Maṅgala Gaurī is the vrata of every Tuesday in Amānta Śrāvaṇa, the monsoon month, when Gaurī, that is Pārvatī, is worshipped. It is kept above all by newly married women, who pray for a long and happy married life. The Tuesdays of this month are held to be dear to Gaurī, and households in the Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Gujarati traditions keep them faithfully. How the day is fixed: Every Tuesday on which Amānta Śrāvaṇa is the running lunar month at local sunrise is a Maṅgala Gaurī day. Keep in mind: City longitude can move a Tuesday to one side or the other of the month boundary, so another place may gain or lose one Tuesday. The Tamil and Malayalam calendars do not show it as a local day. Check against the pañcāṅga your family follows. 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. Morning pūjā: Women keeping the vow bathe early, set up an idol or picture of Gaurī, and offer turmeric, flowers and sweets. Where the household has the custom, the Maṅgala Gaurī kathā is heard. The fast and the years of the vow: Some take only fruit until the evening pūjā, while others eat a simple meal and keep just the lamp and namaskāra. Many keep the vow for the first five years of marriage, and some on every Tuesday of Śrāvaṇa. Worth remembering: Sawan Somwār, the Monday Śiva fast of the same month, is a separate vow. The length of the vow, the fast and the kathā all vary between Deccan and Gujarati homes, and no single printed booklet binds every family. Mothers and mothers-in-law usually teach the new bride how their house keeps the day. Follow the way the elders of your own house have kept Maṅgala Gaurī.
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