🙏 Hartalika Teej (Badi Teej) Puja Vidhi — step by step
This is the North-Indian household vidhi — a meal on Dwitiya night (like sargi), waterless on Tritiya, Pradosh puja and four prahars, paran on Chaturthi morning.
How to do Hartalika Teej (Badi Teej) — the steps
- Dwitiya (a day earlier): a full sattvik meal in the evening/night — like 'sargi/dar/karu bhaat' (bitter gourd and rice in Chhattisgarh, dahi-chura and fruit in Bihar, the 'dar' feast in Nepal); mehndi; nothing after midnight.
- Tritiya: bathe before sunrise, sankalp — 'I keep the waterless Hartalika Teej vrat for unbroken good fortune/the husband of my choice, and will do paran after sunrise tomorrow'; solah shringar, red/green saree, new bangles, sindoor; no water during the day, rest and bhajans, speak little.
- Preparation in the day: the phulera — banana stems and a canopy of flowers and leaves over a bamboo/wooden seat; hand-made small images of Shiva, Parvati (Gauri), Ganesha and (in many homes) Riddhi-Siddhi in clay/black soil/sand (or clay ones from the market); installed on banana leaves; kalash.
- Pradosh puja (after sunset — time above — the first prahar): Ganesha puja; water, milk, bel leaves, datura, bhasma and white flowers for Shiva; the 16 suhag items for Parvati (bangles, bindi, sindoor, mehndi, kajal, comb, mirror, chunari, toe-rings, alta, perfume, garland…); 'Om Umamaheshwarabhyam Namah'; the Hartalika vrat katha (below) — 3 times/every prahar; the aarti 'Jai Parvati Mata'.
- Puja in four prahars (about 9 pm, 12, 3 am): in each prahar flowers and akshat on the images, a new lamp, mantra, aarti; bhajans and songs in between (the folk songs of Teej), the collective vigil of friends and married women; no sleeping.
- Bayana: after the puja suhag items, sweets, fruit and dakshina to the mother-in-law/elder sister-in-law — touching her feet; girls take the blessings of the older married women.
- Chaturthi morning (after sunrise): the final puja and aarti, the sindoor offered to Parvati into your own parting, immersion of the images and puja material (river/pond or a pot/water vessel at home), taking down the phulera; then paran — first the puja water/Tulsi water, dahi-chura/fruit, then a meal (in many homes the paran from the husband's hand).
- A new bride's first Teej at her parents' home (Bihar-UP-Chhattisgarh) or at the in-laws' with the mother-in-law — by custom; a vrat once begun every year; if ill/pregnant, with fruit and water or the puja by another woman of the house — the spirit stays unbroken.
Puja samagri checklist
The phulera, clay images of Shiva-Parvati-Ganesha and the 16 suhag items — the mark of Hartalika.
- Clay/black soil/sand (hand-made images of Shiva-Parvati-Ganesha) or clay images from the market; banana leaves, wooden seat, red cloth
- Phulera: banana stems/bamboo, garlands (marigold-mogra-rose), mango-bel-ashoka leaves, a canopy of leaves
- Parvati's 16 suhag items: bangles, bindi, sindoor, mehndi, kajal, comb, mirror, chunari, toe-rings, anklets (symbolic), alta/mahawar, perfume, nose-ring, earrings, gajra, garland
- For Shiva: bel leaves, datura, aak, shami leaves, bhasma, janeu, white flowers, water-milk-panchamrit; durva and modak for Ganesha
- Kalash, coconut, mango leaves, roli, akshat, turmeric, kumkum, sandalwood, mauli
- Lamps (4+ for the four prahars), ghee, incense, camphor, agarbatti, aarti thali, bell
- Bhog: fruit (banana-apple-pomegranate-coconut), sweets (laddoo-peda), kheer, panchamrit, paan-supari-cloves-cardamom
- Bayana: suhag items, sweets, fruit, cloth, dakshina (mother-in-law/elder sister-in-law)
- Hartalika vrat katha book, Teej songs
- Paran: dahi-chura/fruit, Tulsi water; the 'karu bhaat/dar' meal a day earlier
The feast a day before, nothing in the fast, the dahi-chura of the paran
In Hartalika nothing on the Tritiya — bhog only for Parvati and Shiva (fruit, sweets, kheer); a full meal on Dwitiya night (the karu bhaat of Chhattisgarh, the dar of Nepal, the dahi-chura of Bihar); a light, sweet paran on Chaturthi morning.
- The Dwitiya feast: Chhattisgarh 'karu bhaat' — bitter gourd with rice (begin with the bitter, so the fast is easier); Bihar-UP — dahi-chura-jaggery, poori-kheer, fruit; Nepal 'dar' — kheer, sel roti, meat (family custom); Maharashtra — sabudana/fruit
- Tritiya: waterless — nothing (achaman by family custom); bhog for Shiva-Parvati — banana, coconut, apple, kheer, laddoo, panchamrit
- Paran (Chaturthi morning): first Tulsi/puja water, then dahi-chura or fruit and milk, then a light meal — kheer-poori/khichdi; nothing heavy or fried (the stomach after 24 hours)
- Chhattisgarh paran: thethri-khurmi-arsa (the Teeja dishes), the feast at the parents' home; Maharashtra: panchakhadya/coconut; Bihar: thekua-kheer
- The modak prasad of Ganesh Chaturthi (the next day) with the paran
Rules — do's and don'ts
✅ Do
- A full sattvik meal on Dwitiya, nothing after midnight — the fast from sunrise
- The puja in Pradosh, then all four prahars — hand-made clay images; the phulera
- The katha in every prahar/three times; the 16 suhag items for Parvati; bayana to the mother-in-law
- Paran on Chaturthi after sunrise, after the immersion — eat slowly
- Once the vrat is taken, every year — if not possible, fruit/the puja by someone else, let the spirit not break
❌ Don't
- No waterless fast for the pregnant/unwell/nursing/adolescent girls — with fruit and water; take water if dizzy or vomiting (saving life is dharma)
- No sleeping at night (vigil) — but rest if ill; no anger, quarrels or gossip in the vrat
- No plaster/painted images — clay; immersion in a home pot/water tank, not the drain
- Do not extend the vrat into the next day (Ganesh Chaturthi) without paran — paran at 24 hours
- No fear of dropping the vrat — if missed through illness, udyapan/a prayer for forgiveness, nothing inauspicious
Vrat katha
Parvati, daughter of the Himalaya, wanted Shiva as her husband from childhood and did severe penance — twelve years, giving up even leaves (Aparna). Narada told Himavan — the girl is worthy of Vishnu; Himavan fixed her m… Read the full katha →
Frequently asked questions
When is Hartalika Teej in {Y}?
The date at the top is this year's Bhadrapada Shukla Tritiya — from panchang calculations; the Delhi times for Pradosh (main puja) and sunrise (start of the fast/paran) are shown too; the next day is Ganesh Chaturthi.
What is the difference between Hartalika and Hariyali Teej?
Hariyali Teej is Shravana Shukla Tritiya (Sawan — green bangles, swings, celebration, fruit); Hartalika is Bhadrapada Shukla Tritiya (a month later — 24 hours waterless, night vigil, clay images, the strictest); Kajari Teej in between (Bhadrapada Krishna Tritiya).
Really not even water?
The scriptural rule is waterless (achaman allowed by family custom); from sunrise to the next sunrise. It is strict — only healthy women; the pregnant, unwell and nursing keep it with fruit and water; if health fails take water and food — the vrat is Parvati's penance, not a danger to life.
Once begun, is it compulsory every year?
In folk tradition yes — so take the first vrat thoughtfully; but if it is missed through illness/pregnancy/mourning, keep it with fruit or have another woman of the house do the puja, with udyapan later — nothing inauspicious happens, the spirit is what matters.
How to do the puja of four prahars?
Divide the night from sunset to the next sunrise into four equal parts (~3 hours) — the first prahar is Pradosh (main puja and katha), then about 9, 12 and 3 — each time flowers, akshat, lamp, mantra, aarti, katha; songs and bhajans with friends make the vigil easier; if not even one prahar is possible, the Pradosh puja and the morning puja suffice.
What if we cannot make clay images?
Clay Shiva-Parvati-Ganesha from the market, or a Shaligram/Shivling with a Gauri picture, are also valid; a small pindi of sand/turmeric is the simplest; no plaster/painted idol (immersion).
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