Vaṭa Sāvitrī Pūrṇimā 2174

Vaṭa Sāvitrī Pūrṇimā is kept by married women on the full moon of Jyeṣṭhā, especially in Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat and Karnataka. It remembers Savitri, whose devotion won her husband back from death.

The story is told in the Mahabharata. Savitri, daughter of King Ashvapati, chose as her husband Satyavan, son of the blind, exiled king Dyumatsena, even after the sage Narada warned that Satyavan would die within a year. As the day drew near she kept a strict fast. When Satyavan fell under a banyan tree in the forest and Yama came for his life, Savitri followed him. Her wisdom and steadfastness so pleased Yama that he granted her boons, and at last he returned Satyavan's life.

Women fast, worship the banyan (vata) tree, wind cotton thread around its trunk as they walk around it, offer fruits and flowers, and hear the story of Savitri, praying for the long life of their husbands.