Vratas & Fasting

A vrata is a promise kept for a set time — a fast on Ekādaśī, forty-one days of discipline before Sabarimala, a Friday lamp for the Goddess. Here is what Hindu vows are, the main ones and their meaning, and how to keep one wisely.

In many Hindu homes someone is always keeping a vow. A grandmother eats only once on Mondays; an uncle wears black for six weeks before the Sabarimala pilgrimage; a mother fasts on Friday for the family; a young man stops cutting his hair until he carries his kavadi. To an outsider these look like rules about food. From the inside, they are something else: a small, freely chosen discipline, offered to God.

What a vrata is

A vrata is a vow — a resolve to keep some observance for a fixed period, with a purpose and usually a deity in mind. In the Ṛg Veda the word meant the ordinances that the gods themselves keep; later it came to mean the commitments a person takes on. A vrata typically has three parts:

The medieval digests devoted whole volumes to vratas, and the Purāṇas are full of them, each with its story. Most families learn them not from books, though, but from the women of the house.

Ways of fasting

The word for fasting, upavāsa, literally means “dwelling near” (upa-vas): the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (1.1.1.7) explains that on the eve of a sacrifice the gods come to dwell near the sacrificer, so he eats sparingly. Devotees still take it as staying close to God — and that is what the fast is for. There are many degrees:

  1. Avoiding certain foodsNo grains or beans (as on Ekādaśī), no salt, no onion and garlic, no meat, eggs or alcohol. The gentlest and most common kind.
  2. One mealA single vegetarian meal in the day, often after evening worship — ekabhukta.
  3. Fruit and milkNo cooked meal; fruit, milk, nuts and water only — phalāhāra.
  4. Water onlyNothing but water from sunrise to sunrise, or until the evening prayer.
  5. Complete fastNot even water (nirjala), as on Karvā Cauth or the strictest Ekādaśī. Demanding, and not for everyone.
Fast safely

If you are diabetic, pregnant or breastfeeding, elderly, on regular medication, unwell, or have ever had an eating disorder, talk to your doctor before fasting — and choose a gentle form, or a vow that has nothing to do with food. Children should not keep strict fasts. Stop if you feel faint, confused or unwell. Drink enough water in Malaysia’s heat unless you have chosen otherwise with care. The tradition itself allows the sick, the old, the young and pregnant women to keep a lighter form, or to have someone keep it for them.

The Gītā warns against both extremes:

नात्यश्नतस्तु योगोऽस्ति न चैकान्तमनश्नतः ।
न चातिस्वप्नशीलस्य जाग्रतो नैव चार्जुन ॥ nāty-aśnatas tu yogo ’sti na caikāntam anaśnataḥ,
na cāti-svapna-śīlasya jāgrato naiva cārjuna Yoga is not for one who eats too much, nor for one who does not eat at all; not for one who sleeps too much, Arjuna, nor for one who stays awake too long. Bhagavad Gītā 6.16

And later it is sharper still: those who torment the body with harsh austerities not taught by scripture, out of pride or show, torment the divine that dwells within it (17.5–6). A vrata is meant to steady you, not to harm you.

The great vratas

Tap each to see what it is and who keeps it. Navarātri and Kanda Ṣaṣṭhī are described on the Navaratri and Murugan pages; Śivarātri and Thaipusam have their own festival pages.

Thaipusam: forty-eight days

Community practice In Malaysia, the most visible vrata of the year is the preparation for Thaipusam. Devotees who will carry a kavadi often keep a maṇḍalam of 48 days — some keep fewer — eating one vegetarian meal a day, sleeping on the floor, keeping celibacy, avoiding alcohol and tobacco, and praying morning and evening. The discipline is what makes the carrying possible; many say that without it the kavadi would be only a spectacle. See Thaipusam for the festival itself.

Sabarimala: forty-one days

Community practice Pilgrims to the hill shrine of Ayyappan in Kerala — including many from Malaysia — take a 41-day maṇḍala vow. They wear a mālā of beads and black or blue clothes, walk barefoot where they can, eat vegetarian food, keep celibacy and call one another “Swāmi,” for during the vow each pilgrim is treated as the god himself. The pilgrimage is made carrying the irumuṭi, a two-part bundle of offerings, on the head.

Traditionally, women of menstruating age — roughly 10 to 50 — do not go to Sabarimala, because the deity there is understood as a lifelong celibate (naiṣṭhika brahmacārī). The 2018 Supreme Court ruling against the bar, and the debate that followed, are discussed on Pilgrimage.

A week of observances

Community practice Many Hindus keep a light vow on a particular weekday — eating vegetarian food, or only one meal, and visiting the temple. The pairings vary, but these are common among Tamil Hindus:

Who keeps vratas

Honesty requires saying it plainly: most vratas are kept by women, and many are kept for others — for a husband’s long life, for children, for the family’s welfare. Some women experience this as a burden laid on them by custom; scholars such as Anne Pearson, who interviewed women who keep vratas, found that many also experience it as something of their own: a space of devotion, discipline and companionship with other women, chosen and valued — “because it gives me peace of mind,” as one of them put it. Both things can be true. Today many men keep vratas too, and many couples keep them together.

The inner meaning

Behind every vrata is tapas, the “heat” of disciplined effort — one of the niyamas of yoga (see Yamas & Niyamas). A vow trains three things at once:

The Gītā also names a tapas of speech and a tapas of mind (17.15–16) — not every vow need concern food at all. A vow of kind words, of silence (mauna), of rising early or of daily reading is as much a vrata as any fast.

Try this

A gentle first vrata. Choose one, for one day, and state it plainly to yourself in the morning — that is your saṅkalpa.

  • One meal. On a Monday, Friday or Ekādaśī, eat a light breakfast and one simple vegetarian meal in the evening, after lighting a lamp. Drink water freely. Skip this if any of the health cautions above apply to you.
  • One hour of silence. Tell your family first. For one hour, do not speak, text or scroll. Notice how often you wanted to speak, and why.

Afterwards, offer the day to your chosen deity, or to the welfare of someone you love.

Check what you’ve learned:

Quick check

Ekādaśī falls on…

Ekādaśī means “eleventh”: the 11th day of both the waxing and waning fortnight, sacred to Vishnu.

What does the Gītā say about fasting and yoga?

Gītā 6.16–17: yoga belongs to one who is moderate in food, sleep and effort.

A vrata begins with…

The saṅkalpa says what you will keep, for how long and for what.

Questions people often ask

I broke my vow by mistake. What now?

Traditions differ, but most teachers say: do not punish yourself. Acknowledge it, say a prayer, and continue or begin again. The law books provide simple expiations (prāyaścitta) for this very reason — vows are kept by human beings.

Is a vrata a deal with God?

Many vratas are made with a wish — a cure, a child, success in an exam — and are fulfilled with thanksgiving, as at Thaipusam. That is honest and human. But most teachers encourage moving, over time, towards vows kept simply out of love.

Can I fast if I work long hours?

Choose a form that fits: a vegetarian day, one meal, or a non-food vow. A vow you can keep cheerfully is better than a heroic one that leaves you irritable with everyone around you.

॥ Pause and reflect

  1. Which vratas are kept in your family, and by whom? Have you ever asked them why?
  2. What habit would you most like to master? Could a small vow help?
  3. What would it mean to keep a vow for someone else?

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Key terms on this page

Sources & further reading