Khakhra
Navratri Farali Food: What You Can and Can’t Eat
Sep
Nine days of fasting sounds simple until you are standing in a shop at 8pm reading the back of a packet, trying to work out whether it counts.
Navratri fasting rules are genuinely confusing, partly because they vary from family to family and partly because a lot of food marketed as “farali” isn’t. This guide sets out what farali actually means, what is and isn’t permitted, the one rule most people get wrong, and how to get through nine days without living on fruit alone.
One note before we start: fasting practice varies between families, regions and communities. Some households are stricter than others. What follows is the common Gujarati understanding — if your family does it differently, your family is right for your family.
What does farali mean?
Farali (from farar, meaning fast) refers to food permitted during a religious fast, or upvas. During Navratri, many people observe some form of fast for all nine days.
The underlying principle is simplicity: avoid grains, avoid pulses, avoid anything that stimulates or complicates. What remains is fruit, milk, certain roots and tubers, specific non-grain flours, and a small set of spices.
Farali food is not the same as vegetarian food, and it is not the same as Jain food, though the three overlap. Plenty of vegetarian dishes are entirely off-limits during upvas.
What you can eat
| Category | Permitted |
|---|---|
| Flours | Rajgira (amaranth), singoda (water chestnut), moraiyo/samo (barnyard millet), kuttu (buckwheat) |
| Grains & seeds | Sabudana (tapioca pearls), makhana (fox nuts) |
| Vegetables | Potato, sweet potato, suran, arbi, raw banana, pumpkin, cucumber, tomato |
| Fruit | All fresh fruit, dried fruit and nuts |
| Dairy | Milk, curd, paneer, ghee, butter |
| Nuts | Peanuts, almonds, cashews, walnuts, coconut |
| Spices | Sendha namak (rock salt), jeera, black pepper, green chilli, coriander leaf, lemon |
| Sweeteners | Sugar, jaggery, honey |
What you can’t eat
| Category | Not permitted |
|---|---|
| All grains | Wheat, rice, maize, bajri, jowar, ragi and everything made from them |
| All pulses | Chana, moong, urad, toor, and besan (gram flour) |
| Regular salt | Only sendha namak is permitted |
| Onion and garlic | Avoided entirely |
| Most masalas | Turmeric, mustard, hing, garam masala and blended masalas are commonly avoided |
| Non-vegetarian, alcohol | Avoided |
What this rules out that surprises people: khakhra, thepla, bhakhri, roti, all farsan made with besan — ganthiya, sev, fafda, bhujia — samosa, kachori, most namkeen mixtures, and besan-based sweets such as mohanthal, magas and soan papdi.
If you are used to reaching for Gujarati farsan as a snack, Navratri removes almost all of it. That is worth planning for rather than discovering on day two.
The rule most people get wrong: sendha namak
Regular table salt is not permitted during upvas. Only sendha namak — rock salt — is.
This catches out more people than any other rule, because it is invisible. A packet of roasted makhana can be entirely farali in every other respect and still fail because of the salt.
What to do about it: check the ingredients list, not the front of the pack. “Farali” on the front of a packet is a marketing term with no regulatory definition behind it. The ingredients list is the only thing that tells you.
If a product doesn’t state the salt type, assume regular salt and ask the seller.
Peanuts, and other grey areas
A few items sit in genuinely contested territory, where practice varies:
Peanuts. Botanically a legume, and pulses are excluded — yet peanuts are traditionally accepted in farali cooking across Gujarat and Maharashtra, and sabudana khichdi is barely conceivable without them. Most families permit them. Some don’t.
Sabudana. Universally accepted in practice, though it’s a processed starch rather than a natural whole food.
Dairy at all hours. Some observe fasts that permit dairy throughout; others restrict eating to one meal.
Tea and coffee. Widely consumed during fasts, though some avoid them.
The honest answer is that farali rules are family tradition as much as scripture. If you’re unsure, ask the elders in your household — they’ll have a clearer answer than any website.
Getting through nine days without exhaustion
Navratri fasting coincides with garba, which means many people are fasting all day and then dancing for hours at night. That combination is where people get into difficulty.
Eat something before garba, not after. Sabudana khichdi, a fruit and curd bowl, or a handful of nuts an hour or two beforehand makes a real difference.
Keep hydrated. Long garba nights in October heat dehydrate faster than people expect. Water, coconut water, lemon water with sendha namak.
Keep nuts and makhana to hand. Roasted makhana and nuts are the most practical farali snacks — light, filling, and easy to carry.
Don’t rely on fruit alone. Fruit is easy but won’t sustain nine days of activity. You need fat and protein from nuts and dairy.
Listen to your body. Fasting is a personal practice and your health matters. If you feel faint, dizzy or unwell, eat something. Anyone who is pregnant, diabetic, on regular medication, or managing a health condition should speak to their doctor about how to fast safely — or whether to.
For the rest of the household
Not everyone in the house fasts, and not everyone fasts all nine days.
For those who aren’t fasting, the everyday Gujarati snacks stay exactly as they were — khakhra, thepla, farsan and the rest. Households often run two tracks through Navratri: farali food for those fasting, normal food for everyone else.
And when the fast ends, it ends properly. Break it gently rather than with a heavy meal — but the first proper khakhra with chai after nine days is one of the small pleasures of the festival.
Then Diwali arrives about three weeks later, and Gujarat goes straight from fasting to feasting. If you’re planning ahead for that, our corporate Diwali gifting guide covers bulk and company orders, and the Diwali gift box guide covers family gifting.
Frequently asked questions
What does farali mean? Farali refers to food permitted during a religious fast. It excludes all grains, all pulses, regular salt, onion and garlic, and most blended spices, while permitting fruit, dairy, nuts, certain tubers, and non-grain flours such as rajgira, singoda and moraiyo.
Can you eat khakhra during Navratri fasting? No. Khakhra is made from wheat, and grains are not permitted during upvas. The same applies to thepla, bhakhri and roti. Khakhra is fine for household members who are not fasting, and for after the fast ends.
Is besan allowed during Navratri fast? No. Besan is gram flour, made from a pulse, and pulses are excluded. This rules out ganthiya, sev, fafda, bhujia and besan-based sweets such as mohanthal and magas.
Why can’t you use normal salt during a fast? Only sendha namak (rock salt) is traditionally permitted during upvas, as it is unprocessed. This is the rule most commonly broken by accident, because packaged snacks rarely state the salt type on the front.
Are peanuts allowed during Navratri? Peanuts are botanically a legume, but are traditionally accepted in farali cooking across Gujarat and Maharashtra — sabudana khichdi is usually made with them. Practice varies between families.
Is makhana farali? Makhana itself is farali. Whether a packet of makhana is depends on the seasoning — check that it uses sendha namak and contains no onion, garlic or blended masala.
What can I snack on during Navratri? Roasted makhana, peanuts and nuts, fruit, dried fruit, chikki, sabudana preparations, and dairy such as curd or milk. Check the salt type on anything packaged.
