When Vat Savitri Vrat falls

Dates are computed astronomically against Kashi sunrise.

The significance of Vat Savitri Vrat

Vat Savitri Vrat puja vidhi

1. 1Bathe early, wear sringar, and take the sankalpa of the vrat for the husband's long life.
2. 2Go to a banyan tree with water, roli, akshat, a raw cotton thread, fruit and a hand-fan.
3. 3Water the roots and offer roli and akshat to the trunk; light a lamp and incense.
4. 4Wind the raw thread around the trunk while circumambulating — seven or 108 rounds — with the sankalpa at each.
5. 5Read or listen to the Savitri katha, then fan the tree and offer the fruit.
6. 6Give bayana to married women and touch the feet of elders; break the fast after the puja is complete.

Mantra

Vrat rules

• The fast is kept by married women, traditionally nirjala or phalahar, for the husband's long life.
• Worship is done at a banyan tree; where none is near, a branch or a drawn image is used.
• A raw cotton thread (kaccha sut) is wound around the trunk while circling it, usually seven or 108 times.
• The Savitri–Satyavan katha is read or heard at the tree before the vrat is completed.
• Married women exchange bayana — fruit, a fan, and sringar items — and touch the elders' feet.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Getting the date wrong for one's region — the north keeps Vat Amavasya (Jyeshtha Amavasya), the west Vat Purnima, a fortnight apart.
• Skipping the banyan where one is available — the tree, not merely the fast, is the heart of the vrat.
• Winding the thread the wrong number of times or leaving the circumambulation incomplete.
• Forgetting the Savitri katha, which carries the whole meaning of arguing a life back from death.

The vrat katha of Vat Savitri Vrat

Vat Savitri Vrat timeline

1. Morning — sringar & sankalp

   Married women bathe, dress in sringar and take the vow of the fast for their husband's long life.

2. At the banyan

   The roots are watered and the trunk offered roli, akshat and a lamp; the tree is honoured as the form of endurance.

3. Winding the thread

   A raw cotton thread is wound around the trunk while circumambulating — seven or 108 rounds, a wish at each.

4. Katha & bayana

   The Savitri–Satyavan story is read at the tree; the fan is offered, and bayana exchanged among the women.

Famous places & temples

Interesting facts

• ◆The vrat honours Savitri, who followed Yama and, by her wit and constancy, won her husband Satyavan back from death.
• ◆The banyan is chosen for its endurance — it drops aerial roots to spread and outlive generations, the blessing sought for a marriage.
• ◆It is kept as Vat Amavasya in the north and Vat Purnima in Maharashtra and Gujarat, a fortnight apart, on the same story.
• ◆It is, for the husband, what Karwa Chauth is in the autumn — a wife's fast for his long life, but tied to a tree rather than the moon.

Common questions