Hartalika Teej
The strictest of the Teej fasts — Bhadrapada Shukla Tritiya, kept without food or water for a full day and night.
Where it is kept Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Nepal, where it is a public holiday for women.
When it falls
Computed from the Moon's elongation from the Sun. The civil day is the one carrying the tithi running at sunrise.
Overview
The name is harat and alika — abduction and friend — and it refers to the story rather than to the rite: Parvati's companions carried her off into the forest so that she would not be married to Vishnu against her wish, and there she made a Shiva linga of sand and worshipped it until Shiva accepted her.
The fast is nirjala, without water, and runs a full day and night — from sunrise on Tritiya to sunrise the next day. A sand or clay linga is made, the night is kept awake with songs and the vrat katha, and the parana is at dawn.
Where it comes from
The narrative is from the Shiva Purana's account of Parvati's austerity, in the version where her father Himavan has promised her to Vishnu. The sand linga is the detail that carries into the rite — the object of worship is made by hand on the day and dissolved after, which is unusual and deliberate.
In Nepal the observance has become a large public festival, with women in red gathering at Pashupatinath; the day is a recognised holiday there.
Why it matters
It is the hardest of the women's vratas in the annual calendar in physical terms — a full night and day without water, at the end of the monsoon. The severity is the vow.
The making of the linga from sand or clay, and its dissolution afterwards, means the worship requires no temple, no priest and no permanent image. The rite is complete in a courtyard.
How to celebrate
- Make the linga from clean sand or clay on the day itselfMade by hand, worshipped, and dissolved in water afterwards — that is the form.
- Keep the night awake with the katha and the songsThe vigil is part of the vrat, not an addition to it.
- Break the fast at sunrise after the morning pujaThe parana is at dawn on Chaturthi.
- Take the fast in the form your health allowsPhalahar and water are widely accepted alternatives to the nirjala form.
What to avoid
These are not all the same kind of thing. Some are prohibitions from a named text, some are Indian law, some are practical, and some are a confusion worth not repeating. Each item says which it is.
- Do not attempt a waterless day and night if you are pregnant, unwell or on medicationThe exemptions are traditional as well as sensible; a vrat kept at real risk is not the observance.
- Do not sleep during the night vigil, if you have taken it as part of the vowThe jagarana is what distinguishes this vrat from the other Teejs.
- Do not use a plaster or plastic lingaIt is made and unmade the same day; a permanent image defeats the rite.
- Do not break the fast at nightIt ends at sunrise, unlike Karva Chauth which ends at moonrise.
Where this comes from
Everything above is either computed by this site’s own panchang engine, or drawn from the works listed here. Where a custom is modern, commercial or contested, the page says so rather than presenting it as ancient.
- Shiva Purana, Rudra Samhita, for the narrative of Parvati's forest austerity and the sand linga.
- The Hartalika vrat katha as recited in the observance; a Puranic-derived text with no single fixed recension.
Dates are computed for the place named above and will differ elsewhere. Regional traditions vary; where two reckonings are in use, both are named rather than one being chosen silently.
Other festivals
All festivals, with dates for any year · The calendar on the home page