Kedāra Gaurī Vratam is a vow to Śiva and Gaurī kept especially by married women on the Deepavali new moon. It recalls how Pārvatī, left out when the sage Bhṛṅgi circled Śiva alone, kept this vow on Gautama's advice and won the left half of Śiva's body, so that the two became Ardhanārīśvara. The rite is built around the number twenty-one, with a thread of twenty-one knots and twenty-one of every offering. Women keep it for saubhāgya and the wellbeing of the family. How the day is fixed: The vow is kept on Āśvina Amāvāsyā in the amānta reckoning, which is usually the same civil day as the Deepavali new moon. Families that follow the pūrṇimānta month call the same day Kārtika Amāvāsyā. Keep in mind: Some regions keep the vow on the following new moon instead. Where the older twenty-one-day form survives, the vow begins three weeks earlier and ends on this Amāvāsyā. This year: The 2027 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. Twenty-one of everything: Twenty-one adhirasams or other sweets, twenty-one betel leaves and nuts and a thread of twenty-one knots are laid before Śiva and Gaurī. The number recalls the older twenty-one-day vow and stands for completeness. Tying the thread: After the pūjā, married women tie the consecrated thread on the hand and pray for saubhāgya and the family's welfare. Some villages also worship cattle on this day. Worth remembering: The rite closes with the vrata kathā and the Ardhanārīśvara Stotram, and the prasāda goes to neighbouring married women with betel. In Bengal and Odisha the same new moon is Kālī Pūjā, and in Gujarat and Maharashtra it is Lakṣmī Pūjā, which are separate observances. The vow runs in families. In Tamil homes it is the Kedāra Gaurī nōnbu with its nōnbu kayiru, in Telugu homes the Kedāreśvara nōmu with its tōram, and in Karnataka it is kept by particular families rather than by everyone. Elsewhere it is known mostly through South Indian families who brought it with them. Whether to keep it, and in what form, is best learned from the elders of one's own house.
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