Vrata
A vowed Hindu observance, most often a fast kept on days tied to a chosen deity.
A vowed observance, most often a fast, kept on days tied to a chosen deity: many Vaishnavas fast on Ekadashi, the eleventh lunar day, and Mondays draw fasts for Shiva. Fasting ranges from total abstention to avoiding particular foods, and a vrata is often kept for a stated intention such as health, family welfare or a hoped-for outcome.
A vrata is a vow kept for a set time, most often as a fast, and most often on days attached to a particular deity. Many Vaishnavas keep Ekadashi, the eleventh day of each lunar fortnight; Mondays are widely kept for Shiva, Tuesdays or Saturdays for other deities depending on region and family.
What the fast consists of varies as much as when it is kept. Some vratas exclude grain but not fruit or milk, some exclude food entirely, some exclude only a particular item, and some are less about food than about an undertaking kept for a period.
Many of the best-known vratas are kept by women and are tied to the wellbeing of a family member rather than the person fasting, which makes them one of the clearer places where Hindu domestic practice sits outside the temple entirely.
Does it have a text?
A vrata is an undertaking rather than a text. Stories are read in connection with particular vratas and vary by region and observance, and no wording belongs to the practice as such.
When it comes up
Other forms of prayer in Hindu
- Puja — Ceremonial Hindu worship offered to a deity at a home shrine or in a temple.
- Darshan — Seeing and being seen by the deity, and the main point of most Hindu temple visits.
- Mantra and japa — Sacred sound as a devotional medium, and counted repetition of a formula or divine name.
- Aarti — The Hindu ceremony of light, in which a flame is circled before the deity.
- Bhajan and kirtan — Devotional song, and the shared call-and-response singing of divine names.
This page describes a practice. It does not tell you how to perform it, or whether you should. Practice varies by region, community and household far more than a page like this can carry, and nobody credentialed in the tradition has signed anything here. The full dossier names its sources.