Vat Savitri Vrat 2027वट सावित्री व्रत

When is Vat Savitri Vrat?

Observed on Jyeshtha Amavasya (North); Jyeshtha Purnima (Maharashtra, Gujarat, South). Dates follow the Panchang for New Delhi and can differ by a day in other places — check the Panchang for your city.

What Vat Savitri Vrat means

Vat Savitri Vrat honours Savitri, the wife whose love, courage and intelligence won back her husband's life from Yama, the lord of death. Married women fast and worship the banyan tree (vat or bargad), praying for their husbands' long life and a happy married life. In North India it falls on Jyeshtha Amavasya; in Maharashtra, Gujarat and much of the South it is kept fifteen days later on Jyeshtha Purnima as Vat Purnima.

The banyan is chosen because Savitri's story ends beneath it, and because tradition sees Brahma in its roots, Vishnu in its trunk and Shiva in its branches. Its long life and spreading aerial roots make it a natural symbol of a long and fruitful married life.

Savitri is remembered not only as a devoted wife but as a woman of wisdom who outwitted death through reasoned argument and steadfastness — the Mahabharata tells her story as one of the great examples of dharma.

The story of Vat Savitri Vrat

The Mahabharata (Vana Parva) tells that King Ashvapati of Madra prayed for a child and was blessed with a daughter, Savitri. When she grew up she set out to choose her own husband, and chose Satyavan, son of the blind, exiled king Dyumatsena, who lived as a woodcutter in the forest. The sage Narada warned that Satyavan would die in exactly one year; Savitri would not change her choice.

As the day approached, Savitri fasted for three days. On the fated day she went with Satyavan into the forest; as he cut wood he felt faint, laid his head in her lap beneath a banyan tree, and died. Yama himself came to take his soul.

Savitri followed Yama. Moved by her wisdom and devotion, he granted her boons — but not Satyavan's life: sight and a kingdom for her father-in-law, sons for her own father. Then she asked for sons of her own by Satyavan. Bound by his word, Yama had to return Satyavan's life, and he woke in her lap beneath the banyan.

Vat Savitri Vrat puja vidhi, step by step

How Vat Savitri is usually kept. Customs differ between North India (Amavasya) and Maharashtra/Gujarat (Purnima).

What you need

• Raw cotton thread (kachcha sut) or mauli
• Water in a lota, roli, sindoor, akshat, flowers
• Soaked black chana, fruits, puri or gulgule
• A hand fan (bans ka pankha)
• Sixteen adornments (solah shringar) to offer
• Images of Savitri-Satyavan, or the katha book

When to do the puja

In 2027 Vat Savitri falls on Friday, 4 June (Jyeshtha Amavasya) in North India; Vat Purnima falls on Jyeshtha Purnima, about two weeks later. Check the Panchang for your region. See the Panchang for your city.

Steps

1. Sankalp. Bathe early, dress in finery and take a sankalp for the vrat.
2. Worship the banyan. Offer water at the roots, apply roli and sindoor, and offer flowers, chana and fruit.
3. Wind the thread. Walk around the trunk 7, 11 or 108 times, winding raw cotton thread around it.
4. Katha. Hear the story of Savitri and Satyavan.
5. Offerings. Fan the tree, offer the shringar items, give them to married women or the priest, and touch the feet of elders.
6. Break the fast. Break the fast with soaked chana and fruit, as your family does.

Offerings & food: Soaked black chana, fruit (mango, lychee), puri, gulgule, a hand fan (pankha), sixteen adornments

Mantras for Vat Savitri Vrat

Vat Savitri Vrat across India

On Jyeshtha Amavasya in UP, Bihar, MP, Punjab and Haryana; as Vat Purnima on Jyeshtha Purnima in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and Karnataka

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana

Kept on Jyeshtha Amavasya; women gather at banyan trees in groups, wind thread and hear the katha.

Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat

Vat Purnima on Jyeshtha Purnima, often with a three-day fast from Trayodashi.

Odisha

Savitri Brata on Jyeshtha Amavasya, with offerings of fruit and the reading of the Savitri story.

Prayers to recite

Do’s and don’ts

Frequently asked questions