Varalakṣmī Vratam is kept on the Friday before Śrāvaṇa Pūrṇimā for Vara Mahālakṣmī, the form of Lakṣmī who grants the boon one asks. Sumaṅgalīs dress a kalasha as the goddess and invite her into the home. The vow is kept for saubhāgya, for śrī to stay in the house and for the well-being of husband and children. It is kept widely in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. How the day is fixed: The vratam falls on the Friday before Śrāvaṇa Pūrṇimā. Some local pañcāṅgas call it the last Friday of Śrāvaṇa, and the sunrise tithi at your place can move the date by a day from city to city. Sthira lagna muhūrta: The pūjā is begun in a sthira lagna between local sunrise and Sāyāhṇa kāla, that is Vṛṣabha, Siṃha, Vṛścika or Kumbha, with Rāhu kālam, Yamagaṇḍam and Guḷikai left out. If such a lagna has already begun in Sāyāhṇa, the pūjā may continue until it ends. Why a sthira lagna: The pramāṇa verse says Lakṣmī stays in a fixed lagna, wanders in a movable one and gives mixed results in a dual one. That is why the kalasha is set and the thread is tied in a sthira lagna. This year: The 2026 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. Kalasha: Rice is spread on a banana leaf and a copper or silver pot is set on it, filled with rice, coins, turmeric and betel and crowned with a coconut. A face is drawn on the pot and it is dressed in jewellery and a sari as Lakṣmī herself. Pūjā and naivedya: Sumaṅgalīs keep the fast and worship with flowers, sweets and lamps, reciting Lakṣmī's names or the aṣṭottara. Sweets, fruit and payasam are offered as naivedya, and the pūjā closes with the vrata kathā. The thoram: The nombu thread, called thoram or dorakam, with nine strands and nine knots, is tied on the right wrist towards the end of the pūjā in the same sthira lagna. The slokas for taking and tying it are recited as it is tied. Worth remembering: Varalakṣmī Vratam is the Friday before the full moon, not the full moon itself. Rakṣābandhana and Nāralī Pūrṇimā fall on Śrāvaṇa Pūrṇimā and are separate observances. The kathā is told of Chārumatī of Kuṇḍinapura, to whom Lakṣmī taught this vow in a dream, and some families name Padmāvatī instead. Whether unmarried girls sit for the pūjā, how the kalasha is dressed and which stotras are sung all follow family custom. Keep the vratam the way the elders of your own house have kept it.
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