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The goddess enthroned in a red sari under a canopy, attendants fanning her, a musician with a veena at her feet — a Ravi Varma Press print titled Ambika.
Parvati as Ambika, the Mother — Ravi Varma Press, Malavli, early 20th century

Parvati & Shiva · Sunrise to next morning; pradosh puja 60–90 min

Hartalika Teej vrat

Bhadrapada Shukla Tritiya (14 Sep 2026; 3 Sep 2027)

In the simplest words

Parvati's own vrat, the strictest one: a day (often waterless) for the husband or the husband-to-be, with her clay murti and night songs.

The sternest of the Teejs re-lives Parvati's forest vigil: a shivling shaped by one's own hands from sand or clay, worshipped through the evening and watched through the night. It is kept for the companion of one's heart, by the married for their spouse, by the unmarried in Parvati's own footsteps.

Perform this puja

6 steps, one at a time, with the lamp, the mantras and the bell, on this screen.

Samagri: what you need

0/4 gathered

The vidhi, step by step

0/6 done

  1. Nirjala sankalpa at dawn

    The vow taken per capacity: nirjala where health allows; a jal or phalahar vrat with the same bhava otherwise.

  2. Shape the deities

    In the afternoon, shape the shivling and a small Gauri from sand/clay with your own hands. This is the vrat's defining act; Parvati made hers the same way.

  3. Pradosh shringar-puja

    At dusk, under the fulera: Gauri receives the full suhag offerings, Shiva the bel, datura and shami; dhoop, deep and the naivedya; sixteen-fold worship as capacity allows.

    ॐ पार्वत्यै नमः

    Oṁ Pārvatyai Namaḥ

    Om, salutations to Parvati, daughter of the mountain. The name is her birth: parvata is the mountain, and she is Sati reborn as Himavat's child to win Shiva back, the story the Shiva Purana (Rudra Samhita, Parvati Khanda) and Kalidasa's Kumarasambhava tell. The reciter bows to Shakti in her gentlest form: consort, mother, and the half without which the ascetic is not whole.

    Source: Traditional nāma-mantra

  4. Katha

    The Hartalika katha, the sakhi's rescue, the forest vow, is read; hearing it is held equal to keeping it.

  5. Night watches

    Traditionally the night passes in bhajan through the prahars, with aarti at each watch. Keep what your strength allows.

    ॐ नमः शिवाय

    Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya

    I bow to Shiva, the auspicious one. Shiva names what is ever-kind and ever-pure: stillness itself, the ground under every wave of experience, rather than a being who possesses stillness. The five syllables na-mah-shi-vā-ya are held to answer the five elements, so the whole person, earth to ether, is folded into one bow. Nothing is asked for; this is the rare prayer whose entire content is surrender.

    Source: Taittirīya Saṁhitā 4.5.8, Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda: Śrī Rudram, anuvāka 8 ('namaḥ śivāya ca śivatarāya ca')

  6. Morning visarjan & parana

    Morning aarti; the clay deities placed in water with thanks; the fast broken with jal from an elder's hand.

Note: 2026's date carries a genuine split (13/14 Sep — see the festival entry). Karnataka keeps the tithi as Gowri Habba with its own vidhi; UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, MP, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh keep Hartalika. Health precedes severity, always.

Hartalika Teej →Hariyali Teej →Kajari Teej →