Saraswati Puja at Home: Vidhi, Samagri & Hate Khori Guide

Saraswati Puja in 2027 is on Thursday, 11 February. Panchami, the fifth day of the bright half of Magha, begins at 3:05 AM that morning and ends at 3:18 AM on Friday, so the whole day is Panchami in Kolkata, Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad. Many Bengali homes keep the puja in the morning, break their fast at the anjali, and leave the books closed before her until the next day. Below: how the day goes, what the purohit does, what to keep ready, and how to get a purohit to your door on the one morning everyone in the city wants one.

The day in short

In Bengal it is Saraswati Pujo, also called Sri Panchami, Basanta Panchami or Vasant Panchami. The goddess of learning is worshipped at home with an image or a framed picture, a ghat (a pot of water crowned with mango leaves) and the books, pens and instruments of the house laid before her. People wear yellow, basanti or white. Many homes eat nothing before the anjali, and nobody studies, because for one day the books are hers.

The rhythm of the day:

• The evening before: the image is brought home, the alpona is drawn, the books are gathered and the inkpot is filled with milk (homes differ on how much is done the night before).
• Morning: bath, yellow or white clothes, the puja with the purohit, and pushpanjali, when everyone offers flowers together.
• After the anjali: hate khori for a child, then prasad and the khichuri bhog. Kul, the Indian plum, is eaten for the first time this season.
• The next morning: a short puja again, dadhikarma, and the visarjan.

Puja time in Kolkata: 11 February 2027

Panchami holds all day, so there is no narrow muhurat to catch. Bengali homes go by the panjika, and the panjika says the puja is done in the morning, before midday. Your purohit will name the hour, usually one of several he is keeping that morning.

In Kolkata on 11 February, sunrise is 6:11 AM, Panchami ends at 3:18 AM the next morning, and the Abhijit muhurta is 11:28 AM to 12:14 PM. If your home also watches the general time bars, yamaganda is 6:11 to 7:36 AM and rahu kalam is 1:16 to 2:41 PM. Both fall outside the usual puja and anjali hours of mid-morning.

Sunrise on the day is 6:43 AM in Bengaluru, 7:03 AM in Delhi and 6:45 AM in Hyderabad, and Panchami holds all day in each. For another city, read your own sunrise on the daily panchang or look the date up on the calendar.

The evening before

Many homes bring the clay image home the evening before and welcome her at the door (boron); some sound a conch and offer betel leaves. Draw the alpona (also spelled alpana), the rice-paste pattern, where she will sit. Clean the books, notebooks, pens and any instrument a child plays, and set them ready. Fill the dowat, the inkpot, with milk and lay the khagar kalam, the reed pen, beside it. A household that keeps Shitala Shashthi the next day also cooks its gota sedho tonight (see below).

What the purohit does

A Bengali purohit follows his own paddhati and purohits differ in small ways, so take this as the shape of the morning, not a script.

1. Achaman and sankalpa. You sit with him, sip water, and take the sankalpa: your name, your gotra and what the puja is for. Some paddhatis also name the dowat and the pen in the sankalpa. The karta, the one who sits for the puja, is usually the head of the house.
2. Swastivachan, then the ghat. The ghat is set up beside the image: water in a pot, mango leaves, a betel leaf and supari, a coconut on top. The puja is built around it.
3. Calling her in. The purohit invokes Saraswati with her dhyana verse. For a new picture or an image not yet consecrated, he does the chakshudan and pranpratishtha that bring her presence into it.
4. The offerings. Flowers, sandal paste, incense, the lamp and the naivedya, in the order of his paddhati. Some purohits include a snan (bathing). A clay image would dissolve if bathed, and some paddhatis have no bath step at all, so how it is done, or whether it is, differs from purohit to purohit. Let him do it his way.
5. Books, pens and the dowat. The purohit touches them with a flower or a little paste. This is why they sit near her and not on a desk.
6. Pushpanjali. The heart of the morning. Everyone present takes flowers in joined palms and offers them as the purohit says the anjali mantra, three times. The verses you will most often hear are Joy joy debi chara-chara sare, Saraswati mahabhage, vidye kamalalochane and Namah bhadrakalyai namo nityam, Saraswatyai namo namah. Which of them your purohit says, and in what order, differs, and he will tell you when to offer the flowers. Palash flowers, bel leaves and marigold are what people use. A pranam and the mangal aarti follow.
7. Prasad. The fast is broken and the prasad is shared.

The dakshina is settled between you and the purohit before the day. Our guide to what a purohit costs shows how that conversation usually goes.

What the household does

No studying. Books are put before her and left closed, and writing waits too. In many homes they come back into use only after the next morning's puja.

The dowat and the reed pen. Some homes call this the dowat-kalam puja. The inkpot of milk stays before her through the day. Next morning, after the puja, the pen is dipped in the milk and a short sacred phrase is written three times; many homes do this before the books are moved.

Fast and clothes. Many homes eat nothing until the anjali; ask the purohit what is allowed for anyone who cannot fast. In some homes the children end the fast by chewing a mango blossom. Wear yellow for spring or white for the goddess; basanti is worn too.

Kul, the plum. Kul (boroi) is in the market for weeks, and many Bengali homes do not taste it until it has been offered to her. Children are told that touching it before the puja spoils their exam luck. Keep some at the altar with the other fruit; it is eaten after the anjali, often as a chutney with salt and chilli.

Hate khori, a child's first letters

If there is a little one at home, this is the favoured morning in Bengal for a first lesson. Hate khori (also written hathe khori) means chalk in the hand: after the puja, the purohit or a grandparent holds the child's hand and writes the first letters in white chalk on a slate, in front of the goddess. Children are often around three or four. Keep the slate and chalk at the altar through the puja so they are blessed too. In Bengal it is usually done on Saraswati Puja, though the same beginning can be made on other auspicious days such as Vijaya Dashami. In Kerala and Tamil Nadu the same ceremony is called Vidyarambham. Our guide to Aksharabhyasam and Vidyarambham has the detail.

If a child will have hate khori, tell the purohit when you book. He will plan a few extra minutes after the anjali.

The next morning: dadhikarma, visarjan and Shitala Shashthi

On Friday 12 February the day is Shashthi (it begins at 3:18 AM that morning), the day after Saraswati Puja. Many homes begin it with a short puja again, with flowers and bel leaves, and offer her dadhikarma, also called dodhikarma: flattened or puffed rice with sweetened curd, which is then eaten by the household. After it the books are moved from the altar and the dowat is used again.

Then comes the visarjan. Many homes immerse the image that day or evening, in the river or, in a flat, in a large tub at home so the clay dissolves and the water goes to a plant. A framed picture is not immersed; it goes back to its place. Some homes keep the image through the year and replace it next Panchami. Ask your purohit how he does it.

The same day is Shitala Shashthi (Shital Shoshthi). Many Bengali homes, Ghoti homes especially, light no stove that day and eat cold gota sedho, a stew of whole vegetables and dal cooked the night before; the first portion is offered to Ma Shashthi. Other homes do not keep it at all; if yours does not, there is nothing to prepare.

Samagri: what to keep ready

Gather it the evening before. If the purohit is bringing the samagri, ask him what he brings first and keep only the rest.

For the altar

• An image or framed picture of Saraswati, on a white lotus or a swan
• A chowki or clean mat with a white or yellow cloth
• A ghat: a brass or copper pot, clean water, mango leaves, a betel leaf, a supari and a whole coconut
• Rice-paste for the alpona
• The books, notebooks, pens and any instrument, cleaned
• A dowat (inkpot) with milk and a khagar kalam, the reed pen
• For hate khori: a slate and white chalk

For the puja

• Palash flowers if you can find them, with marigold, enough for every person at the anjali; bel leaves and durba grass
• Atap rice, raw turmeric and sindoor
• Incense sticks, a ghee lamp and camphor
• Mango blossom, abir (coloured powder) and barley shoots (jober shish), if your home keeps them

For the bhog

• Five fruits of the season, kul among them, with coconut
• Khichuri bhog, with labra (mixed vegetables), begun bhaja and a tomato or kul chutney; payesh
• For the next morning: khoi (puffed rice) or chire (flattened rice), curd and something sweet for the dadhikarma
• If you keep Shitala Shashthi: the vegetables and dal for gota sedho

Saraswati Puja in the South

Everything above is the Bengali puja. In much of the South she is worshipped in Navaratri, in the last three days. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana it is kept on the day of the Moola nakshatra, her birth star. Vasantha Panchami (Sri Panchami) is also her day there, when parents start a child's first letters (Aksharabhyasam), most famously at the Basara temple. In Tamil Nadu and Karnataka it is commonly kept on Navami with Ayudha Puja: books and tools are set out on Ashtami and taken back on Vijayadashami morning.

Homes differ, so ask your elders or your purohit which day theirs follows, and whether a picture with a lamp and flowers is enough. In Bengaluru in 2027, Moola runs from 2:15 AM on Wednesday 6 October to 4:29 AM on Thursday 7 October, and Navami from 6:28 AM on Friday 8 October to 9:02 AM on Saturday 9 October.

Booking a purohit for Saraswati Puja

It is a busy morning. A purohit may be going to several homes, and each would like the morning hours, so ask early and be clear about what you need. In your request, say:

• That it is Saraswati Puja at home, and the tradition you keep (Bengali, for most readers here)
• Your area and the hour that suits you
• Whether there is a clay image or only a picture, and whether you have the samagri
• Whether a child will have hate khori, and whether you keep the next morning's puja and visarjan

Tell us what puja you need and where. Purohits will reach out on call or WhatsApp, and you settle the time and the dakshina between yourselves. Request a purohit for Saraswati Puja in Kolkata, Bengaluru, Delhi or Hyderabad.

Frequently asked questions

When is Saraswati Puja in 2027?

Thursday, 11 February 2027. Panchami begins at 3:05 AM on the 11th and ends at 3:18 AM on the 12th, so it covers the whole day in Kolkata, Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad.

What is the best time for Saraswati Puja at home?

The morning, since Panchami holds all day; Bengali homes finish the puja and the anjali before midday. In Kolkata sunrise is at 6:11 AM and the Abhijit muhurta is 11:28 AM to 12:14 PM. Your purohit will name his hour.

Why are books not read on Saraswati Puja?

The books and pens are placed before the goddess for her blessing, so the day is a rest for them and for the reader. Many homes bring them back into use after the next morning's puja.

What is hate khori?

A child's first writing, done on Saraswati Puja in Bengal. The purohit or an elder holds the child's hand and writes the first letters with white chalk on a slate before the goddess.

Why is kul not eaten before Saraswati Puja?

In many Bengali homes the plum is first offered to the goddess and eaten after the anjali. It is a custom of the season, not a rule of the puja.

What is dadhikarma?

The offering of puffed or flattened rice with sweetened curd, made to the goddess on the morning after Saraswati Puja before her visarjan, and then eaten by the household.

Can Saraswati Puja be done at home without a purohit?

Yes. A household can set up a picture, light a lamp, offer flowers and say her verse. A purohit is invited for the full vidhi with its mantras, for a child's hate khori, or because the elders want it done as they remember it.

When is Saraswati Puja in South India?

In much of the South it is in Navaratri, in the last three days: on the Moola nakshatra day in many Andhra and Telangana homes, and on Navami with Ayudha Puja in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. For many homes that is a different day from Basanta Panchami, though Sri Panchami is also kept in the South.

* The links after "Buying online?" go to Amazon. Your price stays exactly the same. As an Amazon Associate, Purohit.app earns a small referral fee on qualifying purchases. This helps us keep putting out good information for free.