Farewell ritual for Goddess Saraswati after Navratri puja

Saraswati Visarjan is the concluding rite of the four-day Saraswati worship of Sharad Navratri, performed when the Moon is in Shravana nakshatra. After the Avahan on Moola, the Puja on Purva Ashadha and the Balidan on Uttara Ashadha, the Goddess is given a respectful farewell with an uttara puja, and the books, instruments and tools that rested before her through the festival are taken back for use, now blessed. In Kerala this taking up of the books is Puja Eduppu, and it is followed by Vidyarambham, when children write their first letters; in many homes students open their books and read a few lines, and musicians play their first notes after the rest. Shravana is the star of listening and learning — the nakshatra of Vishnu's three strides — and so is fitting for resuming study. Where the Goddess was installed in an image, it is immersed or ceremonially moved; where she was invoked into the books, she is asked to dwell on in them. The rite reminds devotees that learning is sacred, to be approached with humility and returned to with fresh devotion.

No fast is prescribed.