Maa Chandraghanta
Bearing the crescent like a bell — serenity armed against fear.
- Vahana
- The tiger
- Bhog (offering)
- Milk, and kheer
- Flower
- Lotus
- Colour
- Red
Significance
Chandraghanta wears a crescent shaped like a bell — chandra, moon, and ghanta, bell — and the bell is not ornament. Its sound is said to scatter what is hostile before it can reach the devotee, which makes her the protective form of the nine.
She rides a tiger and carries weapons in ten hands, and yet the descriptions insist her expression is calm. That combination is the point: readiness that is not agitation. The third night is where the practice of the first two acquires a defence, and it is traditionally the night on which courage is asked for.
How she is shown
Ten arms, a crescent shaped like a bell on her forehead, weapons in every hand
What is done on this day
Offer milk or kheer. Ring a bell during the arati — the day is specifically associated with sound as protection. The Devi Kavacham, a protective text, is placed here in most nine-night readings.
The nine colours are widely published as if fixed, but they are not — the sequence is assigned from the weekday Navratri begins on, so it shifts every year. The colour shown here is the one most commonly associated with this form; follow your own community's list where it differs.
ॐ देवी चन्द्रघण्टायै नमः