How to do the Lalita Panchami puja at home

After sunrise: the aghada datun, a twig at a time with its verse, then the bath and white clothes. The vrat begins here.

1. Morning

   Prarthana to Lalita Devi, before the datun

   In the Skanda Purana's form, a prayer is first made to the Devi.

   1. Hold the aghada twigs in your right hand, and fold your hands over them.
   2. Pray to Lalita Devi that She remain pleased with you always, as you clean your teeth with the aghada. Where the prayer's words are not known, say it in your own.
   

2. Morning

   The aghada datun

   1. Early in the morning, take twenty-one aghada (आघाडा) twigs, picked the day before. In the Skanda Purana's form, forty-eight, or eight.
   2. Take them one at a time: with each, say the verse, chew its end soft, and clean your teeth with it.
   3. Rinse your mouth well with clean water.

   The vrat begins with the aghada, the apamarga: in Marathi homes and in the Sanskrit vidhi alike, the day opens with it.

   To the twig, before the datun · 2 lines

   आयुर्बलं यशो वर्चः प्रजाः पशुवसूनि च।āyurbalaṁ yaśo varcaḥ prajāḥ paśuvasūni ca.Long life, strength, good name, radiance, children, cattle and wealth,

   ब्रह्म प्रज्ञां च मेधां च त्वं नो देहि वनस्पते॥brahma prajñāṁ ca medhāṁ ca tvaṁ no dehi vanaspate.sacred knowledge, wisdom and memory — O tree, give these to us.
   

3. Morning

   The bath, and white clothes

   1. Bathe.
   2. Put on white clothes, or a fresh unstitched cloth, as the Skanda Purana's text has it.
   3. From now until the night's meal, eat nothing: the vrat has begun.
   

At madhyahna, while the Panchami holds: the makhar, the lid installed as Lalita Devi, the offerings, the forty-eight durva, the naivedya, and the vayan at the end.

1. 1. The makhar
   2. The lid, as Lalita Devi
   3. Achaman
   4. The diya
   5. The sankalp
   6. Ganesh ji first
   7. Avahan: inviting Lalita Devi
   8. Dhyana: the Sahasranama's verse
   9. A seat, and water
   10. Snan
   11. Vastra
   12. Chandan, akshat, haldi-kunku
   13. Flowers, and the pushpanjali
   14. The forty-eight durva
   15. The durva garland
   16. Dhoop and diya
   17. Naivedya
   18. Paan, fruit and dakshina
   19. The aarti
   20. Kshama prarthana
   21. The vayan

   These 21 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

After dark, while the Moon is still up: the arghya to the Devi, the katha, the day's one meal, and the jagran with Her aarti.

1. 1. The arghya
   2. The katha
   3. The one meal
   4. Aarti · Shri Mateshwari Jai Tripureshwari
   5. The Lalita Chalisa
   6. The jagran

   These 6 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

After the bath: one more puja, the Devi sent home with the visarjan, and the udyapan.

1. 1. One more puja
   2. Visarjan
   3. The udyapan

   These 3 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app