Hindu vrats

Sankashti Chaturthi, Pradosh Vrat, Purnima, Amavasya and Masik Shivaratri: what each monthly vrat is, how to keep it, and its next dates for your city.

• Sankashti Chaturthi

  Sankashti Chaturthi is a monthly fast for Ganesha, kept on the fourth tithi (Chaturthi) of the dark half of every lunar month. Devotees fast through the day, worship Ganesha in the evening, and break the fast after the moon rises, once they have seen it and offered it water. "Sankashti" means release from difficulty: devotees pray to Ganesha, the remover of obstacles, for help with the troubles of life.

• Pradosh Vrat (Pradosham)

  Pradosh Vrat is a fast for Shiva kept twice a month, on the thirteenth tithi (Trayodashi) of each half of the moon, with the worship at pradosh, the twilight after sunset. Devotees fast through the day and worship Shiva in the evening, at home or in the temple, and then eat.

• Purnima Vrat (Full Moon Fast)

  Purnima is the full-moon day, the fifteenth tithi of the bright half of each lunar month. Many families keep a light fast on it, worship Vishnu as Satyanarayan with the Satyanarayan katha, and break the fast after they see the full moon in the evening. Others keep the day with an early bath, in a river if one is near, and with gifts of food and clothes to people in need.

• Amavasya (New Moon Day)

  Amavasya is the new-moon day, the last tithi of the dark half of the lunar month, when the sun and the moon stand together and the moon cannot be seen. In many families it is a day to remember the ancestors (pitri) with tarpan, an offering of water with sesame, and with food given in their name. It is also a day for an early bath, in a river if one is near, for gifts to people in need, and for a quiet lamp at home or under a pipal tree.

• Masik Shivaratri (Monthly Shivaratri)

  Masik Shivaratri, "the monthly night of Shiva", is kept on the fourteenth tithi (Chaturdashi) of the dark half of every lunar month, the night before the new moon. Devotees of Shiva fast through the day, worship Shiva in the night, often at midnight, and many stay awake in prayer. Once a year, in Magha (Phalguna in the purnimanta calendar), the same night is Maha Shivaratri, the great night of Shiva, which has its own guide. The monthly night is kept in the spirit of that great night.

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