Maa Mahagauri
Radiant and pure — peace and the washing away of burdens.
- Vahana
- The bull
- Bhog (offering)
- Coconut
- Flower
- White jasmine
- Colour
- Pink
Significance
Mahagauri is Parvati after the tapas — the same figure as Brahmacharini on the second night, but at the other end of it. The story says her austerities left her darkened by dust and heat, and that Shiva bathed her in the Ganga, restoring a whiteness the texts compare to the conch and the moon.
So the eighth night is a resolution rather than a new episode. Nothing was added; what was already there was uncovered. Durga Ashtami falls here and is the largest of the nine nights across most of India, with kanya puja kept on it or on the day following.
How she is shown
Radiantly white, four arms, a trident and a damaru
What is done on this day
Offer coconut, and give coconuts away. Kanya puja is performed on this day or the next: nine young girls, and often a boy as Batuk Bhairava, are honoured as forms of the Devi, their feet washed, fed, and sent away with a gift.
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 महागौर्यै नमः