Tarai women preparing for Vat Savitri fasting

By Our Correspondent,Saptari, May 23: Married women from the Mithila region of the Tarai-Madhes, including Saptari, have started preparing for the Barasait (Vat Savitri) fasting and worship rituals on the occasion of Jyestha Krishna Amavasya.

This year, the fast is to be observed on May 26. Women from the Tarai-Madhes are preparing for this special day.

 During this fast, married women primarily pray under the banyan tree for the longevity and good health of their husbands. Although all married women observe the ritual, newlywed women celebrate it with particular enthusiasm as a major festival.

According to Poonam Devi of Ward No. 5, Rajbiraj Municipality, there is a legend that in ancient times, the youngest daughter-in-law of a family performed this fasting and brought back to life her husband and six elder brothers-in-law who had died from snake bites.

On the day of the fasting, women bathe early in the morning, wear clean new clothes, adorn themselves with sixteen traditional ornaments, and gather under the banyan tree.

 They offer seasonal fruits like apples, mangoes, lychees, betel leaves, betel nuts, bananas, sweet dishes like rice pudding, milk, puffed rice, and fox nuts.

 They perform a ritual puja by walking around the banyan tree five times, tying a sacred thread around it, and listening to the story associated with the fasting.

Locally, the Vat Savitri puja is also called ‘Basarait.’ 

According to legend, in ancient times, Sati Savitri began this fasting to bring her husband Satyavan back to life after his untimely death. 

The power of her devotion and the puja are said to have persuaded the god of death to return her husband’s soul, according a religious scripture.

On this day, married women from Mithila observe a strict fast and perform the Vat Savitri puja together with great enthusiasm and devotion.  They worship deities like Brahma, Bishnu, and Rudra.