During Navratri, many households and temples perform Kanya Pujan, a ritual honouring young girls as living representations of the goddess. Understanding this practice adds context to a widely observed tradition connected to the festival's broader goddess-centred worship.
What Is Kanya Pujan?
Kanya Pujan is a ritual performed during Navratri, typically on the eighth or ninth day, in which young girls, usually below puberty, are invited into the home or temple and worshipped as living representations of the goddess. Many pilgrims specifically arrange Kanya Pujan during their Yatra to mark a personal intention, vow, or family occasion.
How Kanya Pujan Is Performed
The ritual typically involves washing the girls' feet, applying tilak, offering food such as puri and halwa, and presenting small gifts, treating each girl with the same reverence shown to the goddess herself. Priests performing Kanya Pujan are generally willing to briefly explain the ritual to curious pilgrims, particularly at quieter, less crowded temples.
Kanya Pujan and Navratri Pilgrimage
Families observing Navratri, whether at home or as part of a temple-focused Yatra, often specifically arrange Kanya Pujan as a concluding ritual for their fast, considered an essential part of properly completing the festival's observance. The exact steps involved in Kanya Pujan can vary somewhat between temples, though the underlying devotional purpose remains broadly consistent across India.
