When is Hartalika Teej?
The answer
Friday, 3 September 2027
Kept without water, for Parvati.
Pratah Kaal puja time
The window
6:00 AM – 8:32 AM
- Lasts
- 2h 32m
- Sunset
- 6:40 PM
- Pratah Kaal
- 6:00 AM – 8:32 AM
Why that day
- The tithi it is
- Bhadrapada Shukla 3
Read the ordinary way: the day whose SUNRISE this tithi is running at.
And after that
Tuesday, 22 August 2028
Bhadrapada Shukla 3
Tuesday, 11 September 2029
Bhadrapada Shukla 3
6:04 AM – 6:09 AM
How this date is worked out
A festival is a position, not a date. The lunar month is named by the sidereal sign the Sun stands in at the new moon that opens it, and the tithi is the Moon's distance from the Sun in twelve-degree steps. Both come from the same ephemeris this site casts birth charts with.
North India reckons a month from full moon to full moon, so the dark fortnight carries the next month's name — the same day is Shravana Krishna Tritiya in Pune and Bhadrapada Krishna Tritiya in Delhi. These dates use the northern reckoning, and the tithi is printed above so there is nothing to take on trust.
Why it is kept
Bhadrapada Shukla Tritiya — the hardest of the three Teejs. It is a full twenty-four hours without food or water, and the night vigil is part of it. The name comes out of the story: harat, carried off, and alika, the friends — her friends carried Parvati away, hence Hartalika. The date follows udaya tithi, the day on which Tritiya is running at sunrise. The puja is of images of Shiva and Parvati made from sand or clay, not bought ones, because in the story Parvati made her lingam out of sand.
The story behind it
Parvati's austerity
Parvati wanted Shiva and kept years of austerity — first on fruit, then on leaves, then without even those. The name Aparna comes from there.
Her father's decision
On Narada's advice Himavan settled her marriage with Vishnu — without asking her.
The friends
Parvati told her friends. They took her into deep forest and hid her in a cave — that is the carrying off, and where the name comes from.
A lingam of sand
In the cave she made a lingam of sand and kept a waterless fast on Bhadrapada Shukla Tritiya, worshipping through the night.
The boon
Shiva appeared and accepted her, and Himavan agreed. So the vrat is kept both for a husband's life and for the husband one wants.
What to keep ready
- Sand or black clay, to make the images of Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha
- Bel, datura, aak flowers, shami leaves — for Shiva
- The full set of the sixteen shringar, to be offered to Parvati
- Green cloth, green bangles, mehndi
- A phulera — a canopy of flowers
- Banana leaves, coconut, paan, supari
- A ghee lamp meant to burn all night
- Fruit and sweets, for the bhog rather than the vrati
How the puja is done
1
The vow
Bathe before sunrise, the sixteen shringar, green cloth. The sankalp is nirjala — twenty-four hours, not even water.
2
Making the images
Make Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha with your own hands from sand or clay. That is the heart of the story; a bought image is not the custom.
3
Pradosh puja
The main puja is in Pradosh kaal, after sunset. Set the images under the phulera.
4
The sixteen offerings
Bel, datura and shami to Shiva; to Parvati the sixteen shringar offered one by one, each named as it is given.
5
Katha and vigil
Hear the Hartalika katha, then keep the night awake with an aarti at each watch. It is treated as required, not optional.
6
Morning parana
After the morning aarti the images go into water; give the shringar to the mother-in-law or an elder woman, take the blessing, and break the fast.
What to do
- Make the images yourself from sand or clay — in the story Parvati made hers from sand.
- Do the main puja in Pradosh kaal, not during the day.
- Keep the night awake with an aarti each watch; it is part of the vrat, not an extra.
- Break the fast the next morning, not that night.
- Give away the shringar offered to Parvati to a married woman in the morning.
- Unmarried girls may keep it; in the story Parvati was unmarried.
What not to do
- Not even water — it is a full twenty-four hours, and the hardest of the three Teejs.
- No sleeping on the day of the vrat, not even in the daytime; the tradition says sleep reduces its fruit.
- Do not break it midway — it is held that once taken, this vrat is kept for life.
- No tulsi, haldi, kumkum or ketaki flower on Shiva.
- No black and no white today.
- Keep clear of anger, quarrels and ill-speaking.
The aarti
Shiv-Parvati Aarti
जय पार्वती माता, जय शिव शंकर स्वामी।
दोनों की जोड़ी सोहे, तुम अंतर्यामी॥
बालू की प्रतिमा से, पूजन तूने कीना।
निर्जल व्रत रख माता, शिव को वर लीना॥
सखियाँ हर ले आईं, गहन वन के बीचा।
गुफा में तप कर माता, शिव मन को खींचा॥
भादों शुक्ल तृतीया, व्रत यह भारी है।
जागरण रात भर का, रीत निराली है॥
सोलह श्रृंगार अर्पण, माता को भाता।
जो नारी व्रत धारे, सुहाग अटल पाता॥
शिव-पार्वती की आरती, जो कोई नर-नारी गावे।
मनवांछित वर पावे, घर मंगल छावे॥
The sky has a calendar. So do you.
The same engine reads your own birth moment — every house, every graha, every period with dates.