Navratri Fasting Guide: What to Eat and What to Avoid

Fasting, or vrat, is a common way to observe Navratri. The rules differ widely: some people eat only one meal, some avoid grains, some take only fruit and milk, and many do not fast at all. What follows describes the most common practices so that you can understand what is on the table when you visit a home during the festival.

Foods commonly eaten

Navratri meals usually leave out regular grains, onion, garlic and often regular salt. In their place come ingredients that are traditionally considered suitable for fasting.

• Flours: kuttu (buckwheat), singhara (water chestnut) and rajgira (amaranth) for rotis, puris and pancakes.
• Millets and seeds: sama rice (barnyard millet) and sabudana (tapioca pearls).
• Vegetables and fruit: potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, bottle gourd, raw banana and most fruit.
• Dairy: milk, curd, paneer, ghee and buttermilk.
• Salt: sendha namak, or rock salt, replaces table salt.
• Nuts and sweets: peanuts, makhana (fox nuts), and sweets such as kheer or sabudana khichdi on the side.

What is usually avoided

Regular wheat and rice, lentils, onion and garlic, non-vegetarian food and alcohol are avoided by those who fast. Many also steer clear of leather items and haircuts during the nine days. Again, these are customs, not universal rules.

Fasting sensibly

Spiritual traditions generally value moderation, and nobody benefits from a fast that harms their health. A few common-sense habits help.

• Drink plenty of water, coconut water and buttermilk.
• Do not skip meals completely if you have diabetes, are pregnant, elderly or on regular medication. Speak to a doctor first.
• Avoid eating only fried food. Combine fruit, curd and a source of protein.
• Break the fast gently with something light.

A note on Ashtami and Navami

On the eighth or ninth day many families hold Kanya Pujan, welcoming young girls as forms of the goddess, washing their feet, offering a meal of puri, halwa and black chickpeas, and giving small gifts. The meal ends the fast for many households. The goddesses honoured each day are described in The Nine Forms of Durga.

If you are cooking for guests who are fasting, ask in advance about their customs. After the festival, the lighter tradition continues into the next major observance, Sharad Purnima, when kheer is left in moonlight.