Navratri Puja Samagri List 2026 — The Complete Checklist

Most Navratri puja samagri lists you will find online are someone else's list. They were written for a different region, a different family tradition, and often a different scale of puja altogether — which is why so many people arrive at Ghatasthapana morning holding three things they will never use and missing the one item the ritual cannot proceed without.

This is the full list, grouped the way the puja actually unfolds rather than alphabetically. Sharad Navratri 2026 runs from Sunday 11 October to Monday 19 October, with Vijayadashami on Tuesday 20 October.

Why a Navratri list is different from any other puja list

Most puja samagri lists describe a single sitting. Navratri does not work that way, and this is the most common reason households under-buy.

Your samagri splits into three distinct groups:

• Day-one items — everything the Ghatasthapana needs. Kalash, jau, soil, coconut, the red cloth. Used once, on the morning of 11 October, and never again.
• Nine-day consumables — wicks, ghee or oil, camphor, incense, dhoop, flowers. Consumed daily for nine days. Buy a single-puja quantity and you will be back in the market on day three.
• Occasion items — Ashtami or Navami havan samagri, and the Kanya Pujan offerings at the end.

Buy against the wrong group and the puja stops mid-week. Plan the akhand jyoti in particular: keeping a lamp burning continuously for nine days is a materially different quantity of ghee or oil than nine separate evening aartis. Work it out before 11 October, not on the evening of the 13th.

The complete Navratri puja samagri list

Grouped by ritual function. Items marked (in kit) ship in the Advik Rituals Navratri Puja Kit — 42 items, assembled in Kashi. Items marked (arrange fresh) you must source locally, and the reason is given for each.

1. Kalash Sthapana — the foundation

Soil cannot ship. It is heavy, it is regulated across state lines, and soil that has travelled for a week in a sealed box is not soil you want to sow into. Any clean garden or potting soil works — collect it a day ahead so it is dry and loose.

2. Tilak, powders and akshat

Akshat must be unbroken. Broken grains are not offered. This is the item most households substitute casually from the kitchen jar, and it is worth checking.

3. Threads

4. Offerings and naivedya

Flowers and fruit are the two items no honest kit will ever ship. Anyone who tells you otherwise is shipping you something that will not survive to day one.

5. Mata shringar

6. Lamps, incense and the akhand jyoti

Ghee is deliberately excluded. It is temperature-sensitive, it has a shelf life, and the quantity you need depends entirely on whether you are running an akhand jyoti. Buy it locally and buy it fresh.

7. Havan samagri — for Ashtami or Navami

8. Ritual vessels

9. Guidance

10. Kanya Pujan

The food for Kanya Pujan — puri, halwa, black chana — is cooked at home on the day. No kit supplies it and none should. Plan for it separately; see the section below on which day it falls.

The rule most households get wrong: when Ghatasthapana may be performed

This is the part of Navratri most commonly done incorrectly, and it is not a matter of preference.

Ghatasthapana should be performed in the first one-third of the day, while Pratipada tithi is running. The traditional window is within roughly sixteen ghatis of sunrise — a little over six hours.

It is specifically not performed:

• during Amavasya
• at night
• in the afternoon

If the first-third window is not available to you, the accepted alternative is Abhijit Muhurat, the short auspicious period around local midday. Chitra Nakshatra and Vaidhriti Yoga are traditionally avoided for Ghatasthapana, though they are discouraged rather than absolutely prohibited.

We are not going to print a clock time here, and you should be cautious of any page that does. Sunrise differs by more than an hour between Kolkata and Ahmedabad, so a muhurat window calculated for one city is simply wrong for another. Get the Ghatasthapana muhurat for your city from a panchang, or ask your acharya. This is the one preparation step worth making a phone call about.

Sowing the jau properly

The barley sown at Ghatasthapana grows through the nine days and is treated as a living part of the observance — which is why it is worth doing carefully rather than at the last minute.

1. Use a clay or earthen vessel if you have one.
2. Fill with clean, loose, dry soil — not packed, not wet.
3. Scatter the jau across the surface and cover with a thin layer of soil. Do not bury it deep. Barley sown too deep simply does not come up, and by day four people assume something has gone wrong with the puja rather than with the sowing.
4. Sprinkle a little water at sowing, then lightly each day. It should stay damp, never waterlogged. Overwatering rots the seed and is the more common error of the two.
5. Keep the vessel beside the kalash, out of direct sun.

The nine days — 2026 calendar

Ashtami or Navami? The regional split nobody warns you about

Kanya Pujan and the havan are performed on either Ashtami (18 October) or Navami (19 October), and which one depends on your family tradition, not on a universal rule.

Broadly: many households across North India observe Ashtami; many others, and much of the eastern tradition, observe Navami. Some families do the havan on one and Kanya Pujan on the other. None of these is incorrect.

What matters practically is that you decide before the week begins, because it changes when you need the havan materials out and when the kanyas need to be invited. If your family has always done one, do that one. If nobody remembers, ask the eldest person in the household before you ask the internet.

What you must arrange yourself — and why

Add the Kanya Pujan food, which is cooked at home.

A kit that claims to include flowers or ghee is either padding its item count or shipping you something you will throw away. We would rather tell you what to buy.

When to involve a pandit

A household can perform Ghatasthapana, the daily aarti and Kanya Pujan from a vidhi booklet without difficulty. That is what the booklet is for.

The havan is a different matter. If you are performing a full Durga havan with sankalp on Ashtami or Navami, share the item list with your acharya about a week ahead so he can tell you what to add for your family's specific practice. Traditions vary more at the havan than anywhere else in Navratri.

Key takeaways

• Buy against three groups, not one — day-one Ghatasthapana items, nine-day consumables, and occasion items for Ashtami or Navami. Under-buying the middle group is the classic mistake.
• Ghatasthapana belongs in the first third of the day while Pratipada runs — never at night, never in the afternoon, never during Amavasya. Get the timing for your own city from a panchang.
• Four things never come in a kit — soil, flowers, fruit and ghee. Anyone selling you those is padding the box.

Get the samagri sorted in one order

The Advik Rituals Navratri Puja Kit contains 42 of the items on this list — assembled in Kashi by pandits who perform these rituals themselves, with the vidhi booklet and sankalp sheet included. The four items above you buy locally and fresh, exactly as you should.

Planning the rest of the season? See the Lakshmi Puja Kit for Diwali on 8 November, and the Saraswati Puja Kit — Saraswati is invoked during Navratri in many households before her own festival in the new year.

Frequently asked questions

When is Ghatasthapana in 2026?

Sunday 11 October 2026, the first day of Sharad Navratri. It should be performed in the first one-third of the day while Pratipada tithi is running. The exact window differs by city — check a panchang for your location.

Can Ghatasthapana be done in the evening?

No. Ghatasthapana is traditionally not performed at night, in the afternoon, or during Amavasya. If the morning window is unavailable, Abhijit Muhurat around local midday is the accepted alternative.

How much jau do I need, and how do I sow it?

Around 500 g is ample for a household kalash. Scatter it on loose, dry soil and cover with a thin layer — do not bury it deep. Water lightly each day; overwatering is the most common cause of failure.

Is Kanya Pujan on Ashtami or Navami?

Both are correct, depending on family and regional tradition. Ashtami falls on 18 October 2026 and Navami on 19 October 2026. Follow your household's existing practice.

What is not included in a Navratri puja kit?

Soil for the jau, fresh flowers, fresh fruit, and ghee or oil for the lamps — plus the Kanya Pujan food, which is cooked at home. These are excluded for reasons of weight, freshness and shelf life, not to reduce the item count.

Do I need a pandit for Navratri puja?

A household can perform Ghatasthapana, daily aarti and Kanya Pujan from a vidhi booklet. For a full Durga havan with sankalp on Ashtami or Navami, share the item list with your acharya about a week in advance.

When is Dussehra in 2026?

Vijayadashami falls on Tuesday 20 October 2026, the day after Maha Navami.

Muhurat and tithi timings vary by city. Always confirm against a panchang for your location, or ask your family acharya. This article describes traditional religious observance and makes no claim about outcomes.