Navratri 2026 Colours: All Nine Days, the Dates, and What to Actually Wear

Navratri 2026 colours run from Sunday 11 October to Monday 19 October, one for each of the nine nights. Here is the full list first. Then the harder part - what you put on when the day doesn't stop for the festival.

Day	Date	Goddess	Colour
1	Sunday 11 October	Shailputri	Orange
2	Monday 12 October	Brahmacharini	White
3	Tuesday 13 October	Chandraghanta	Red
4	Wednesday 14 October	Kushmanda	Royal Blue
5	Thursday 15 October	Skandamata	Yellow
6	Friday 16 October	Katyayani	Green
7	Saturday 17 October	Kalaratri	Grey
8	Sunday 18 October	Mahagauri	Purple
9	Monday 19 October	Siddhidatri	Peacock Green

Ghatasthapana falls on 11 October. Durga Ashtami is Sunday 18 October, Maha Navami is Monday 19 October, and Dussehra is Tuesday 20 October.

Six of the nine days are weekdays, which is the fact that changes everything about how this list is usually written.

The nine days, one piece each.

Day 1 · Sunday 11 October · Orange · Shailputri

The first day starts before you do. Kalash at home by seven, someone's mother expecting you by eleven, and a Sunday that was never going to be free. Orange is the colour of the mountain-born goddess and it does not whisper. The Rooh Chanderi Saree in rust orange is the version that reads as festival rather than fancy dress - handwoven Chanderi, and a rust with brown in it rather than neon.

Day 2 · Monday 12 October · White · Brahmacharini

Nine o'clock stand-up, aarti at seven in somebody's living room, and nothing in between to go home for. White is the day for a set you can wear straight through. The Bhini Mul Kurta Set in off white is hand block printed mul cotton, and the dupatta is the only thing that has to change between the two.

Day 3 · Tuesday 13 October · Red · Chandraghanta

Red is the loudest of the nine and the easiest to get wrong - a solid block of it at nine in the morning and you have dressed for a wedding you are not attending. The Taal Mul Kurta Set in crimson red carries a hand block print through it, so the colour arrives in pieces instead of as a wall. If you want the day in one garment, the Sur Mul Dress in the same crimson does it in a single line.

   

Day 4 · Wednesday 14 October · Royal Blue · Kushmanda

Royal blue is where most Indian wardrobes go quiet. There is a great deal of navy and almost no royal, because somewhere along the way blue became a colour you wear to work. The Ambar Chanderi Saree puts blue against yellow, which is how the colour was worn long before it was corporate.

Day 5 · Thursday 15 October · Yellow · Skandamata

Yellow before ten in the morning is a decision. The Dhoop Mul Kurta Set in mustard and white is the mustard version rather than the marigold one, which matters more than it sounds: mustard survives a fluorescent meeting room. Marigold does not.

Day 6 · Friday 16 October · Green · Katyayani

Friday, and the week has caught up with everyone. Green is the forgiving one. The Ragini Mul Kurta Set in sea green is a green with brown underneath it - closer to the sea in October than to a garden in April, and it holds up across a long day without shouting about it.

Day 7 · Saturday 17 October · Grey · Kalaratri

Grey is the day nobody plans for. It is meant to be sober - Kalaratri is the fierce form, and the colour is doing real work - but most people quietly skip it. The answer is not grey alone. The Stone Linen Kurta Set in cloud white and smoke grey is grey with something else in it, which is the only way grey holds a festival day.

Day 8 · Sunday 18 October · Purple · Mahagauri

Ashtami. The kanjak in the morning, the house full by eleven, and no window to change before the evening. The Berry Linen Kurta Set in plum purple has a sweetheart neckline and hand embroidery running through the kurta and the dupatta - enough for a day with photographs in it, without becoming the reason you are in them.

Day 9 · Monday 19 October · Peacock Green · Siddhidatri

Peacock green is teal, not emerald, and almost nothing on the Indian market is actually cut in it. The Alba Doria Saree in teal and plum is the exception - Kota Doria, light enough to carry from a morning puja through to whatever Navami dinner you have already agreed to.

The three days everyone gets wrong

Grey, royal blue and peacock green are the three that break most Navratri wardrobes, and every list on the internet publishes them as though they were as easy as red.

Grey. It reads as a working day, not a festival, and worn flat it looks like you forgot. Grey works when it is broken - against ivory, against white, against a print. Anything else and Day 7 becomes the day you wore office clothes to a temple.

Royal blue. Most of us own navy and call it blue. Navy is not royal blue; on camera it goes black, and Day 4 disappears entirely. Royal blue needs a warm colour beside it to stay royal - yellow, gold, rust. On its own it goes cold.

Peacock green. This is the one that catches everybody. Peacock green is teal - blue-green, not grass-green, not emerald - and it is genuinely rare in Indian ready-to-wear because it is difficult to dye consistently. If you own one teal thing, Day 9 is the day to wear it.

None of this is a rule handed down. It is what happens when you actually try to wear nine assigned colours across nine consecutive days while holding down a job.

Wearing the colour without wearing a costume

The colour is a nod, not a uniform. Nobody at the pandal is checking your outfit against a chart, and the women who keep all nine days well are almost never the ones who bought nine outfits.

The cheapest honest way to hold the whole nine is a dupatta. A hand block printed Kota Doria dupatta in the day's colour, over whatever you were already wearing, is a complete answer - the Bhini Doria Dupatta in mustard and pink covers the yellow day, and the Vaani Doria Dupatta in crimson red covers the red one. Two dupattas and three sets will get you through Navratri more convincingly than nine hurried purchases.

The other thing worth saying: most people keep three or four of the nine, not all nine. Pick the days that matter to you - the first, Ashtami, Navami - and let the rest be a colour somewhere on you rather than all over you.

Ashtami, Navami and Dussehra: the three days that ask for more

Sunday 18, Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 October are the days with photographs, houses full of people, and the dinners you cannot leave early. This is where a saree stops being effort and starts being the easier decision - one garment, no coordination, nothing to think about at seven in the evening.

The Jhalak Chanderi Saree in ivory is the one for Dussehra, when everyone else has run out of colour and ivory becomes the loudest thing in the room. The rest of the festive line sits in the Festive Edit.

Frequently asked

When does Navratri 2026 start and end?

Shardiya Navratri 2026 begins on Sunday 11 October with Ghatasthapana and ends on Monday 19 October, Maha Navami. Dussehra falls on Tuesday 20 October.

What are the nine Navratri colours for 2026?

Orange, white, red, royal blue, yellow, green, grey, purple and peacock green, in that order from 11 to 19 October. The sequence changes every year because it follows the weekday each tithi falls on.

Do the Navratri colours change each year?

Yes. The nine colours are assigned according to the day of the week each tithi falls on, so the order shifts annually. The 2026 sequence is not the same as 2025.

What should I wear for Navratri if I am working through it?

Six of Navratri 2026's nine days are weekdays. A handloom kurta set in the day's colour clears a morning of meetings and an evening aarti without a change of clothes. Keep the sarees for Ashtami, Navami and Dussehra.

Is it necessary to wear the exact colour every day?

No. It is a devotional convention, not a rule. A dupatta or a co-ord set in the day's colour is enough, and most people keep three or four of the nine rather than all nine.

Where these pieces live

The hand block printed mul cotton and Chanderi in this guide are from Malhar. The sarees, anarkalis and heavier pieces for Ashtami onwards are in the Festive Edit.