मंगला गौरी व्रत विधि (श्रावण मंगलवार) · Mangala Gauri Vrat Vidhi (Shravan Mangalvar)

Mangala Gauri Vrat is observed on every Tuesday that falls in the month of Shravan, dedicated to the worship of Mata Gauri, Parvati — it takes its name from being performed on Mangalvar, Tuesday. It is kept chiefly by women. After bathing, a low platform is spread with one white cloth and one red cloth. On the white cloth, nine small piles of rice are formed, representing the nine planets, and on the red cloth, sixteen piles of wheat are formed, representing the sixteen Matrikas. To one side of the platform, rice and flowers are set out and Ganesh Ji is installed. In one corner, a small mound of wheat is made and topped with a water-filled kalash, into which a small branch of mango leaves is placed. A four-wick lamp of flour dough and sixteen incense sticks are lit.

The order of worship is as follows — first Ganesh Ji is worshipped with sandalwood, roli, betel leaf, betel nut, sindoor, panchamrit, sacred thread, rice, flowers, bel leaves, cardamom, prasad, and dakshina, concluding with aarti. Next, the kalash is worshipped with the same materials, except that sindoor and bel leaves are not offered to it. A small bowl of flour dough is then pressed with a betel nut and a coin, and bel leaves are offered to it. After this, the nine rice piles of the Navagraha are worshipped, and finally the sixteen wheat piles of the Shodash Matrika — these are offered not roli and sacred thread, but mehndi, turmeric, and sindoor. Then, on a small board, an image of Mangala Gauri is shaped from clay, or else five small clay lumps are set out and treated as her form. She is bathed with panchamrit, and then adorned with a nose-ring, kajal, sindoor, sandalwood, turmeric, mehndi, and the like.

Following this, offerings of sixteen each are made — flowers, garlands, leaves, fruits, cloves, cardamoms, flour laddus, cumin, coriander, and balls of seven kinds of grain — along with roli, mehndi, kajal, sindoor, oil, a comb, a mirror, sixteen bangles, one rupee, and two altar items, with dakshina offered upon all of them. A lamp of sixteen wicks is lit and a camphor aarti performed, and sixteen laddus are given as bhaayna to the mother-in-law to receive her blessing. The woman then breaks her fast by eating, alone, a single unsalted roti made from one grain. The next day, the clay materials of Mangala Gauri are immersed near a well, pond, or river, after which ordinary food may be taken. This vrat's udyapan is performed once sixteen or twenty Tuesdays of Shravan have been completed. On the udyapan day, the woman takes nothing until the rite is finished. A Brahmin conducts a havan and the katha is heard, after which he is fed and given dakshina, and the mother-in-law is offered cloth, a suhaag-pitari, and money to receive her blessing. Only after everyone present has eaten does the woman herself eat.