The second day of Navratri is given to Brahmacharini, the form of the Goddess who lives in discipline. The word brahmacharini means a woman who walks in Brahman, that is, one who has taken up a life of study, restraint and spiritual effort. She is the same Parvati who was born as the daughter of the mountain on the first day, now grown and set on one purpose.
The page belongs to the Navadurga guide. Where it speaks of customs, they are the ones usually followed in north and west India, and regions differ.
The day of Navratri
Brahmacharini is worshipped on Dwitiya, the second tithi of the bright half. In 2026 Dwitiya is in force at sunrise on Monday 12 October 2026 in New Delhi and Pune, and it ends at 10:13 pm that night. In Chaitra Navratri 2027 the second day is Thursday 8 April 2027. The festival dates for your own city are on the Sharad Navratri page and the Chaitra Navratri page, and the Navratri day by day page lays out the nine days with their tithis. The day before is Shailaputri and the day after is Chandraghanta.
Form and iconography
Brahmacharini is shown as a slender young woman in plain white or saffron cloth, walking barefoot. Unlike most forms of Durga she carries no weapon and has no animal to ride. In her right hand she holds a japa mala, the rosary of counting prayers, and in her left a kamandalu, the small water pot of an ascetic. She has two arms. Her face is serene, and the whole figure speaks of effort kept up quietly over a long time.
Because she is the Goddess in her most inward moment, devotees do not picture her fighting anything. The struggle in her story is with herself and with time.
The story as tradition tells it
Parvati, grown up, knew that she wanted Shiva for her husband. Shiva, however, had withdrawn into meditation after the loss of Sati and showed no interest in the world. The sage Narada advised Parvati that the only way to win such a husband was tapasya, austerity, and she left her father’s palace to practise it.
The tradition describes the penance in stages. For a thousand years she lived on fruit and flowers. For another hundred she lived on leaves of greens that she found on the ground. Then she ate nothing, not even the dry leaves that fell from the trees, and for this she is also called Aparna, the one without leaves. Her body grew thin, and through the heat, the rain and the cold she kept her mind on Shiva. The gods and sages, seeing her resolve, praised her, and a voice from the sky told her that her wish would be fulfilled. The long poem of Kalidasa, the Kumarasambhava, gives a famous account of this penance, and later retellings in the Puranas and in regional languages repeat it with their own details.
Not every telling uses the same numbers or the same order of foods, and the figures such as a thousand years are the language of devotion, not a count. What stays the same is the image: a young woman choosing a hard road for a clear purpose, and the road ending well.
The name and the sacral centre
Some modern devotional writing links each of the nine forms to an energy centre, and Brahmacharini is given the sacral centre, svadhisthana. The thought is that the second day is for self-control: letting the mind settle and the appetites quieten. That scheme comes from later yoga-influenced devotion and not from the Devi Mahatmya, so treat it as a way of reading the day.
The dhyana shloka
The short meditation verses for the nine forms are printed in many modern booklets, but we have not matched them to an old printed edition that we can check, so we do not quote one here. They describe what is set out above: a woman holding a rosary and a water pot, calm and barefoot. If your family recites a particular verse, use it as it is. For the Goddess in her warrior forms, the older text is the Devi Mahatmya.
Offerings and customs
The offering usually given to Brahmacharini is sugar (in many homes, sugar or sweets made only with sugar, shared with the family). The tradition links it to long life and to the strength to carry on with a difficult task. Some families give sugar to the elders of the house on this day.
White cloth and white or light-coloured flowers are common, and jasmine is often named. In Maharashtra the colours of the nine days follow the weekday, not the goddess, and are described clearly as a regional custom on the day by day page.
Fasting on this day is optional. Anyone with a health condition, or who is pregnant, nursing or on medicine, should follow a doctor’s advice about the length and type of fast.
A thought for the day
Brahmacharini is an easy form to bring into an ordinary day because her worship is simply steady practice. Some people choose a small daily discipline for the nine days, such as reading a page of a devotional text, sitting in silence for ten minutes, or leaving a habit alone. The Durga Chalisa and the daily puja guide are good starting points.
Frequently asked questions
↳ Which day of Navratri is Brahmacharini worshipped?
Brahmacharini is worshipped on the second day, Dwitiya. In 2026 that is Monday 12 October 2026 in New Delhi and Pune.
↳ Why is she called Brahmacharini?
The name means a woman who follows a life of study and restraint. It names Parvati in the years in which she practised austerities to win Shiva as her husband.
↳ What does Brahmacharini hold in her hands?
She holds a rosary (japa mala) in her right hand and a water pot (kamandalu) in her left. She carries no weapon and has no animal to ride.
↳ What is offered to her?
Sugar is the commonly given offering, and it is linked in tradition to long life. This is a custom and families follow their own habit.
↳ Why is she also called Aparna?
In the story of her penance she gave up even the fallen leaves of the trees as food, so she is called Aparna, the one without leaves.