Shailaputri: First Day of Navratri, Form, Story and Offering

The first day of Navratri belongs to Shailaputri. The name joins shaila, a mountain, and putri, a daughter: she is the daughter of the Himalaya. Every Navratri begins with her, and it begins at home with the installing of the pot at Ghatasthapana, so for many families the first day is also the quietest and most focused of the nine.

This page is part of the Navadurga guide, which takes the nine forms one by one. The sequence is the one widely followed in north and west India. It is a tradition of worship, and some regions order the days differently.

The day of Navratri

Shailaputri is worshipped on Pratipada, the first tithi of the bright half of the month. In 2026 the first day of Sharad Navratri is Sunday 11 October 2026 in New Delhi and Pune, with Pratipada at sunrise and running until 9:31 pm that evening. The Ghatasthapana window that morning in New Delhi is only about half an hour after sunrise, so families who want to install the pot in the traditional first part of the day should check the window for their own city on the Sharad Navratri page. Chaitra Navratri 2027 opens with her on Wednesday 7 April 2027, the same day as Ugadi and Gudi Padwa; see the Chaitra Navratri page. Every day of both festivals is set out on the Navratri day by day page.

Form and iconography

Shailaputri is shown as a calm, young woman seated on a white bull, which is why she is also called Vrisharudha, the one who rides the bull. The bull is Nandi’s kind, the animal of her husband Shiva. In her right hand she holds a trident, the weapon she shares with Shiva, and in her left a lotus. A crescent moon rests on her forehead. Her colouring is gentle and her expression is that of someone who is simply at home.

Two other names are used for her in devotion. Parvati is the plain name for the daughter of the mountain, and Hemavati (“of the snowy one”) appears in older texts. The Kena Upanishad speaks of a goddess Uma Haimavati, “Uma, the daughter of the Himalaya”, who appears to the gods and teaches them that Brahman stands behind all their power. Devotees who know that passage see in Shailaputri the same figure: the Goddess as wisdom as well as the Goddess as mother.

The story as tradition tells it

In an earlier life she was Sati, the daughter of the sage-king Daksha, and the wife of Shiva. Daksha held a great sacrifice and did not invite his son-in-law. Sati went anyway, heard Shiva spoken of with contempt, and, unable to bear the insult, gave up her body. The story is told in the Puranas, and the versions differ in detail: in some she steps into the sacrificial fire, in others she burns her body by yogic fire.

She was reborn as the daughter of Himavat, the king of the mountains, and his wife Mena. The child grew up with no memory of her earlier life but with a pull she could not explain towards the ascetic of Mount Kailasa. The next part of the story, her austerities to win Shiva, belongs to the second day: see Brahmacharini.

Read as a story about the Goddess, it says that she is not lost in death and returns. Read as a story about a person, it says that love and a sense of purpose can survive a heavy grief. Neither reading is required; both are common among devotees.

The root centre

In the yoga-influenced reading of Navratri that has become popular in recent generations, each of the nine forms is linked to one of the energy centres, the chakras, and Shailaputri is linked to the root centre, muladhara, at the base of the spine. The idea is that the first day is for steadiness, grounding and a firm start, as a mountain is firm. That mapping is a later devotional layer on top of the older forms and is not found in the Devi Mahatmya. We give it as a way of thinking, not as established doctrine.

The dhyana shloka

A dhyana shloka is a short verse that describes the deity’s form for meditation. The verses commonly recited for the nine forms today are printed in modern devotional booklets, and we have not been able to match them to an old printed source that we can check. We therefore do not quote them here. What we can say is that they describe the form given above: the bull, the trident, the lotus and the crescent moon. If your family has a verse that it recites, keep to it. The Devi Kavacha, a short text printed with the Durga Saptashati, names all nine forms in order in a single verse; the Saptashati itself is in the Devi Mahatmya section.

Offerings and customs

The offering most often given to Shailaputri is pure ghee, either as the fuel of the lamp that is kept burning for the nine days (the akhand jyot) or added to a dish as naivedya. Some people also give ghee to the elders of the family. These customs are regional and are meant to bless health: ghee stands for nourishment and for a well-fed, well-kept home.

White is associated with her in several places: white flowers such as jasmine, and in some homes a white cloth for the day. In Maharashtra the popular colour scheme for the nine days follows the weekday and not the goddess, so the colour of the first day changes from year to year. The Navratri day by day page shows it, clearly labelled as a regional custom.

At the start of the nine days most families do the following in some form: clean the place of worship, sow barley in a shallow dish of earth, place the pot with a coconut, light the lamp, and say a short prayer. The detail is in the Navratri Ghatasthapana guide.

Reading and singing for the day

The first day is a good day to begin the recitation you plan for the nine nights. People choose from the Durga Chalisa, the Jai Ambe Gauri aarti and the Mahishasura Mardini Stotram. None of them is required; a minute of quiet with the lamp is also a full observance. If you fast, keep to a way that your doctor and family are comfortable with, and see the note on fasting in the daily puja guide.

Frequently asked questions