Jagaddhatri Puja

The day

• Jagaddhatri, she who holds the world, is worshipped on the bright Navami of Kartika, a month after Durga Puja, above all in Bengal (practice)
• The same tithi is Akshaya Navami, which the digests count among the days on which a yuga began.

What to do today

• Keep or join the puja, offer flowers at the anjali, and share the bhog (practice)
• Note: No text read for this page gives an hour for this puja, so this page shows no window.

The image

• Jagaddhatri is shown with four arms, the colour of the morning sun, seated on a lion that stands over an elephant (practice)
• She holds the conch, the discus, the bow and the arrow (practice)

Order of the puja

• In many homes and pandals the Saptami, Ashtami and Navami pujas are all performed on the Navami itself (practice)
• At Chandannagar and in some other places the worship runs over several days and ends with immersion (practice)

Offerings

• Flowers and bel leaves at the anjali, lamps, incense, fruit, sweets and cooked bhog (practice)
• A priest leads the puja by the Bengal paddhati; the family joins at the anjali and the arati (practice)

The fast

• Many keep a fast until they have offered the anjali (practice)
• Those who cannot fast take fruit and milk (practice)

The bhog

• Khichuri, fried vegetables, payesh and sweets are offered and then shared as prasad (practice)

The story in the Kena Upanishad

• After a victory the devas took the glory for themselves, and Brahman appeared before them as a mysterious being, a yaksha.
• Agni could not burn the blade of grass set before him, nor could Vayu blow it away; when Indra came near, the being vanished.
• In that same space stood Uma Haimavati, radiant, and she told Indra that the being was Brahman and the victory Brahman's.

How Bengal reads it

• The Bengal tradition sees Jagaddhatri as this Uma, the power that humbles pride and holds the world in being (practice)
• The elephant beneath her lion is read as pride brought low (practice)
• Note: The Upanishad itself does not name Jagaddhatri or prescribe her puja.

The tithi

• Navami of the bright fortnight of Kartika.
• The Dharmasindhu counts this Navami a yugadi and takes the Navami present in the forenoon; the Vrataraja keeps it as Akshayya Navami, with the forenoon Navami for bath, gifts and fasting.
• Note: These rules are written for the yugadi and Akshaya Navami rites; no text read for this page gives a rule for Jagaddhatri Puja itself.

On this page

• The date is the bright Navami of Kartika as marked for your city; no hour is shown.

Krishnanagar

• Krishnanagar in Nadia is famed for its Jagaddhatri worship; local tradition credits its royal house with spreading it (practice)

Chandannagar

• Chandannagar keeps it as its great festival, with towering images, lights and an immersion procession (practice)

Elsewhere

• Bengali homes and communities in many cities keep the puja (practice)
• Some families keep it in a year when Durga Puja could not be held (practice)

Shastra

• Kena Upanishad: the story of Uma Haimavati.
• Dharmasindhu and Vrataraja: the bright Navami of Kartika as a yugadi and as Akshaya Navami.

Parampara

• The name Jagaddhatri for Uma, her image, the order of the puja and its regional forms come from the Bengal tradition and its paddhati.
• Note: The Tantra texts that the paddhati cites were not opened for this page.