When is Vat Savitri Amavasya?
The answer
Friday, 4 June 2027
Kept for a husband's long life.
Why that day
- The tithi it is
- Jyeshtha Krishna Amavasya
Read the ordinary way: the day whose SUNRISE this tithi is running at.
And after that
Wednesday, 24 May 2028
Jyeshtha Krishna Amavasya
Tuesday, 12 June 2029
Jyeshtha Krishna Amavasya
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
Jyeshtha Amavasya — the fast married women keep for their husband's life. It is the one great vrat in which the worship is not of a deity but of a woman: Savitri, who argued with Yama and brought her husband back. The banyan is there because Satyavan died under one, and Savitri sat under it and kept talking. In the north it falls on the amavasya, in Gujarat and Maharashtra on the Jyeshtha purnima — both are kept.
The story behind it
The choice
Princess Savitri chose Satyavan — a woodsman, the son of a blind king. Narada said he would die within the year. She said she chose once.
The day
A year later, on the day, Satyavan went to cut wood. His head hurt and he lay down under a banyan with his head in her lap.
Yama
Yama came himself, took his life and started south. Savitri walked behind him.
Three boons
Go back, he said. She did not. Pleased, he gave her boons — with the first she asked for her father-in-law's sight, with the second his lost kingdom.
The third
With the third she asked for a hundred sons. Yama said so be it — and then she said: I am a wife of one husband; how am I to have sons without Satyavan? He had to keep his word. The boon was won by argument, not by pleading.
What to keep ready
- Raw cotton thread, to wind round the banyan
- A lota of water, roli, akshat, haldi
- A bamboo fan, for the fanning that stands for keeping death off
- A picture or clay images of Savitri and Satyavan
- Soaked gram, which is this vrat's fixed prasad
- Mango, litchi, jamun — the fruit of Jyeshtha
- Sindoor, bangles, bindi and shringar
- Puri, pue and sweets, to share under the tree
How the puja is done
1
The vow
Bathe in the morning, put on the full shringar, and take the sankalp for the husband's long life. By custom it is nirjala.
2
At the banyan
Pour water at the root, put roli and akshat on the trunk, and offer fruit and sweets.
3
Going round
Wind raw thread round the tree over 7, 11 or 108 circuits — whichever your family keeps.
4
The fan
Fan the picture, or the tree, with the bamboo fan — for the night Savitri walked behind Yama.
5
The katha
Hear the story of Savitri and Satyavan with soaked gram in the hand.
6
Breaking it
Touch the feet of the mother-in-law or eldest woman, take the blessing, and break the fast on the soaked gram and fruit.
What to do
- Keep the vrat at a banyan; if there is none, plant a banyan sprig in a pot and do the puja at it — the tradition allows that.
- Fix the number of circuits beforehand and complete exactly that many.
- Soaked gram must be in the prasad — the fast is broken on it.
- Take the blessing of the mother-in-law or eldest woman before you eat.
- Anyone not fasting can still hear the katha; the katha is the heart of this vrat.
What not to do
- Do not break a twig or leaf off the banyan today — the whole vrat is for that tree.
- Not even water before the parana; it is nirjala.
- No black and no white today; red, yellow or green.
- Do not leave the shringar half done — the sixteen are counted as part of this vrat.
- Do not leave the katha or the circuits unfinished.
The aarti
Savitri Mata ki Aarti
जय सावित्री माता, मैया जय सावित्री माता।
पति की आयु बढ़ाने, तूने यम को हराया॥
मद्र देश की बेटी, अश्वपति की प्यारी।
सत्यवान को वरकर, बनी पतिव्रत धारी॥
नारद ने कहा था, वर्ष एक की काया।
फिर भी तूने चुनकर, वचन नहीं बदलाया॥
वट के नीचे बैठी, यम से बात करी तू।
तीन वरों की डोरी, ऐसी बाँध धरी तू॥
बुद्धि से जीता तूने, जो बल से न मिलता।
नारी की गरिमा का, तू ही है उजियारा॥
जय सावित्री माता की आरती, जो कोई नर-नारी गावे।
सुख सौभाग्य बढ़ावे, कुल में यश 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.