Varamahalakshmi 2026 Date

About Varamahalakshmi

Observed on the last Friday of Shravana's bright half, just before Raksha Bandhan, this South Indian vrat invokes Lakshmi in her boon-granting form. Two steps set it apart from other Lakshmi pujas: tying the Dorak (a knotted yellow thread on the wrist) and exchanging Vayana sweets between married women.

The Vrat Katha frames the rite as instruction passed from Parvati to Chitranemi, a Shiva devotee, as a way to lift a curse — which is why the procedure is taken so literally. A single kalasha stands in for the goddess, invoked through the Kshirasagara Sambhutam dhyana that pictures her milk-white, rising from the churned ocean. The puja itself runs sixteen steps (Shodashopachara) or the longer thirty-two (Battishopachar), but two additions belong only here: Dorakabandhana, knotting a turmeric-dyed thread on the right wrist, and Vayana, plates of sweets traded with other sumangalis. One worship on this day is held to equal worship of all eight Lakshmis — Sri, Bhu, Saraswati, Priti, Kirti, Shanti, Tushti and Pushti. The preferred slot is the Pradosh hour at dusk falling in a fixed lagna.