Hariyali Teej 2027
4 August 2027

Hariyali Teej, kept on Shravan Shukla Tritiya, celebrates the reunion of Shiva and Parvati after Parvati’s long penance to win him as her husband. The Shiva Purana tells that Parvati, reborn after her earlier life as Sati, undertook severe tapasya through many years, living at last on fallen leaves alone, before Shiva finally accepted her. The day’s name comes from hariyali, the green of the monsoon, which women honour in green clothes, green bangles and mehndi.

Married women keep the vrat for their husband’s long life and a happy married life, and unmarried girls for a good husband, following Parvati’s own example. Women wear green or red, apply mehndi, swing on decorated swings hung from trees, and sing teej songs, often with a visit to their parental home around these days, since the festival is as much a women’s gathering as a vrat.

• Idol or image of Shiva and Parvati
• Green or red bangles and clothing
• Mehndi (henna)
• Solah shringar items: sindoor, bindi, kajal and others
• Fruit and sweets
• Roli and akshat
• Flowers for decorating the swing

Source: Shiva Purana

After Sati gave up her life at her father Daksha’s yagna, where Shiva had been insulted, she was reborn as Parvati, daughter of Himavan, the mountain. From childhood she resolved that she would have Shiva, and no one else, as her husband, and began tapasya towards that end as soon as she was old enough.

Shiva, deep in his own meditation after Sati’s loss, paid her no attention at first. Parvati’s tapasya grew harder with the years, fasting first on fruit, then on fallen leaves alone, and at last on nothing, standing through heat, rain and cold, until even the gods were moved by her resolve.

Shiva, to test her resolve, sent the Saptarishi to dissuade her and even approached her himself in disguise, speaking against his own name, but Parvati did not waver. Pleased at last, Shiva accepted her as his wife, and their marriage is held to have been fixed from that day, which is kept since as Teej.

What to do

• Wear green if you can, the colour of the season and of the day.
• Join other women in the songs and the swing, since the gathering itself is as much part of the vrat as the fast.
• Keep the fast at whatever strictness your health allows, and follow a doctor’s word if you are pregnant, elderly or unwell, since devotion matters more than hardship.

What to avoid

• White is usually kept away from the day’s clothing, by custom, since the day is kept in bright, married colours.
• Avoid swinging or climbing a tree branch without care, for safety.

Known as Hariyali Teej or Shravani Teej in the north, where a family that also keeps Kajari Teej later in Bhadrapada calls this one Choti Teej. In Rajasthan it is a major women’s festival, with the Teej Mata procession through Jaipur among the best known.

Since this is Shukla paksha, Amanta and Purnimanta calendars both call the month Shravan, so there is no month-name difference.