Sawan Somwar 2028: Date, Vrat Vidhi & Significance

The fast is broken after the evening Shiva puja with the panchamrit prasad and water, then a light sattvic meal.

Shravana is Shiva's month. By one katha it is when the Samudra Manthan took place and Shiva drank the halahala poison, so the month's jalabhishek — the pouring of water and milk on the linga — cools him; by another, Parvati completed her tapas for Shiva in Shravana.

Monday is Shiva's weekday, and the Sawan Somwar fast is the most kept vrat of the month. Solah Somwar, a sixteen-Monday vrat often begun in Sawan, is kept by the unmarried for a good spouse; Mangala Gauri, on the Tuesdays, by newly married women for the husband's long life and a happy home.

It is the season of the Kanwar Yatra — devotees walk with Ganga water from Haridwar, Gaumukh, Sultanganj and other tirthas to their local Shiva temple or to Baidyanath for the Shravana abhishek.

The sanctity of Shravana to Shiva and the Monday fast are old in the Puranas; the Solah Somwar and Mangala Gauri vratas are elaborated in the later vrata literature.

The Kanwar Yatra has grown enormously in recent decades into one of the largest annual pedestrian pilgrimages in the world, drawing tens of millions across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Haryana and Delhi.

The twelve Jyotirlingas and the great Shiva centres — Kashi Vishwanath, Baidyanath, Mahakaleshwar, Somnath, Trimbakeshwar — see queues through the whole month, with special abhishekams on each Somwar.

• Shiva Purana — the sanctity of Shravana and the Neelkantha narrative
• The Solah Somwar and Mangala Gauri Vrat Kathas
• Records of the modern Kanwar Yatra — among the largest pedestrian pilgrimages

1. The fast is kept from sunrise — one phalahar meal, or nirjala until the evening puja, with no grains for many.
2. A morning Shiva temple visit or home puja: the linga is bathed with water, milk, Ganga jal and panchamrit, and offered bel patra in threes, dhatura, aak, bhasma and white flowers.
3. The Shiv Chalisa, the Rudrashtakam and the Mahamrityunjaya are recited, and the Somwar vrat katha is heard.
4. The fast is broken after an evening Shiva puja; kanwariyas walk and observe restraint through the month, completing the abhishek on a chosen Somwar or on the Shravana Shivratri.

Phala: Shiva's grace; a good spouse and marital happiness (Solah Somwar and Mangala Gauri); the removal of obstacles, health, and freedom from want.

The month's charter is the Samudra Manthan: when the halahala poison rose from the churned ocean and threatened creation, Shiva drank it and held it in his throat, which turned blue — Neelkantha. The devas poured water on him to ease the burning, and the Shravana jalabhishek continues that.

In a second telling, Parvati kept a long penance through Shravana to win Shiva as her husband, and the Monday fasts of the month re-enact her devotion.

The Solah Somwar katha is of a merchant granted a son who would live only a short life; by keeping the sixteen-Monday vrat the boy's life is lengthened, and the vrat spreads from there.

Source: Shiva Purana; Skanda Purana; the Solah Somwar and Mangala Gauri Vrat Kathas

1. Sankalpa. On the first Monday of Shravana, after a bath, take the vow to keep the Sawan Somwar fast for every Monday of the month (or the sixteen Mondays of the Solah Somwar); name the aim.
2. Morning abhishek. Visit a Shiva temple or do a home puja: bathe the linga with water, milk, Ganga jal and panchamrit, and offer bel patra in threes, dhatura, aak, bhasma and white flowers.
3. Day fast. Keep a phalahar or nirjala fast with no grains through the day; no anger or untruth, no daytime sleep; keep to Shiva-smarana.
4. Chalisa and katha. Recite the Shiv Chalisa, the Rudrashtakam and the Mahamrityunjaya, and hear the Somwar vrat katha (or the Solah Somwar / Mangala Gauri katha as appropriate).
5. Evening parana. Break the fast after an evening Shiva puja with the panchamrit prasad and water, then a sattvic meal.

• Bel patra in threes, Ganga jal, water and milk for the abhishek
• Dhatura, aak, bhasma, white flowers, sandal, akshata
• A ghee lamp, incense, camphor and a bell
• Panchamrit (milk, curd, ghee, honey, sugar)
• The Somwar Vrat Katha (or Solah Somwar / Mangala Gauri katha); for Mangala Gauri, sixteen of each puja item

• Keep the fast phalahar or nirjala with no grains until the evening Shiva puja.
• Offer water and bel patra to the linga above all; the rest by capacity.
• Hear the Somwar vrat katha before the parana.
• Truthful, gentle speech; no anger; no daytime sleep; brahmacharya for the day.
• Complete every Monday of Shravana once begun — or all sixteen for the Solah Somwar, followed by the udyapan.

Who should not keep this fast: The ill, pregnant and nursing women, the elderly, children and anyone for whom fasting is unsafe should keep a light phalahar and focus on the abhishek and the katha. Kanwariyas should carry water within their capacity and stay hydrated and safe on the road. The vrat asks for devotion, not for harm.

• North India (UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Haryana, Delhi). The Sawan Somwar fast and the Kanwar Yatra; queues at Kashi Vishwanath and Baidyanath, and roads full of kanwariyas in saffron.
• Maharashtra and Central India. Shravani Somwar with the abhishek at Trimbakeshwar and the Datta and Shiva temples; the Shravan month's daily and weekly vratas.
• Gujarat and Rajasthan. The Somnath and Eklingji abhishekams, and the household Sawan Somwar with bel patra and the katha.
• South India. The Shravana month (Aavani) Mondays are kept at the Shiva temples with the pradosham and the Monday abhishekam, alongside the Varalakshmi and other Aavani vratas.

• Phalahar — sabudana khichdi, kuttu puri, fruit, makhana — No grains or ordinary salt; sendha namak. Eaten once, or through the day for those who do not keep a full fast.
• Panchamrit and charnamrit — The abhishek offering taken as the first prasad.
• The parana meal — A sattvic meal after the evening Shiva puja; kheer or halwa is common.

Sawan Somwar falls on Monday, 24 July 2028. Every Monday of the month of Shravana, a major vow of Shiva worship.

at sunrise

Sawan Somwar is not a tithi observance but a weekday one — every Monday of the lunar month of Shravana, which follows the Ashadha Purnima. Monday is the day of Chandra, and Shiva as Chandrashekhara wears the crescent. The month falls at the height of the monsoon, with the Sun in sidereal Karka. Because it is defined by the month and the weekday, the number of Sawan Somwars in a year is four or five, and in an adhika Shravana it can be more. The month itself drifts about 11 days earlier each year against the Gregorian calendar.

A lunar date: the tithi of the bright half of Shravana drifts about 11 days earlier each solar year, then jumps back ~19 days when a leap (Adhika) month is inserted.