Vat Savitri Puja Vidhi

Vat Savitri is a vow kept by married women for the long life and wellbeing of their husbands, built around the worship of a banyan tree, the vata. It honours Savitri, who, in the story told in the Mahabharata, follows her husband Satyavan into the realm of Yama and wins him back. The stories are in the Vat Savitri festival page. Here is the worship, in order. In Odisha the vow is called Savitri Brata, and in Maharashtra and Gujarat the day is called Vat Purnima.

The vow falls in the month of Jyeshtha, but the day differs by region. In north India, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Nepal it is kept on Jyeshtha Amavasya, the new moon. In Maharashtra, Gujarat and parts of the south it is kept on Jyeshtha Purnima, the full moon. Almanac pages state the tithi for these two days in different month names, so the Gregorian dates they give for one year do not match, and we give no date. A few sources say the rite proper is three days long, from the thirteenth day of the month to the new or full moon, and most modern pages describe one day. Use a local panchang and your family's practice.

A banyan tree to worship, or a branch of one set in a pot at home. Images or drawings of Savitri and Satyavan, and of Brahma and Yama in some homes. A kalash of water, roli, rice, a red or white thread of raw cotton, flowers and garlands, incense, a lamp, fruit and sweets, soaked black gram, jaggery, and a bamboo basket or fan. In Odisha, nine kinds of flowers and fruit, and sindoor and a new sari. Soaked gram is the common item across pages and is given to elders as baya.

The numbered steps above follow the order most pages give. After a bath and the sankalp, the woman goes to the banyan with her thali, worships Brahma and Savitri, then Savitri and Satyavan, and waters the root. She winds the raw thread round the trunk as she walks around the tree, then hears the story. She gives the soaked gram as baya, touches the feet of her mother-in-law and elders, and honours a married woman with paan, sindoor and kumkum. The fast is broken at the end of the day or the next morning, depending on the household.

The Sanskrit below is given by news and almanac pages. None names an early text for it, so it is best taken as long-standing worship formulas and not as scripture.

The sankalp, as printed by Patrika: मम वैधव्यादिसकलदोषपरिहारार्थं ब्रह्मसावित्रीप्रीत्यर्थं सत्यवत्सावित्रीप्रीत्यर्थं च वटसावित्रीव्रतमहं करिष्ये। Romanised: mama vaidhavyādisakaladoṣaparihārārthaṃ brahmasāvitrīprītyarthaṃ satyavatsāvitrīprītyarthaṃ ca vaṭasāvitrīvratam ahaṃ kariṣye. She states that she keeps the Vat Savitri vow to ward off widowhood and every other misfortune, and to please Brahma with Savitri and Satyavan with Savitri.

The arghya to Savitri, from the same page: अवैधव्यं च सौभाग्यं देहि त्वं मम सुव्रते। पुत्रान् पौत्रांश्च सौख्यं च गृहाणार्घ्यं नमोऽस्तु ते॥ Romanised: avaidhavyaṃ ca saubhāgyaṃ dehi tvaṃ mama suvrate | putrān pautrāṃś ca saukhyaṃ ca gṛhāṇārghyaṃ namo 'stu te ||. It asks the goddess of the good vow for a husband's life, good fortune, sons, grandsons and happiness, and offers her the water.

The prayer to the banyan, given by Patrika and by Shubhpanchang: यथा शाखाप्रशाखाभिर्वृद्धोऽसि त्वं महीतले। तथा पुत्रैश्च पौत्रैश्च सम्पन्नं कुरु मां सदा॥ Romanised: yathā śākhāpraśākhābhir vṛddho 'si tvaṃ mahītale | tathā putraiś ca pautraiś ca sampannaṃ kuru māṃ sadā ||. As you have grown great on the earth with your branches and offshoots, so make me always rich in sons and grandsons. Shubhpanchang gives the line for pouring water on the root as वट सिंचामि ते मूलं सलिलैरमृतोपमैः (vaṭa siñcāmi te mūlaṃ salilair amṛtopamaiḥ), with the spelling as printed there.

The legend of Savitri and Satyavan is from the Mahabharata, in the Vana Parva, and the banyan plays only a secondary part in it. The worship of Savitri in the month of Jyeshtha is described in the Skanda Purana, in chapter 166 of the Prabhasa Kshetra Mahatmya, and later digests such as the Chaturvarga Chintamani and the Vratarka drew on it. That chapter describes an older and longer rite than the one kept today: a fast of three nights from the thirteenth day, a daily bath, an image of Savitri placed in a bamboo vessel with sand or grain and worshipped with Brahma, a night vigil in which the story is told, a symbolic marriage of Savitri and Brahma, gifts to a learned Brahmin, a feast for Brahmin couples under a banyan tree on the full-moon night, and circuits of the tree with fruit.

The winding of raw thread round the tree, the soaked gram, the bamboo fan and the eating of a banyan sprout appear on modern almanac and news pages and not in the chapter we read, so we describe them as custom. The number of turns differs: three, seven, or one hundred and eight, depending on the page. A belief often added is that seven turns bind husband and wife for seven births; that is belief, not a cited text.

In Maharashtra and Gujarat, women dress in traditional clothes and jewellery and worship the banyan on Purnima. In Odisha the day is Savitri Brata, kept on the new moon with a day-long fast, new bright saris, shankha and sindoor, a recitation of the story under a banyan or at a temple, nine kinds of flowers and fruit, and, in some home pujas, a grinding stone dressed in a sari and treated as Savitri. In Karnataka one page lists a Purnima observance and a Savitri prayer. In south India the fast is said to be less strict. Pages differ on whether the fast is waterless or fruit only; a family may keep what its health allows. If a banyan is not within reach, a branch at home or an image will do, and some pages say worship by thought is enough.