Invocation of Goddess Saraswati during Navratri festivities

Saraswati Avahan is the invocation of Goddess Saraswati that begins the four-day Saraswati Puja within Sharad Navratri. It is performed when the Moon enters Moola nakshatra, which the tradition regards as the star of Saraswati's arrival; the subsequent rites follow the next three nakshatras — Saraswati Puja on Purva Ashadha, Saraswati Balidan on Uttara Ashadha, and Saraswati Visarjan on Shravana. On this day books, manuscripts, musical instruments and the tools of one's learning are cleaned, placed before the Goddess and consecrated, and they are not used again until the Visarjan. In Kerala and parts of Karnataka this act is known as Puja Vaippu, and in Maharashtra and the South the day is often simply called Moola Nakshatra Saraswati Puja. Saraswati is the Goddess of knowledge, speech, music and the arts, the power by which the creator Brahma brought forth the Vedas. Students, teachers, writers and artists invoke her so that the knowledge they seek is pure and lasting, and parents bring children to her for blessings before examinations and new studies.

No fast is prescribed; many keep a satvik diet during Navratri.