Santoshi Mata Vrat (16 Fridays) - Vrat Vidhi
Santoshi Mata Vrat (16 Fridays) संतोषी माता
The 16-Friday vrat of Santoshi Mata - its one strict rule: nothing sour (khatai) the whole day.
Vrat mantra
ॐ श्री संतोषी मात्रे नमः
Om Shri Santoshi Matre Namah
What you can eat - and what to avoid
You can have
- Gud (jaggery) and roasted chana - the vrat's own prasad
- One sattvik meal after the puja - completely free of sour items
- Fruits and fresh fruit juices
- Milk, curd, paneer, butter, ghee
- Sabudana - khichdi, kheer or vada
- Kuttu (buckwheat) and singhara flour rotis / puris
- Samak (barnyard millet) rice
- Makhana, dry fruits and nuts
- Potato, sweet potato, arbi - cooked with sendha namak
- Sendha namak (rock salt) only
- Tea, coffee or coconut water in moderation
✗ Avoid
- Anything sour (khatai) - pickle, lemon, tamarind, curd, raw mango, amla - for you and ideally the whole household that day
- All grains - wheat, rice, semolina (sooji), besan, oats
- Pulses and legumes - dal, chana, rajma, soy
- Regular table / sea salt (use only sendha namak)
- Onion and garlic
- Non-vegetarian food and eggs
- Alcohol and tobacco
- Heavy spices - keep to jeera, kali mirch, green chilli
Step-by-step vrat vidhi
Sankalpa - the vrat morning
Wake early, bathe and wear clean clothes. With water, akshat and a flower in the right palm, state your name, the vrat (Santoshi Mata Vrat (16 Fridays)), its count if it is a series, and your prayer - then release the water.
Morning puja
Bathe early, take the sankalpa of 16 Fridays, set a kalash with water before Santoshi Mata, and worship with flowers, dhoop-deep and the gud-chana (jaggery and roasted gram) offering.
Keep the fast through the day
Keep the fast as prescribed - day fast · one meal · strictly nothing sour (khatai). Spend free moments in japa of "Om Shri Santoshi Matre Namah", and keep the mind sattvik: no anger, gossip or harsh speech.
Katha & evening puja
Read the Santoshi Mata vrat katha (holding gud-chana in hand), sing the aarti "Jai Santoshi Mata", distribute the gud-chana prasad, then take the single meal.
Paran - breaking the fast
After the Friday puja, katha and gud-chana prasad - one sattvik meal with absolutely nothing sour in it.
Daan & prasad
Share the prasad with everyone present and give some daan (food, fruit or dakshina) as per capacity - the vrat is completed by giving.
Special rules for this vrat
- The no-khatai rule is the defining discipline of this vrat - even touching sour food is traditionally avoided on the vrat day.
- On the 17th Friday do the udyapan: feed 8 boys a meal of kheer-puri (no sour dish) and give dakshina.
- Keep the vrat with santosh (contentment) - the Mata's very name.
Family and regional traditions (parampara) vary - where yours differs, follow your parampara. Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and anyone unwell or on medication should keep a softened vrat (fruit and milk) or skip it - a vrat is bhakti and restraint, never hardship to the body.
Choose another vrat
What is a Vrat Vidhi?
A vrat vidhi is how to keep a sacred fast: morning sankalpa, the deity's puja, the day's food discipline, the katha and aarti, and paran at the right time. Most vrats allow phalahar (fruits, milk, sabudana, kuttu, singhara, samak, sendha namak). Some are nirjala. Ekadashi drops grain; Santoshi Mata drops sour food; Ravivar vrat drops salt.
A vrat is bhakti and restraint, not hardship. Children, the elderly, pregnant women and the unwell should soften the fast. Parampara comes first. Pick a Dev or Devi for the day, fast type, food rules, paran, mantra, katha and aarti.
This is not a full puja manual. Worship steps are Puja Vidhi. Gather items from Puja Samagri. Read the story on Vrat Katha.
