Shravana Somavara - Trithiya 2025 Date

About Shravana Somavara - Trithiya

The third of Shravan's Mondays — the midpoint of the Solah Somvar, a 16-week vow that begins on the month's first Monday and which Parvati herself is said to have kept to win Shiva. Today's abhishek is done with bilva leaves and milk.

The Solah Somvar Katha, found in Shaiva vrat literature, explains why these Mondays come as a chain of sixteen rather than a single day. A temple priest first kept the vow; Parvati then took it up, and her son Kartikeya, his Brahmin friend, and the friend's bride each followed — every wish granted. The third Monday sits in the middle of that arc. In Shiva temples the Linga is bathed continuously through Shravan from a Dharanatra — a perforated clay pot hung above it — and the Monday puja layers on bilva leaves, milk and a recitation of the Rudra Chamakam from the Yajurveda. Many devotees join the Kanwar Yatra, walking back from a Ganga ghat with pots of river water for this very abhishek. Note that the Purnimanta (north) and Amanta (south-west) calendars place this third Monday about a fortnight apart.