Somvar Vrat

Significance

Somvar Vrat is the weekly observance dedicated to Shiva. It is kept on Mondays, and the name comes from Som, a name associated with the moon and with Shiva himself. Because the day belongs to Shiva, the vrat is a simple, repeatable way of turning one day of the week toward prayer, restraint and remembrance.

Readers often come to Somvar Vrat in one of two ways. Some keep it through a fixed period — most commonly the Mondays of Shravana (Sawan), which many households treat as the principal Somvar Vrat season. The dates listed on this page are those Shravana Mondays, computed from the panchang for this year and the next two. Others keep every Monday of the year, or a chosen set of Mondays, as a personal vow. Both approaches are found in practice, and neither is treated as more correct than the other.

The observance is not tied to a single region. North Indian households, South Indian households and diaspora families all keep it, though the details — the number of meals, the exact items offered, the time of parana — vary by family and by community. Where traditions differ, this page notes the difference rather than settling it.

Vrat vidhi step by step

The vidhi below is a general outline. Families and local traditions add or simplify steps, and a household's own practice should be treated as authoritative for its members.

• Begin with a resolve. State, inwardly or aloud, that you are keeping the vrat — for a single Monday, for the Shravana Mondays, or for a set number of weeks.
• Bathe and clean the space. An early bath and a clean place of worship are customary before the day's observances begin.
• Offer water and perform abhishek. Shiva abhishek is central to the day: water is poured over the Shivalinga while mantras or the name of Shiva are recited. Milk, curd, honey or other substances are used in some traditions; plain water is used in others.
• Light a lamp and offer what is available. Flowers, fruit, bilva leaves and simple food offerings are common. The offering is what the household has, not what it can purchase specially.
• Recite or listen to the katha. The Somvar Vrat katha is read or heard, usually after the morning worship or in the evening.
• Keep one meal. The day is observed with one meal. Whether that meal is taken in the afternoon or in the evening is a matter of family practice.
• Close the vrat with parana. The fast is broken the next morning, or as the household's tradition prescribes. See the parana section below.

If you are unsure how to adapt any step, a qualified jyotishi or your family's purohit can advise on specifics; this page describes the general shape of the observance only.

What to eat and avoid

The food rules for Somvar Vrat are the familiar vrat rules rather than anything unique to Monday. The day is kept with one meal, and that meal is usually a simple, sattvic one.

• Commonly taken: fruit, milk, curd, sabudana, singhara and rajgira preparations, potatoes, peanuts, and rock salt in place of ordinary salt. These are the items most households associate with vrat days.
• Commonly avoided: grains such as wheat and rice, pulses, onion and garlic, and ordinary table salt. Some households avoid these strictly; others relax them for the single meal.
• Alcohol and tobacco are set aside for the day in households that observe the vrat seriously.

Practices differ. Some families take the one meal as a full vrat meal; others take a lighter meal and keep the rest of the day on fruit and milk. Smarta and Vaishnava households, and North and South Indian traditions, do not always agree on the list, and the differences are old and accepted. The rule of thumb is to follow the practice of the household or the tradition in which the vow was taken.

Parana rules

Parana is the breaking of the fast, and its timing is the part of Somvar Vrat most often asked about. In general:

• The vrat is broken the following morning, after the day's worship is complete.
• Parana is done after offering water and prayers to Shiva, not before.
• The meal used to break the fast is a normal, simple meal — there is no special parana dish required by the observance itself.
• Some households break the fast on Monday evening after the evening worship instead of the next morning. Both are found in practice.

Because the exact window depends on sunrise and on local custom, families usually fix their own parana time and keep it consistently. If you want the timing matched to your own chart and location, a qualified jyotishi can help.

Katha in brief

The Somvar Vrat katha is read or heard as part of the observance. In outline, it tells of a devoted observer of the Monday vrat and of Shiva's regard for that devotion — the story turns on steadfastness in keeping the vow rather than on any bargain struck for a reward. The telling varies between regions, and the version read in one household may differ in detail from another's. What stays constant is the frame: the vrat is kept for Shiva, the day is passed in restraint and worship, and the fast is closed with parana.

For personal guidance on keeping the vrat, its duration or its parana timing in relation to your own chart, consult a qualified jyotishi.