Maṅgalavāra Vrata 2027

Mangalavara Vrata (मङ्गलवार व्रत), also called the Bhauma Vrata, is the Tuesday vrata of Mangala (Angaraka, Bhauma, Kuja). In the Padma Purana, as given in the Vratraj, Mangala himself tells it to the sage Gautama. It may be begun on any Tuesday and is kept for twenty-one Tuesdays, by women and especially by men.

How to keep the vrata

• On Tuesday at arunodaya, before sunrise, clean the teeth with an apamarga twig and bathe with sesame and amalaka paste, in a river or at home. Wear a washed red dhoti and a red upper cloth.
• From a copper vessel with red akshata, red flowers and red sandal, offer 108 arghyas with the mantra अग्निर्मूर्धा.
• At home, on ground smeared with cow dung, worship with your wife, making the sankalpa for freedom from debt and disease and for sons and wealth.
• Draw the triangular Mangala yantra with 21 compartments and his 21 names. Worship Mangala, red-garlanded and red-clad, four-armed, holding the shakti, trident and mace, riding a ram; recite his kavacha, the 21-name stotra and the Mangala gayatri.
• Draw three lines on the ground with a khadira ember and wipe them with the left foot, praying to be freed from debt.
• Give a vayana of 21 wheat laddus with sesame and jaggery, with fruit and dakshina, to a Brahmana learned in the Veda.
• After the 21 Tuesdays, close the vow with the udyapana: Mangala's mandala in red rice with 21 compartments and four lamps, 21 kumbhas, a gold image in red cloth, 108 offerings of khadira samidh, 21 Brahmanas fed, a cow with her calf for the acharya, and gifts for the poor; then eat in silence.

When to eat

• One meal on the vrata day, of white food (एकाहारं सितान्नेन).

The story of Nandaka's daughter, from the Padma Purana

The old Brahmana Nandaka and his wife Sunanda had no child, and adopted a Brahmana girl who in a past life had worshipped Mangala with a single mind. Every day her body gave much gold, and Nandaka grew very rich and proud. When she was ten he married her to the Brahmana Someshvara.

Years later, as Someshvara was taking her home and night fell in a mountain forest, Nandaka, out of greed, lay in wait dressed as a thief and killed his son-in-law. The young widow resolved to follow her husband, went round him, and was about to enter the fire when Mangala appeared and offered her a boon. She asked that her husband live, and Mangala made him free of age and death, and wise.

For her second boon she asked that whoever worships Mangala at daybreak on Tuesday with red sandal and red flowers be free of bondage, disease, fear of snakes, fire and enemies, and separation from loved ones. Mangala granted it and gave the rule of the twenty-one Tuesdays.