Somvar Vrat 2028: Date, Vrat Vidhi & Significance

Break with a single saltless meal after the evening worship.

Somvar, ruled by the Moon and sacred to Shiva, is kept as a fast from sunrise, broken after the evening Shiva puja. Water, milk, bilva leaves and white flowers are offered on the linga, the Shiva Chalisa or Rudri is read, and a single meal of phalahar or saltless food is taken. Unmarried women often keep the Solah Somvar vrat — sixteen consecutive Mondays — for a good husband, concluding with an udyapan.

Weekday vratas (varavrata) and the weekday-Pradosh combinations are set out in the Nibandha and vrata literature and elaborated in popular Vrat Katha collections; the planetary-remedy reading is from applied jyotish. The Santoshi Mata Friday vrat is a twentieth-century addition to the older set.

• Nibandha and Vrata-katha literature

1. Shiva is worshipped with water or milk poured on the linga, bel leaves, white flowers and sandal paste, with 'Om Namah Shivaya'.
2. The Mondays of Shravan are the most widely kept; the Solah Somvar vrat of sixteen Mondays is kept by many unmarried women for a good spouse.
3. The Somvar vrat katha is read, and white clothes are preferred.

Phala: A harmonious marriage and the finding of a good spouse; peace of mind, and Shiva's grace on any sincere wish.

The Solah Somvar katha tells of a merchant couple, childless, who kept sixteen Mondays on Shiva's own counsel overheard in his temple; a son was born, and by keeping the vow in turn he gained a long life and a good marriage — the fast passed down as a family vow.

Source: Vrata-katha tradition (the Vrat Katha Sangrah and regional collections)

1. Sankalpa. Bathe, wear white, and take the sankalpa for the Monday fast.
2. Abhishek. Pour water or milk on the Shiva linga and offer bel leaves, white flowers and sandal.
3. Katha. Read the Somvar vrat katha.
4. Evening meal. After the evening worship, take the single saltless meal.

• Water or milk for the linga
• Bel leaves
• White flowers and sandal paste
• Lamp and incense
• Rice or white cloth for daan

• One saltless meal in the evening
• Wear white or light colours
• Keep the vow for the chosen number of Mondays and close it with an udyapan

Who should not keep this fast: Those who are ill, pregnant, nursing, elderly or diabetic should keep phalahar or a fruit-and-milk fast rather than a saltless single meal, or do the puja and dana without fasting.

• Pan-Indian. Kept across North, West and Central India as a household vrat; the weekday-graha link is used everywhere in jyotish upaya.

• White food, saltless — The vrat meal follows the day: white ingredients where possible, no salt, and often a single grain (wheat, or chana dal on Thursday). Sour food is avoided on Friday.

Somvar Vrat falls on Monday, 3 January 2028. Monday fast for Shiva.

at sunrise

Somvar Vrat is not tied to a tithi: it is kept on Monday itself, ruled in the planetary week by the Moon (Soma). A vow is usually taken for a fixed run — 16, 21 or 43 weeks — and closed with an udyapan. It recurs every seven days.

The date is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar and shifts against the Gregorian year.