South Indian tradition of worshipping tools, vehicles, and weapons

Ayudha Puja is the worship of tools, instruments, weapons and vehicles, observed on Maha Navami across South India and in parts of Maharashtra and Odisha. Its roots lie in two stories. In the Devi Mahatmya the Goddess slays Mahishasura with the weapons given her by all the gods, and on Navami those weapons are honoured. In the Mahabharata, the Pandavas, ending their year of incognito exile, retrieved the weapons they had hidden in a shami tree and Arjuna, as Brihannala, took up his Gandiva bow to defend the kingdom of Virata. From honouring weapons the observance grew to honour every instrument by which a person earns a living and serves the world — the farmer's plough, the craftsman's tools, the musician's veena, the student's books, the factory's machines, and today the car, computer and phone. Everything is cleaned, set aside from work, smeared with sandal paste and kumkum, garlanded and worshipped, and the day is a holiday from labour. An ash gourd marked with kumkum is broken before vehicles and workplaces to ward off the evil eye. At the Mysore Palace, the royal weapons are ceremonially worshipped on this day.

No fast is prescribed; many are completing the Navratri fast.