🕉️ Santoshi Mata
Every Friday (typically 16 consecutive Fridays)
Santoshi Mata Vrat (Friday)
Santoshi Mata Vrat is a Friday fast for wish-fulfilment, family harmony, and removal of debts. Popularised by the 1975 film "Jai Santoshi Maa", this modern vrat is observed for 16 consecutive Fridays with strict avoidance of ALL sour foods (no tamarind, lemon, yogurt, tomatoes) — the vrat-breaker rule is famously strict.
🔔 Puja Vidhi
- Fast on Friday from sunrise (fruit fast or one meal)
- Recite Santoshi Mata Vrat Katha
- Offer gud (jaggery) and chana (roasted gram) as prasad
- The prasad must be consumed at home — never given to others outside the family
- On completion of 16 Fridays, perform udyapan with feast for young girls
📜 Rules
- ZERO sour foods during the vrat day — this is the hallmark rule
- The entire household avoids sour food on that Friday
- Gud-chana prasad kept sealed and consumed within the home
- Udyapan after 16 Fridays involves feeding 8 young girls with sweet halwa-puri
Read the full vrat katha
📖 Open the katha in the Devotional Library
Frequently Asked Questions
Why avoid sour foods? +
The vrat katha explains: the woman in the story broke her vrat inadvertently by eating a sour tamarind chutney served by jealous relatives. Santoshi Mata was displeased. To prevent repetition, sour food avoidance became the vrat's hallmark rule.
Related vrats
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