The ‘Amavasya’ tithi is regarded extremely auspicious among the Hindus. On this day, Hindus perform several pujas and rituals. When the Amavasya falls on a Monday, it is known as ‘Somvati Amavasya.’ As Somvati Amavasya falls on Monday, it is often associated with Lord Shiva.
After the Kurukshetra war, Yudhistira was worried about the Kuru-Pandavas dynasty. He approached Bhishma Pitamah to take advice how to rejuvenate the dynasty for his coming generations.
Bhishma advised Dharmaraj Yudhistira to observe Somvati Amavasya Vrata.It is also believed that on Somvati Amavasya taking a holy dip in the sacred Ganga River brings peace to our deceased ancestors and washes away all our sorrows and sins.
Somvati Amavasya Fast Story
A monk used to visit a family of moneylender having seven married sons and an unmarried daughter. He used to ask for alms and in return used to bless the daughter-in-law with happy married life. But he never gave blessing of marriage to the daughter of the house and this made the girl and her mother worried. The worried mother immediately called a Pandit to see the Kundali of her daughter. The Pandit told about the inauspicious Yog of becoming widow in her destiny and as a solution asked the girl to go the island Singhal where lived a washer women. Further he asks her to ask for the Sindoor from that lady and wear on her forehead and moreover to observe the fast of Somvati Amavasya, as it would remove inauspicious Yoga from her Kundali. On hearing this, mother requested the sons to go, on which, the youngest son agreed to go with her sister. Both of them left and reached the seashore. While thinking how to cross the river, they sat under a tree on which a vulture used to live with his infant in the nest. On the birth of a vulture, a snake used to eat him up. That day, when the vultures were out and the infants started making noise, the snake came. The girl understood the happening and killed the snake with her bravery. On returning and seeing their children alive, the happy vultures helped the girl to go to the house of washerwomen. On serving the washerwomen for months, the lady got pleased with the girl and applied Sindoor on her forehead. The girl left immediately without drinking water. On the way she revolved around a Peepal tree, worshipped the tree, observed the fast of Somvati Amavasya and then drank water. This way her inauspicious Yogas were cancelled and she became fortunate.
