Sabitri Bratra: A Festival Of Faith For Married Hindu Women

Bhubaneswar: Sabitri Brata is observed by married Hindu women on Amavasya in the month of Jyeshtha. They observe this day by keeping fast and praying for long life of their husband. Married women in Odisha fast during the day and listen to the story of Savitri and Satyavan.

History Behind The Festival

The Brata was named after Sabitri. She was the beautiful daughter of King Aswapati of Madra Desa. She selected Satyaban as her life partner, a prince in exile who was living in the forest with his blind father Dyumatsen.

She left the palace and lived with her husband and the in-laws in the forest. As a devoted wife and daughter-in-law, she went to great lengths to take care of them. One day while cutting wood in the forest, Satyaban’s head reeled and he fell down from a tree. Sabitri accompanied him on that day. Then Yamraj, the death God, appeared to take away his soul. Deeply hurt, Sabitri pleaded to Yamraj not to be separated from her husband. If he would take away the soul of her husband; she would also follow. Yamraj, moved by the devotion of Sabitri, returned the life of her husband.