The Vat Savitri puja is the worship of the banyan tree, in memory of Savitri and Satyavan, done by married women in the first half of the day while they fast. In short: bathe and make the sankalp, go to a banyan with your thali, offer water, roli, flowers, soaked black gram and fruit, wind raw cotton thread round the trunk as you walk, fan the tree, hear the katha and touch the elders' feet.
The north keeps the vrat on Jyeshtha Amavasya; Maharashtra, Gujarat and the south keep it as Vat Purnima on Jyeshtha Purnima, about two weeks later. Both days are on the Vat Savitri date page. This page is the order of the puja under the tree.
Puja samagri
- A puja thali, a lota of water, and a small kalash if your family uses one
- Raw cotton thread (kachcha soot), white or yellow, enough for your rounds; some families use mauli
- Roli, haldi, sindoor, akshat, sandal paste
- Soaked black gram (kala chana), soaked overnight; in many homes a little sprouted
- Seasonal fruit, often mangoes, litchis or jamun in the north
- Flowers and a garland, dub grass
- A hand fan (pankha) of bamboo or palm leaf, to fan the tree, and in some homes to fan the husband afterwards
- A ghee lamp, incense
- Puris, sweet pua or gulgule, and other naivedya as the family makes
- Small images or a picture of Savitri and Satyavan, if your family worships them alongside the tree
- Suhag items to offer or give: bangles, bindi, sindoor, a red cloth
- A bayna for the mother-in-law: a basket of fruit, gram, clothes and sweets
Step by step
- Morning bath and sankalp. Bathe early and dress as a married woman does for a festival, many in red or a wedding sari. Take water in the right hand and say in your own words that you are keeping the Vat Savitri vrat for your husband's long life and the family's well-being. Let the water fall.
- Prepare the thali. Arrange roli, rice, flowers, the soaked gram, fruit, the thread, the fan and the lamp. Fill the lota.
- Go to the banyan. Many women go together to a neighbourhood or temple banyan. Clean a small space at its root. If you have images of Savitri and Satyavan, place them there.
- Ganesh first. Remember Ganesh with a little roli, rice and a flower.
- Worship the tree. Pour water at the root. Apply roli and haldi to the trunk, offer akshat, flowers, the garland, soaked gram, fruit and sweets. Light the lamp and incense.
- Wind the thread. Holding the end of the raw thread against the trunk, walk round the tree clockwise, letting the thread wind round it as you go. Seven rounds is the most common custom; 108 is kept in many families. Some women offer a soaked gram or a grain at each round.
- Fan the tree. Fan the banyan with the pankha a few times, as Savitri is said to have fanned Satyavan in the heat.
- Hear the katha. Sit in the shade and hear the Vat Savitri vrat katha, the story of Savitri, Satyavan and Yama, holding a few grains in the hand. Offer them at the root afterwards.
- Aarti and blessings. Do the aarti. Touch the feet of the older women present and give the bayna to the mother-in-law. Many women apply sindoor to each other.
- At home. On returning, many women fan their husband and touch his feet, and he gives her a small gift. The fast is then broken according to family custom.
Checking the time
The banyan puja is traditionally done before or around madhyahna, the middle part of the day, and the day itself is chosen as the one on which the Amavasya (or the Purnima, for Vat Purnima) holds at madhyahna; that is worked out on the date page. Within the morning, families who like to begin at a favourable moment look at the choghadiya for their city and leave out the rahu kaal. The heat of Jyeshtha is real, so an earlier start is kinder for everyone.
Customs families keep
These are customs, not conditions; your family's way comes first.
- Some women fast without water until the puja; many take water and fruit; pregnant, unwell and older women eat as their doctor advises.
- The soaked black gram is often the first food after the puja, eaten whole with water.
- The thread is left on the tree; it is not unwound.
- In many homes the first Vat Savitri after marriage is kept with gifts from the bride's parents.
- Some families keep a three-day fast from Trayodashi to the Amavasya or Purnima, as Savitri fasted for three days in the story.
- Unmarried girls sometimes join the puja without fasting.
Regional ways
- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh: Vat Savitri on Jyeshtha Amavasya, with groups of women at the banyan, the soaked gram and the pankha; in Bihar the fan and seasonal fruit are central, and Maithili families keep it with special care. In amanta calendars the same new moon is named Vaishakha Amavasya.
- Maharashtra and Goa: Vat Purnima on Jyeshtha Purnima. Women in nine-yard or festive saris gather at the banyan, tie the thread, offer five fruits and exchange vaan, small offerings, with one another.
- Gujarat: also kept as Vat Purnima, with a fast and banyan worship, often over three days.
- Odisha: Savitri Brata on the Amavasya, kept mostly at home with images of Savitri and a plate of seasonal fruits.
- South India: kept by some communities on the Purnima, in the Vat Purnima form.
After the puja
Share the gram, fruit and sweets. If you worshipped a banyan branch at home, plant it in a pot or place it in clean water after the day. Another story of resolve is the Hartalika Teej katha, and the autumn fast for a husband's long life is the Karwa Chauth katha.