Vat Savitri Vrat 2024

In North India on the Amavasya of Jyeshtha; in Maharashtra, Gujarat and parts of the south on the Purnima a fortnight later (Vat Purnima). Both honour the same Savitri story; the date shown above is for this year.

The banyan is long-lived and self-renewing — dropping aerial roots to spread indefinitely. It is Savitri's tree, under which she kept vigil, and its endurance is the blessing sought for the marriage.

The raw cotton thread wound seven or 108 times while circling the trunk ties the wish to the tree — a prayer that the bond of marriage hold as the banyan holds, unbroken and enduring.