Rishi Panchami puja is the worship of the seven great rishis, the Saptarishi, together with Arundhati, kept on the bright Panchami of Bhadrapada with a simple bath, a midday puja and plain food. In short: bathe with apamarga, set out seven heaps of rice for the rishis and one for Arundhati, worship them, hear the katha, and eat only what grew without the plough.
The date for your city is on the Rishi Panchami date page; the tithi at midday matters, so check the panchang for the day. No times are given here, because they change by city and by year.
Samagri: what to keep ready
- Apamarga (chirchita, latjira) twigs for the bath and for cleaning the teeth; where they cannot be found, a few leaves or just a clean bath
- A clean board (chauki) with a yellow or white cloth
- Rice for seven small heaps, or seven betel nuts, and an eighth for Arundhati; some families draw the eight with turmeric or make small figures of kusha grass
- Water in a kalash or lota, sandal paste, roli, turmeric, akshat
- Flowers, a few tulsi leaves and durva
- A ghee lamp and incense
- Janeu (sacred thread) for the rishis, in families that offer it
- Fruit, and for bhog curd, milk or a sweet made without ploughed grain
- The vrat book, or the story as the family tells it
The puja, step by step
- The apamarga bath. In the morning clean the teeth with an apamarga twig, then bathe. Some families rub apamarga leaves on the body, or bathe in a river or pond; many simply add a few leaves to the bath water at home.
- Sankalp. Sit facing east or north, take water in the right hand, and say in your own words that you are keeping Rishi Panchami in honour of the Saptarishi and Arundhati, in gratitude for all who have taught you. Let the water fall.
- Prepare the place. Spread the cloth on the chauki. Make seven small heaps of rice in a row or a curve, the shape of the Saptarishi stars in many homes, and an eighth beside the sixth or seventh for Arundhati. Set a betel nut on each if you use them, and place the kalash nearby.
- Ganesh first. Light the lamp and remember Ganesh with a flower and a pinch of rice.
- Worship the rishis. Name each one as you offer water, sandal, rice and a flower: Kashyapa, Atri, Bharadvaja, Vishvamitra, Gautama, Jamadagni and Vasishtha, and then Arundhati. Offer a janeu to the rishis if that is your custom, and a little turmeric and kumkum to Arundhati. A simple name-mantra such as "Om Saptarishibhyo Namah" is enough.
- Bhog. Offer fruit, curd or milk, and whatever unploughed food you will eat later.
- Hear the katha. Read or listen to the Rishi Panchami vrat katha. Many families now add a sentence of their own after it, saying that menstruation is natural and the day is kept as gratitude.
- Aarti and prayer. Wave the lamp, and take a moment to remember by name the teachers, elders and others who have taught you.
- Gift to a teacher. Some families offer food, fruit or a small gift to a teacher or learned person afterwards, as a way of honouring the rishis in the living.
- The meal. At the end of the puja, or once in the day, eat the simple meal of the vrat.
Checking the time
The puja is traditionally done at madhyahna, the middle part of the day, so families look for the Panchami tithi to be running at that time in their city. The panchang shows the tithi and sunrise and sunset; the madhyahna window is the middle fifth of the daylight, which the date page sets out for each city. Families who like to start in a good window can also check the choghadiya for the day.
Customs families keep
These are customs, not conditions. Your family's own way comes first.
- Food that grew without ploughing: samak or sanwa rice (barnyard millet), wild greens, roots, fruit; many avoid wheat and ordinary rice for the day.
- Some families avoid food that needed the labour of bullocks, so even milk from a cow is skipped and buffalo milk used in its place; others take milk and curd freely.
- One meal in the day, or a fast until the puja; pregnant, unwell and older people take fruit, milk and water, and a doctor's advice comes first.
- In some families the vrat is kept for seven years, or another fixed number, and then completed with an udyapan, when seven Brahmin couples or seven teachers are fed.
- Many women keep it for their whole lives; many men now keep it with them.
Regional ways
- Maharashtra: the day's dish is Rishi Panchami bhaji, a mixed vegetable cooked from produce grown without bullocks or the plough, such as colocasia leaves, pumpkin, ridge gourd, corn and green chillies, often with no onion or garlic. It is eaten with bhagar (sama rice).
- Gujarat and Rajasthan: women gather in groups for the puja and hear the katha together, and in some towns go to a riverbank or temple tank for the bath.
- Uttar Pradesh: the Saptarishi are often drawn on the floor with rice paste or turmeric, and a lamp is lit before the drawing.
- Nepal: Rishi Panchami comes two days after Teej. Women bathe in rivers, scrubbing many times with datiwan (apamarga) twigs and red earth, and then worship the seven rishis; the riverbanks of the Bagmati at Kathmandu are crowded on the day.
After the puja
Share the prasad. The days around Rishi Panchami are full of observances; the stories of Hartalika Teej and Ganesh Chaturthi are close by.