Vat Savitri festival marked

By Our Correspondent,Bardibas, May 27: Married women observed the Vat Savitri festival, wishing for eternal good fortune, children's happiness, and the long life of their husbands across the Tarai on Monday.

 On this occasion, they performed collective worship at the base of the banyan tree, tying raw sacred threads around the trunk while praying for happiness, prosperity, good health, and a blissful married life. 

It is customary for women to observe a fast on this day and consume only fruits. According to the Skanda Purana, the festival symbolises the legend of Savitri, who compelled Yamaraj (the god of death) to grant her three boons and ultimately revived her deceased husband Satyavan under the banyan tree.

 As per the environmentalists' view, this festival is not only a spiritual observance but also a symbol of environmental conservation. 

As it is celebrated jointly by both the hill and Madhesi communities living in Madhes Province, Vat Savitri holds religious significance as well as symbolises social harmony, mutual goodwill, and cultural coexistence.

Diksha Karki, a resident of Bardibas-14, who participated in the collective worship under the banyan tree at Durga Temple, said that the Devi Bhagavata Purana also mentions the Vat Savitri fast, which is why she has continued to observe the festival.

 In her experience, for a woman, her husband and children are her whole world. She has two grown children and shared that observing this fast with prayers for the long and prosperous lives of her husband and children brings her a deep sense of peace.

Mamata Sah, who had returned to her maternal home in Bardibas, said that she has been observing Vat Savitri for the past 15 years. 

She admitted that she is not exactly sure why she started celebrating it, but performing the rituals gives her a feeling of satisfaction and happiness.

Alongside its religious traditions, the festival’s focus on worshipping trees also carries environmental significance. On this day, women performing the fast not only follow traditional rituals but also offer bamboo fans and tie seven rounds of protective thread around the banyan tree. 

According to Sunil Gupta, head of the Chure Conservation Project in Bardibas, the gathering of women under the banyan tree and their collective worship not only strengthens social unity and mutual harmony, but also conveys the deep interconnection between trees, the environment, and human life by placing the long-living banyan tree at the centre of the Bat Savitri celebration.