Khirapat of the day
What is under the cloth?
Hidden today: sago, peanut, and potato, eaten hot on a fasting day.
Pune · 2026
Navratri in Pune is not only garba.The Devi is on a hill and in the peths.
Chaturshringi at dawn
The hill everyone wants. Weekday 5–8am, or watch the mela from below.
Skip Ashtami night on the hill
Also weekend nights, and Tuesday or Friday evenings. Jogeshwari in the morning is the real flex.
The peths are a walk
Tulja Bhavani to Jogeshwari is minutes on foot. Crowds, not kilometres.
Assal Puneri
The house has already started Navratri.
If you are new here, the night looks like a ticket. The house is doing something else — Bhondla, the ghata, the tools, the apta.
Bhondla / Hadga
On the evenings when Hasta nakshatra is up, women and girls gather in the courtyard. Someone draws an elephant on the ground. They sing the old songs in a circle. Then the khirapat: a plate under a cloth. You guess what is inside. It is opened, and shared. No ticket, no hall, no DJ. If the next house calls you, go.
Ghatasthapana and the lamp
An earthen pot is set with soil and grain — often barley or jowar — and water. The shoots are the nine days, growing where you can see them. Many houses crown the ghata with leaves and a coconut. A lamp is lit for the Devi and kept; that is the akhand jyot. Each day a fresh flower garland, a maal, goes on the pot. This is the festival. The hill is extra.
Khandenavami · the tools
19 October, the ninth day. Tools, machines, vehicles, books, and weapons get haldi and kumkum. Workshops still stop for it. Pune does this because the memory is Maratha: a sword and a lathe are both work. A tilak on the scooter is the same idea as a tilak on a blade. Tomorrow is Dussehra.
Dussehra · cross the boundary
20 October. Simollanghan is a short walk past the edge of the lane — you cross a boundary, you do not buy a show. Apta leaves are given and taken as gold. Elders first. The line is “sone ghya, sone dya.” Some grounds burn Ravan. That is not the morning this city is named for.
Nine nights + Dussehra
One day, one thing.
11 Oct · Shailaputri
Ghatasthapana
Orange
A kalash is seated — soil, barley, water. The nine nights begin at home more than on a hill. If you visit one temple today, make it Jogeshwari or Tulja Bhavani, not Chaturshringi at 8pm.
12 Oct · Brahmacharini
A walking day
White
Old-city Devi circuit: Kasba Tulja Bhavani → Bhavani Peth → Tambdi Jogeshwari. Breakfast in the peths. Save the hills.
13 Oct · Chandraghanta
Parvati morning
Red
Climb Parvati early. The city is still cool. This is the day for legs, not tickets.
14 Oct · Kushmanda
Chaturshringi if you must
Royal blue
Midweek hill. Dawn. Then stop. Do not add garba the same night unless you are twenty and foolish.
15 Oct · Skandamata
A quieter temple
Yellow
If you already did the postcard, stay local. Society garba or a small mandir. Fasting food, not a food trail.
16 Oct · Katyayani
One garba night
Green
Ask where people are dancing this year. Pay the ticket. Learn two steps. Leave before the last song if the crowd turns mean.
17 Oct · Kalaratri
Durga Puja days begin
Grey
Bengali pandals in Pune are real, and smaller than Kolkata. Visit one if that is your language. Still not a substitute for the hill or the peth.
18 Oct · Mahagauri
Ashtami · kanya puja
Purple
Girls are honoured as the goddess. If you are invited to a home, go. Famous temples today are a mistake unless you like standing still for hours.
19 Oct · Siddhidatri
Navami · ayudha puja
Peacock green
Tools, books, vehicles get a tilak. Offices and workshops close into ritual. Tomorrow is Dasara. Finish what you meant to finish.
20 Oct · Vijayadashami
Dussehra · apta as gold
Gold
Maharashtra’s Dasara is shami, apta leaves exchanged as gold, simollanghan — crossing a symbolic border. Ravan dahan exists. It is not the whole story. Say Jai Bhavani.
Hill + peths
The Devi Circuit
Not an honour-order. Where Pune actually goes — the hill, the peths, Dasara. No ticket.
Old-city walk in MapsWhere people actually get stuck
Aarti time, the climb, parking, two shrines, photos, Tuesday–Friday, live darshan, the stalls on the steps.
1 / 8
Chaturshringi clock
Trust’s ordinary day: morning aarti 10:00–10:15, naivedya 11:00–11:30, evening aarti 8:00–8:10. Blogs disagree on open/close (often 6:00 or 6:30am to 9:00pm). In Navratri the queue, not the clock, eats the time. Recheck the trust site the morning you go.
Official trust site
1 · Shivaji’s goddess in the peth
Kasba Tulja Bhavani
Kasba Peth, near Kasba Ganpati
Open the advice
Tulja Bhavani is the kuldevi of many Maratha houses — including Shivaji’s. This small Kasba temple is how Pune keeps that thread next to its gramdaivat.
Start here if you want Navratri that feels like Pune, not like a fairground.
Dawn with Kasba Ganpati still next door. Ten minutes, if you don’t rush.
2 · The peth that carries her name
Bhavani Mata
Bhavani Peth
Open the advice
The peth is named for her. She belongs on the same morning as Kasba and Jogeshwari — a lane Devi, not a hill queue.
Walk it. Don’t park inside the peth and hope the lane will clear.
Morning, with the old city. Evening is the lane, not darshan.
3 · Old-city Devi
Tambdi Jogeshwari
Budhwar Peth
Open the advice
You already walked past her for Ganpati — she is Manacha Dusra. In Navratri she is not a stop on the way. She is the point: compact, local, older than the hill crowd.
Pair with Kasba Tulja Bhavani on the same morning. You can actually pray here.
Morning in the peths. Evenings are lanes, not darshan.
4 · If you must see the famous hall
Dagdusheth
Budhwar Peth
Open the advice
Still a magnet in Navratri — decorations, queues, the city’s most photographed inner hall. It is not a Devi temple first. Go if you have the hour. Don’t make it the whole festival.
4–7am, same as Ganeshotsav. Evening is a selfie dam.
Best: weekday dawn. Avoid: stacking this after Chaturshringi the same night.
5 · The city’s Mahalaxmi
Mahalaxmi
Sarasbaug / Swargate
Open the advice
Pune’s Mahalaxmi, beside Sarasbaug. Navratri brings people to this gate. The Ganpati in the water is the other temple — that one stays on the Ganpati page.
Do Swargate, then Parvati if you still have legs. Don’t put her in the same hour as Chaturshringi.
Morning. Evening Swargate is traffic.
6 · The climb with a view
Parvati
Parvati Hill
Open the advice
Peshwa-era hill temples — Parvati, Ganesh, and the city laid out below. Navratri here is legs and sky, not a mela. Good when Chaturshringi is impossible.
Morning. Carry water. The steps are the darshan.
Sunrise to 9am. Skip the afternoon heat.
7 · The hill everyone names
Chaturshringi
Senapati Bapat Road
Open the advice
Pune’s Navratri magnet. A hill temple to the four-peaked Devi, a mela at the base, and queues that can eat your night. This is Dagdusheth energy — not a quiet shrine.
Dawn on a weekday that is not Tuesday or Friday. Ashtami and Navami nights are a crush. Auto to University Circle, then walk. The base lot fills — if it is full, turn around.
Best: 5–8am, weekdays except Tue/Fri. Avoid: weekend nights, Tuesday evening, Ashtami, Navami.
8 · The west-Pune hill
Tukai Mata
Baner Hill
Open the advice
Baner’s own Devi, on the tekdi. The west of the city climbs here. She is not a smaller Chaturshringi — she is this side’s temple.
One hill in a dawn. If Chaturshringi was this morning, come another day.
Sunrise. Carry water. The steps are the visit.
Then these — if you have the time
Dussehra · the city’s memory
Shaniwar Wada & Lal Mahal
Old city
This is not a temple circuit. It is why Pune’s Dasara still smells of Bhawani and a border crossed. Walk it in daylight on or before Vijayadashami.
Morning of Dussehra, or any quiet morning in these ten days.
Open in maps
Night · Gujarati Pune
A neighbourhood garba
Aundh, Baner, Kothrud, Viman Nagar, Magarpatta — ask locally
Pune’s other Navratri. Community grounds, ticketed nights, dandiya. Venues change every year. The rule is the same: you are a guest on someone’s floor.
One night in the middle days. Not Ashtami if you already did a temple.
Open in mapsThe city’s big nights
Garba Tickets
One big ground a night. The name moves on the board — tonight’s ticket is below.
Tonight · Monday, 19 Oct
The city’s main ticketed night
Pune’s big grounds do not share one poster. Tonight’s name, gate and pass are on BookMyShow. Society garba is still free and closer.
Fasting food and city food, both
Vrat Food in Pune
Must · if you are fasting
Sabudana khichdi & vada
Sago, peanut, potato. Pune’s classic Navratri plate. Eat it hot. Mall ‘Navratri specials’ are optional theatre — Shreyas and a peth board are the real search.
Hotel Shreyas (Deccan) when they put up faral; handwritten व्रत boards in the peths; home kitchens
A full fasting plate
Farali thali
Potato, rajgira, kuttu, fruit, dahi. Ask ‘faral ahe ka?’ If they look confused, you are in the wrong room — order misal and stop performing the fast.
Hotel Shreyas · ask Vaidya Upahar Gruha, Katakir, and Deccan boards that say फराळ / व्रत
If you are not fasting
Puneri misal
Navratri does not cancel Pune breakfast. After Parvati or the peths, this is still the correct medicine.
Bedekar · Katakir · Vaidya Upahar Gruha (peths, mornings)
Whatever they put in your hand
Temple prasad
Take it with the right hand. Eat it. You did not come for a café tasting menu on the hill.
Chaturshringi, Jogeshwari, Tulja Bhavani
After the climb
Mastani
You walked a hill. You may have a milkshake with ice cream on top. This is still Pune.
Sujata and the usual FC / JM stretch
Pocket kit
Apples, bananas, a handful of peanuts
Chaturshringi lines are not a restaurant. Carry something. Share if the person behind you looks done.
Any fruit stall before you join a queue
What to keep in mind
How not to waste the trip
Pune is not Gujarat’s Navratri
Garba is here, and it is good. The city’s own festival is the Devi on a hill and in the peths, then apta on Dasara. Lead with that, you will be taken care of.
Chaturshringi is the Dagdusheth of these nine days
Go at dawn on a weekday, or enjoy the mela from below. Ashtami night on that hill is a long queue, not a quick darshan.
Leave the car
SB Road, the peths, and Parvati do not want your parking experiment. Metro + auto to the edge + feet. Police diversions will change without asking your GPS.
October is kinder than September
Evenings are for walking. Days can still be hot on a hill. Water, a cap, shoes you already trust. Rain is less likely — still carry a thin umbrella.
Garba manners
Pay the ticket. Read floor vs stand. Don’t buy sticks in the parking lot first. Join the circle from the edge. Don’t film the inner ring. Watch two songs, then step in slowly.
Women and late nights
Daytime temples are full of families. Late garba exits and isolated steps after midnight are a different texture — group, live location, a meeting point.
Pocket kit
Broken-in walking shoes — hills and peths
Small bag, not a suitcase backpack in queues
1L water before Chaturshringi or Parvati
Power bank
A little cash for tiny stalls
Thin umbrella / cap
If fasting: peanuts, fruit, your own sabudana plan
If garba: ticket screenshot, light festive layer, stick only if you can use it
Patience. The hill does not owe you a shortcut.
Elders: dawn, or live darshan + the view from below