Hartalika Teej
The Shukla paksha Tritiya of Bhadrapada, kept mainly by married women for the long life of the husband and by unmarried girls for the husband they hope for. It is the strictest of the three Teej fasts — nirjala, without food or water, from the morning sankalp to the paran the next day. Shiv and Parvati are worshipped in murtis shaped by hand from clay or sand, exactly as Parvati once worshipped a shivling of river sand. The name itself tells the katha: harit, abduction, by the aalika, the friend — the sakhi who carried Parvati away so that her tapasya could happen at all.
Next date: 2026-09-14
vidhi
Bathe before sunrise, dress in the colours of suhaag — red or green — do the solah shringar, and take the nirjala sankalp before the murtis.,Shape murtis of Shiv, Parvati and Ganesh from clean clay or river sand with your own hands, and seat them on a chowki spread with red cloth, under a small canopy of flowers and banana leaves.,Do the puja in pratahkaal: invoke Ganesh first, then offer Shiv belpatra, dhatura, shami leaves, white flowers and chandan.,Offer Parvati the complete suhaag samagri — chunari, sindoor, bindi, mehndi, bangles, kajal; this offering is the heart of the vrat.,Offer a bhog of fruit, coconut and home-made sweets, and light dhoop and a ghee lamp.,Read or listen to the Hartalika katha and do the aarti; keep the japa running through the day.,Keep jagran through the night with bhajan-kirtan, worshipping in each prahar where you can.,Next morning after the final aarti, give the suhaag items to a suhagin, immerse the murtis in clean water, and break the fast beginning with water.katha
Parvati had chosen Shiv before anyone chose for her. From girlhood she did tapasya for him — years of it, on fruit, then on leaves, then on air alone. Narad came to her father Himalaya with Vishnu's proposal, and Himalaya, delighted at such a match, agreed. When Parvati heard, she told her grief to her closest friend, and the friend did the thing the vrat is named for: she carried her away in secret — harit, abduction, by the aalika, the friend — to a forest cave on the bank of the Ganga where no one would find her. There, on the Shukla Tritiya of Bhadrapada, in Hasta nakshatra, Parvati shaped a shivling from the river sand with her own hands and worshipped it without food or water, through the day and through the night. Shiv appeared and gave his word: she would be his. When Himalaya finally found her, the firmness of her resolve won his consent, and the marriage of Shiv and Parvati followed. It is said Shiv himself retold this katha to Parvati — and so it is held that whoever keeps the vrat as she kept it finds a companionship as unbroken as theirs.mantra
[object Object]samagri
Clean clay or river sand for shaping the murtis of Shiv, Parvati and Ganesh,A chowki with red cloth, and a small canopy (phulera) of flowers and banana leaves,Complete suhaag samagri for Parvati — chunari, sindoor, bindi, mehndi, bangles, kajal, bichhiya,Belpatra, dhatura, shami leaves and white flowers for Shiv,Akshat, haldi, chandan, kalawa and janeu,Ghee lamp with a cotton wick, dhoop and camphor for the aarti,Seasonal fruit, coconut and home-made sweets for the bhog,A kalash of water for the sthapana and for the paranUpcoming dates
- 2026-09-14