Somavara Vrata 2022

Somavara Vrata (सोमवार व्रत) is the Monday vrata of Lord Shiva with Uma. Shiva worship on Monday, and in Pradosha, is praised above all in the Puranas, and the vrata may be kept by anyone: a brahmachari, a householder, a maiden, a married woman or a widow.

The Vratraj gathers the Monday vratas from the Puranas. The vrata is taken up on the first Monday of Shravana, Chaitra, Vaishakha, Jyeshtha, Kartika or Margashirsha, with a fast and worship of Uma-Maheshvara with sixteen upacharas, and closed with an udyapana when wealth, faith and devotion allow. The story of Simantini, who kept the Somavara Vrata and was blessed by Shiva and Parvati, is read with it.

How to keep the vrata

• Bathe, put on clean white clothes, and keep the mind free of desire, anger, pride, envy and gossip.
• Fast through the day with the senses controlled, speaking little, and worship Shiva with Vedic or familiar mantras.
• Worship Uma-Maheshvara with the sixteen upacharas. Offer white flowers (malati, white lotus, champaka, kunda, mandara, punnaga, shatapatra) and sandal dhupa, chanting the Panchakshari or the Tryambaka mantra.
• Feed devotees of Shiva as far as you are able.
• When wealth, faith and devotion allow, close the vow with the udyapana: an image of Uma and Shiva on a bull, set on a kalasha, with homa and a meal for Brahmanas. The Purana says a vrata kept without its udyapana does not bear its fruit.

When to eat

• Nakta (Shiva Purana): on every Monday of both pakshas, eat only at night.
• The nakta meal is taken in Pradosha, after the first 1½ muhurtas after sunset; each Monday's Pradosha time is shown with the dates above. A sannyasi, a widow, or a widower without a son eats instead within the muhurta before sunset.
• Ekabhukta (Bhavishya Purana): one meal on Monday.
• Upavasa (Skanda Purana): a full fast through the day, as Simantini kept it.

The story of Simantini, from the Skanda Purana

King Chitravarma of Aryavarta, devoted to Shiva and Mukunda, was blessed after long waiting with a daughter, Simantini. The astrologers praised her, but one fearless scholar said she would be widowed in her fourteenth year. When Simantini heard of it, she went to Maitreyi, the wife of Yajnavalkya, who told her: take refuge in Bhavani with Shiva; on Monday worship Shiva and Gauri with a steady mind, fast that day, bathe and wear clean clothes; and after a year perform the udyapana.

Simantini was married to Chandrangada, son of Indrasena and grandson of Nala and Damayanti. A few months later, boating on the Yamuna, Chandrangada was caught in a whirlpool and drowned. Simantini, now a widow, did not give up the Monday vrata. The Naga maidens had carried Chandrangada down to Patala, to the city of Takshaka. Asked which god he worshipped, he said: Mahadeva, the lord of Uma. Takshaka, pleased, sent him back with jewels, a horse and companions.

In the third year, on a Monday, Simantini came to the Yamuna to bathe and saw him on the bank. He comforted her and said her husband would return within two days, and soon he came back for her. They ruled for ten thousand years, had eight sons and a daughter, and at the end reached Shiva's abode. Whoever reads or hears this story with devotion, the Purana says, attains the highest state.

The story of Soma, from the Shiva Purana

Daksha gave his twenty-seven daughters, the nakshatras, in marriage to Chandra (Soma). Chandra loved only Rohini and neglected the others. When they complained, Daksha asked him to treat all his wives alike, but Chandra did not listen, and Daksha cursed him with kshaya, a wasting disease. The curse took hold at once.

The devas and rishis went to Brahma, who told them the remedy: Chandra must go to Prabhasa and worship Shiva there. At Prabhasa Chandra worshipped Shiva without a break for six months, meditating with a steady mind and reciting the Mrityunjaya mantra ten crore times. Pleased, Shiva appeared before him and asked him to choose a boon. Chandra asked to be freed from the disease. Shiva lifted the curse so that Chandra's kalas wane in one paksha and wax in the other, as they do to this day.

The devas and rishis then prayed to Shiva to stay at that place with Parvati. He agreed, and remains there as Someshvara, the Somanatha Jyotirlinga, famous in all three worlds. The devas made the Chandrakunda there: bathing in it frees one from sins, and seeing the Soma linga removes all sins and fulfils one's wishes (Shiva Purana, Koti Rudra Samhita, chapter 14).

The Vratraj tells the same of the Monday vrata: Soma, pressed down by Daksha's curse, kept this vrata himself, and Shiva, pleased, agreed to stay with Uma in the linga Soma had set up for as long as the sun, the moon and the mountains endure. Since then, it says, whoever keeps the vrata reaches that same state and is made pure in body.