Parvati & Shiva
Kajari Teej
The Teej of the kajari songs: dark monsoon skies, and love sung across them.
Tithi: Bhadrapada Krishna Tritiya (north) · Shravana Krishna Tritiya (west & south) — the same night
Which calendar do you follow?
The bright fortnight is named the same everywhere. A dark fortnight belongs to one month in the north and to the month before it in Maharashtra, Gujarat and the south: the same night, two true names. Saved only on this device.
In the simplest words
The monsoon teej of songs: women sing kajari folk melodies under grey skies, fast for their families, and swing the season in.
The story & purpose
Kajari takes its name from kajal, the kohl-dark clouds of Bhadon, and is a Teej of music as much as vrat. In Mirzapur, Banaras, and Bundelkhand the kajari genre carries a wife's monsoon-longing for her husband; on this Tritiya women fast, worship Gauri-Shiva, and sing under the swings.
The rest of the story
The day's rustic signature is sattu, roasted gram flour sweetened with jaggery, offered and then eaten at moonrise to break the fast. In parts of Rajasthan and MP it is Badi Teej, with the neem-branch Nimdi Mata worshipped at dusk.
What is done
Vrat & Gauri puja
A day's fast with Parvati-Shiva worship; green and shringar as on all Teejs.
Nimdi Mata
In the Rajasthani custom, a neem branch honoured with jal, roli, and akshata at dusk.
Sattu & moonrise parana
The fast broken on sighting the moon, with sattu first.
Kajari singing
The season's songs, in gathering or alone, the vrat's living folk half.
Best timings
Puja by day; parana after moonrise.
Exact muhurat varies by city and tradition; for the precise hour, consult a local panchang for your location.
Worth knowing
Mirzapur's kajari akharas hold sung 'contests' through Bhadon: poetry as sport.
Kajari Teej falls three days after Raksha Bandhan and five before Janmashtami, in Krishna's own dark fortnight.
Bundi in Rajasthan celebrates it as a royal fair with Teej Mata's procession.