Jivitputrika Vrat 2026 Date

About Jivitputrika Vrat

Named for King Jimutavahana, who offered his own body to Garuda to save a Naga boy, this Ashwin Krishna Ashtami fast is observed by mothers across Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern UP and the Nepal Terai — keeping nirjala (no food, no water) for roughly 24 hours so their children inherit that gifted life.

The medieval digest Hemadri lists this vrat as 'Putriya Vrat' and prescribes worship of Vasudeva with offerings of ghee and kheer on Ashwin Krishna Ashtami. The katha behind it is unusually specific: Jimutavahana, a Vidyadhara prince, sees a Naga mother weeping as her son Shankhachuda is led to Garuda's eating-rock — the daily tribute the snakes pay the eagle-king. He lies down in the boy's place. Garuda, moved by the gift of a stranger's life, spares all the Nagas. Mothers re-enact that exchange by going without food and water from sunset on Saptami to sunrise on Navami. A peculiar prescription survives in the texts: a woman hoping for a son eats banana, guava or custard apple at the pre-fast meal; one hoping for a daughter eats pomegranate, orange or jamun — fruits chosen by the grammatical gender of their names.