🌳 Vat Savitri Vrat Puja Vidhi — step by step
This is the North-Indian household vidhi — shringar and the samagri in a bamboo basket in the morning, puja, rounds and katha under the banyan, the husband's blessing on returning home.
How to do Vat Savitri Vrat — the steps
- Sankalp on Trayodashi night (or at dawn on the Amavasya) — 'I keep the Vat Savitri vrat for my husband's long life and unbroken good fortune'; on the Amavasya bathe in Brahma Muhurat, solah shringar, red/yellow saree, mehndi, bangles, sindoor (a new bride's first vrat by the custom of her parents'/in-laws' home).
- A bamboo basket/two baskets: in one the idols of Savitri-Satyavan-Yama (clay/picture) or Brahma-Savitri, in the other the puja samagri; the basket on the head, with friends and married women, to the puja spot under a banyan tree (temple grounds/the village vat).
- Water and milk at the roots of the banyan, roli-akshat-turmeric-kumkum, flowers, incense and lamp; rounds winding raw thread/mauli around the trunk — 7 (or 11/21/108) times, 'Om Vataya Namah'/remembrance of Savitri in each round; after the rounds bow to the thread with folded hands.
- Bhog: soaked chana (black/white), poori, mango, melon, banyan fruit, jaggery, pua/malpua, sattu; fanning the banyan (the heat — Savitri fanned Satyavan); listen to the katha holding 11-21 soaked chanas in the hand.
- The story of Savitri and Satyavan (below) — the married women together; give the chana of the katha to the mother-in-law/eldest married woman and touch her feet, bayana (poori-pua-chana-fruit-cloth-dakshina); keep the banyan leaf/fruit prasad.
- On returning home apply tilak to the husband and bow; break the fast (if waterless) with water and chana/fruit from the husband's hand; keep a banyan leaf in the hair/at the puja place; a piece of the raw thread in the safe.
- Shani Jayanti (the same day): black sesame, mustard oil, black cloth, iron — to a Shani temple/the needy; an oil lamp at the peepal in the evening; 'Om Sham Shanaishcharaya Namah'.
- Those who cannot reach a banyan — a potted/pictured banyan branch or a clay banyan at home with the same vidhi; the custom of the south and Maharashtra (Vat Purnima) 15 days later with the same vidhi.
Puja samagri checklist
A bamboo basket, raw thread and soaked chana — the mark of this vrat; the rest is suhag samagri.
- 2 bamboo baskets (one with the idols of Savitri-Satyavan/Brahma-Savitri, the other with the samagri), red cloth
- Raw thread (white/red), mauli/kalava — for the rounds
- Soaked chana (black/white, 11-21 in the hand), jaggery, poori, pua/malpua, sattu
- Fruit — mango, melon, banana, litchi; banyan fruit (if available)
- Roli, akshat, turmeric, kumkum, sindoor, mehndi, bangles, bindi (suhag items — for the banyan and the mother-in-law)
- Lota of water and milk, garland, incense, ghee lamp, camphor, hand fan
- Bayana: poori-pua-chana, fruit, cloth (saree/blouse), dakshina — for the mother-in-law
- Shani Jayanti: black sesame, mustard oil, black cloth, an iron item (charity)
- Vat Savitri katha book
Soaked chana, pua, mango — the bhog of Vat Savitri
In the heat of Jyeshtha the bhog is cool and simple: soaked chana (of the katha), poori-pua, mango-melon, sattu sherbet; the fast waterless/fruit; paran with water and chana from the husband's hand.
- Soaked chana: black/white chana soaked overnight, with jaggery — in the hand during the katha, to the mother-in-law, as prasad; many women break the fast by swallowing 11 chanas with water (folk custom)
- Pua/malpua (flour-jaggery-fennel, in ghee), poori, kheer; 'pua-poori' in Bihar-Purvanchal, mango-coconut-soaked chana in Maharashtra (Vat Purnima)
- Fruit: mango, melon, litchi, banana; prasad of ripe banyan fruit
- On the fast day: waterless (as strength allows) or fruit and milk; pregnant/unwell with fruit without fail; paran — water, chana and fruit from the husband's hand; then a light meal
- Shani Jayanti: black sesame-jaggery laddoos, charity of urad khichdi
Rules — do's and don'ts
✅ Do
- Solah shringar, all the suhag items for the banyan and the mother-in-law — the essence of the vrat is good fortune
- Circle the banyan with raw thread, at least 7 times; fan it
- The katha with the married women; soaked chana in the hand, bayana to the mother-in-law
- Paran with water and chana from the husband's hand — if waterless, early in the heat
- The sesame-oil charity of Shani Jayanti; a water stall under the banyan
❌ Don't
- Do not break banyan branches or leaves — take fallen leaves/fruit for the puja
- No insisting on a waterless fast in the heat of Jyeshtha — the pregnant/unwell/elderly with fruit and water
- Quarrels, black or white clothes on the vrat day (the black cloth of Shani charity is another matter)
- No plastic/nylon as the raw thread — cotton
- Do not leave idols and puja material like litter under the banyan — into water/earth
Vrat katha
Savitri, daughter of King Ashwapati of Madra, chose as her husband Satyavan, son of the blind, exiled King Dyumatsena, in the forest. Narada said — Satyavan has one year to live. Savitri stood firm, the marriage took pla… Read the full katha →
Frequently asked questions
When is the Vat Savitri vrat in {Y}?
The date at the top is this year's Jyeshtha Amavasya (the North-Indian tradition) — from panchang calculations; the span of the Amavasya tithi and the puja muhurat (Delhi) are shown too. In Maharashtra, Gujarat and the south, Vat Purnima on Jyeshtha Purnima (15 days later).
Amavasya or Purnima — which is right?
Both are sanctioned — the Amavasya in the Skanda and Bhavishya Puranas (North India), the Purnima in the Nirnayamrita etc. (Maharashtra-south); the katha and vidhi are the same; follow the custom of your family and region.
What if there is no banyan?
A potted banyan/bonsai at home, or a banyan branch (fallen/from a temple), or a picture/clay banyan — the same vidhi; wind the thread and circle around that.
Why wind raw thread?
Savitri won back her husband's life from Yama — the binding of thread symbolises the protection of the husband's life (the 'raksha sutra'), the banyan is immortal; the 7 rounds recall the seven rounds of the wedding.
Where should a new bride keep her first vrat?
In folk custom the first Vat Savitri is at the in-laws' home with the mother-in-law (bayana to her); in some regions (Mithila) the bayana comes from the parents' home; the vrat is valid wherever you are — the katha and banyan puja are the main things.
What to do for Shani Jayanti on Vat Savitri?
Jyeshtha Amavasya is Shani's birthday — charity of black sesame, mustard oil, black cloth, iron and urad; an oil lamp at the peepal in the evening; special for those in Sade Sati/Dhaiya. See your Shani position on the Kundali page.
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