parana is done only after Navami tithi has ended and Dashami has begun - in India, after 12:51 PM IST on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. Follow your family's custom; what matters is that the order of the closing rites is kept.

Where Navami ends in the middle of the night, as it does across North America this year, parana is done after sunrise the next morning, not at the moment the tithi changes.

Perform the Siddhidatri puja once Navami has begun, then the havan, then Kanya Pujan if your family keeps it on Navami.

Chant the Siddhidatri mantras 108 times on Maha Navami, facing east or north, on a rudraksha or sphatik mala, after lighting the ghee lamp and before the havan.

The colour for Day 9 is peacock green, worn on Monday, October 19 under the civil-date calendar. It is the colour of fulfilment and abundance - fitting for the goddess who completes the nine nights.

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.