Somvar Vrat (Solah Somvar) भगवान शिव
The Monday fast for Bhagwan Shiva — kept singly, through Shravan, or as 16 consecutive Mondays (Solah Somvar).
Vrat mantra
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
What you can eat — and what to avoid
✓ You can have
- Single evening meal: simple sattvik food — many keep it white (kheer, milk, halwa)
- 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
- 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 (Somvar Vrat (Solah Somvar)), its count if it is a series, and your prayer — then release the water.
Morning puja
Bathe early, visit a Shiva mandir or worship at home: do jal/milk abhishek of the Shivling, offer bel patra, white flowers, chandan and akshat while chanting "Om Namah Shivaya".
Keep the fast through the day
Keep the fast as prescribed — day fast · one meal after evening puja (phalahar). Spend free moments in japa of "Om Namah Shivaya", and keep the mind sattvik: no anger, gossip or harsh speech.
Katha & evening puja
Before the evening meal, repeat the Shiva puja, read the Somvar Vrat Katha and sing the aarti "Om Jai Shiv Omkara".
Paran — breaking the fast
After the evening Shiva puja, katha and aarti — take the single sattvik meal.
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
- Solah Somvar means 16 consecutive Mondays with an udyapan on the 17th — keep the count unbroken.
- Shravan Mondays carry the highest punya; abhishek with water or milk pleases Shiva most.
- Tulsi, ketaki flower, haldi and sindoor are not offered on the Shivling.
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 the procedure for keeping a sacred fast — from the morning sankalpa (vow), the deity's puja, the discipline of the fast through the day, the katha (vrat story) and aarti, to the paran (breaking of the fast) at its proper time. Each vrat has its own food rules: most allow phalahar (fruits, milk, sabudana, kuttu and singhara flour, samak rice, with sendha namak only), some are kept nirjala (without even water, like Karwa Chauth), and a few carry one defining rule — no grains on Ekadashi, nothing sour on the Santoshi Mata vrat, no salt on the Ravivar vrat.
Pick a Dev or Devi to see the complete vidhi of their vrat — the day, the fast type, what you can eat and what to avoid, the paran rule, mantra, katha and aarti — and use the linked samagri checklist where one exists. A vrat is bhakti and self-restraint, never hardship: children, the elderly, pregnant women and the unwell should keep a softened form, and family traditions (parampara) always come first.