👑 Gangaur (Gauri Tritiya) 2027
Chaitra Shukla Tritiya — the 16-18 day Gauri vrat of the married women and girls of Rajasthan and Malwa; Isar-Gaur from the Holi ash, durva-water puja, ghudla, and the farewell of Gangaur on the last day.
Gangaur is celebrated on the Tritiya of the Shukla Paksha of Chaitra month — the concluding day of a Gauri vrat that begins the day after Holi (Chaitra Krishna Pratipada) and runs 16-18 days. 'Gan' = Shiva (Isar), 'Gaur' = Parvati (Gauri) — it is the festival of Shiva and Parvati's marriage: married women keep it for their husband's long life and good fortune, unmarried girls for a husband of their choice.
In Rajasthan (Jaipur-Udaipur-Jodhpur-Bikaner), Madhya Pradesh (Malwa-Nimar), parts of Gujarat and Rajasthani families of Haryana-UP it is the biggest festival of women — Isar-Gaur from the Holi ash, the clay/wooden Gangaur, daily morning puja with durva and water and songs, the ghudla, and on the last day carrying Gangaur on the head to the pond for the farewell. Below are this year's date, vidhi, samagri, katha, bhog and regional customs.
Significance — why this vrat
Gauri (Parvati) won Shiva as her husband on this very Tritiya — hence Gangaur is the vrat of suhag and of the desired husband; by belief Gangaur is not worshipped in front of the husband and the prasad offered to Gauri on this day is not eaten by the husband (folk custom).
A newly married woman's first Gangaur is at her parents' home — a 16-day vrat, solah shringar, mehndi; girls carry the Isar-Gaur pair from house to house (the song — 'Gor gor Gomati, Isar puje Parvati'), with the ghudla (a perforated clay pot with a lamp inside) in the evening.
The vrat lasts 16-18 days — from the second day of Holi to Chaitra Shukla Tritiya; 'Sheetla Saptami/Basoda' and the ghudla festival (Jodhpur) on Saptami-Ashtami, the farewell on Tritiya — the Badi Gangaur (the royal procession of Jaipur-Udaipur).
Puja vidhi (step by step)
This is the Rajasthani household vidhi — beginning with the Holi ash, a small daily puja, the big puja and farewell on the last three days.
- Beginning (the day after Holi, Chaitra Krishna Pratipada): make small figures of Isar-Gaur from the Holika fire's ash (or clay) and install them on a board/tray at the puja place; barley-wheat jawara alongside; every morning after bathing sprinkle water with durva stalks (jhula), a tilak of turmeric, mehndi and kajal, flowers and leaves, songs — 16 days.
- The daily rule: puja after sunrise before eating; 16 things for Gauri (16 durva, 16 bindis, 16 bangles…) — 'sixteen' is the number of suhag; girls with the friends of the neighbourhood; the songs tease Isar and Gaur.
- On the eighth day (Chaitra Krishna Ashtami — Sheetla Ashtami): the ghudla — girls carry a perforated clay pot with a lamp inside on their heads from house to house in the evening, asking for ghee, jaggery and grain (the ghudla fair of Jodhpur).
- The last three days (Chaitra Shukla Pratipada-Dwitiya-Tritiya): the Badi Gangaur — wooden/clay idols of Isar-Gaur (or paper pictures), lehenga-chunari-jewellery for Gauri, a turban for Isar; solah shringar, mehndi; the 'ghudla/night vigil' on Dwitiya night and 'pithaur' (a flour paste) for Gauri; the final puja on Tritiya morning — kumkum-mehndi-kajal, 16 gune (Gauri's bhog), a lota of water, durva.
- In the Tritiya puja: girls/married women with a kalash on the head and Gangaur in the lap; the katha (below); the sankalp for the husband's longevity and, for girls, for a husband; 'bayana' (gune, mehndi, bangles, sweets) to the mother-in-law/elder and touching her feet.
- The farewell (Tritiya evening): singing, Gangaur is carried on the head to a pond/stepwell/river; the final water offering there, Gauri is sent off to her husband's home (Kailash) — the idol immersed in water or (if wooden) brought home for next year; the royal procession from Tripolia Gate in Jaipur, the boat farewell at Gangaur Ghat in Udaipur.
- Breaking the fast: after the farewell; the new bride keeping the 16-day vrat receives 'Gangaur ka bayana' from her parents' home — ghewar-feeni, clothes; gifts from the married women of the in-laws' home.
- Those who cannot keep 16 days — the last 3 days (or only the Tritiya) are also valid; girls keep the vrat every year until marriage.
Puja samagri checklist
The Gangaur idol (or ash-clay figures), Gauri's shringar, durva and the items of sixteen — the main things.
- Holi ash/clay (Isar-Gaur figures) or wooden-clay Gangaur idol, Isar idol; tray/board
- Durva stalks (jhula/for sprinkling water), kalash, lota of water
- Gauri's shringar: lehenga-chunari/saree, bangles (16), bindis (16), sindoor, kajal, mehndi, jewellery; Isar's turban-dhoti
- Turmeric, kumkum, roli, akshat, flowers and leaves, pithaur of flour
- Barley-wheat jawara, wheat grains (in the hand during the katha)
- Ghudla: perforated clay pot, lamp
- Bhog: 16 gune (of flour and jaggery), ghewar-feeni, churma-laddoo, mehndi sweets, kheer-poori, fruit
- Bayana: ghewar, mehndi, bangles, cloth, dakshina (mother-in-law/parents' and in-laws' homes)
- Gangaur katha book/songs
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Open panchang →Vrat katha (the story)
Once Shiva and Parvati (Isar-Gaur), wandering the earth with Narada, came to a village — it was Chaitra Shukla Tritiya. The women of the high families were busy preparing fifty-six dishes and came late; the poor women came first with what they had — durva, water, turmeric — and worshipped with faith. Pleased, Parvati sprinkled her suhag-rasa on them — they received unbroken good fortune.
Later the adorned women arrived with the fifty-six dishes; Shiva asked — 'The suhag-rasa is spent, what will you give them?' Parvati cut her finger and sprinkled blood — 'This has my essence; as many drops fall on whom, that much suhag.' Then Parvati made a Shivling of sand on the riverbank and worshipped it — Shiva appeared and granted that a woman who worships Gauri on this day will have unbroken good fortune. On returning Shiva asked Parvati 'why so late?' — she said 'I met my brother and sister-in-law' — hence the parents'-home feeling of Gangaur.
Folk story (Rajasthan) — Gauri has to go to her husband's home (Kailash) with Isar; she stays 16 days at her parents' home (the earth) and departs on the Tritiya — so at the farewell women weep and sing as at a daughter's departure; and this is why the husband does not eat the Gangaur prasad — it belongs to Gauri's parents' home.
Gune, ghewar, churma — the Marwari kitchen of Gangaur
The Gangaur bhog has 16 gune (small sweet flour cakes, kachori-like), ghewar, feeni, churma — these come in the bayana from the parents' home; kheer-poori on Tritiya; in the 16-day vrat one meal without salt (some homes) or fruit.
- Gune (16): flour with ghee, jaggery/sugar and fennel, thick little cakes fried in ghee — offer 16 to Gauri and share
- Ghewar, feeni (sweets of the winter-summer junction), malpua, churma-laddoo, mohanthal
- Tritiya: kheer, poori, dal-bati-churma (Rajasthan), aam panna in Malwa, dahi-bade
- 16 days: one meal — without salt (sweet) in many homes; or fruit and milk; girls eat only after the morning puja
- Prasad: the women, girls and neighbours of the house; no Gauri prasad to the husband/men (folk custom)
Regional customs
Gangaur is the soul of Rajasthan; its own forms in Malwa-Nimar, Gujarat, Bengal (Gauri Tritiya) and Tamil Nadu.
A custom, tale, song or dish heard from your grandmother — 2-4 lines; after reading we add it on this page with your region's name (the phone is never shown — only to ask you back).
✅ Received — after reading we will add it on this page in 1-2 days. Thank you!Something went wrong — please try again.⏳ Sending…Do's and don'ts
✅ Do
- Begin with the Holi ash, the daily durva-water puja — do not break it midway
- Sixteen of everything for Gauri, solah shringar, mehndi — the number of suhag
- The Tritiya farewell with songs at a pond/river; immerse/keep the idol with respect
- Bayana to the mother-in-law/elder; a new bride's first Gangaur at her parents' home
- Girls every year until marriage — keep the tradition of the vrat going
❌ Don't
- No Gangaur puja in front of the husband; no Gauri prasad to the husband/men (folk custom)
- Lies, quarrels, black clothes, sleeping in the day — avoided in the 16 days
- No plastic or painted idol in the water at immersion — clay, or bring the wooden one home
- Care with girls near the ghudla fire/lamp
- If you cannot go to your parents' home, do not drop the vrat — it is valid at the in-laws' too
Frequently asked questions
When is Gangaur in 2027?
The date at the top is this year's Chaitra Shukla Tritiya (Badi Gangaur/farewell day) — from panchang calculations; the 16-day vrat begins the day after Holi (this year's Holi date is on the Holi page).
How many days is the Gangaur vrat?
The full vrat runs 16-18 days from the day after Holi (Chaitra Krishna Pratipada) to Chaitra Shukla Tritiya; if not possible, the last three days (Pratipada-Dwitiya-Tritiya) or only the Tritiya — both are valid.
Who keeps it — unmarried or married?
Both — girls for a husband of their choice (every year until marriage), married women for their husband's longevity and good fortune; a new bride's first Gangaur at her parents' home is special, 16 days.
What are Isar-Gaur and why from the Holi ash?
Isar = Ishwar (Shiva), Gaur = Gauri (Parvati); the vrat begins by making small figures of them from the ash of the Holika fire — a symbol of creation from the ash of evil; later wooden/clay idols are decorated.
What is the ghudla?
A perforated clay pot with a lamp inside that girls carry on their heads from house to house in the evening (from Chaitra Krishna Ashtami to the Tritiya, especially in Jodhpur) — asking for ghee and jaggery; linked to the folk tale of Ghudla Khan.
Why doesn't the husband eat the Gangaur prasad?
Folk belief — Gangaur is Gauri's 'parents' home', the farewell is like a daughter's; not giving Gauri's prasad to the husband (the in-laws' side) and not worshipping in front of him are part of that feeling. Many modern homes do not follow this — your own custom.
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✅ Saved — you will get a message a day before the next vrat.Something went wrong — please try again.⏳ Saving…Also read: Holi (the start of the vrat) · Chaitra Navratri (the Tritiya falls in it) · Hariyali Teej (Gauri's Sawan form) · Sheetla Ashtami / ghudla day
⚠️ This description follows the traditional vidhi and folk belief of Rajasthan-Malwa; the custom of your family and region comes first.
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