Solah Somvar Vrat: Lord Shiva Fast for Marriage & Blessings

Lord Shiva This fast dedicated to is especially performed for marriage, happiness of children, fulfillment of wishes and good fortune. This fast is observed regularly for 16 consecutive Mondays. It is considered an extremely effective practice to please Shivji.

This fast is observed from the first Monday of Shravan month to the sixteenth Monday. Every Monday, go to the temple of Mahadevji and worship Shiva-Parvati and offer an Akshat. After the worship, listen to the story of the sixteenth Monday and while listening to the story, take rice in your hand and chant the mantra 'Om Namah Shivaya - Om Namah Shivaya'. This fast can be observed by all men and women. This is a fast that fulfills all wishes.

Sixteen Monday Fast Rules

Day of fasting:
- This fast can be started from any Monday.
- Starting the fast from Sawan Maas, Shravan Somvar or Mahashivratri is especially fruitful.
Observance of the fast:
- Wake up in Brahmamuhurta and take a bath and wear clean clothes.
- Worship the Shivling according to the rules and take a pledge of fasting.
- Maintain purity in mind, speech and body.
Food rules:
- The devotee should eat only fruits or sattvik food once a day.
- Garlic, onion, non-vegetarian food, eggs, sour substances are prohibited.
Worship material:
- Shivling (or picture)
- Gangajal, milk, curd, honey, ghee, sugar (for Panchamrit)
- Belpatra (three-leafed), white flowers, ashes
- Rice (Akshat), incense-lamp, camphor
- Rudraksha Mala (for chanting mantras)
- Naivedya (sweet or fruit)
Worship method:
- Clean the place of worship and install the Shivling.
- Perform Shiva Abhishek with Gangajal and Panchamrit.
- Offer Belpatra, flowers, sandalwood etc.
- Chant the mantra “Om Namah Shivaya” 108 times.
- Finally perform Aarti of Shivji and pray.
- Must listen to or recite the Vrat Katha.

Mantra chanting

Om Namah Shivaya – Chant this Panchakshari mantra 108 times.

Om Bhur Bhuvah Swah. Tatsaviturvarenyam. Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi. Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayat ॥

Chant this mantra 108 times with Rudraksha Mala.
While chanting, keep your mind focused and pray to the Mother.

Importance of fasting

By the grace of Shivji, one attains peace, wealth, and good fortune in life.

Sixteen Monday fast leads to marital happiness, childbirth, freedom from diseases and fulfillment of wishes.

This fast is especially beneficial for unmarried girls and married women.

Sixteen Monday Fast Story

Once Shankar and Parvati were sitting in their temple playing Chopat. In this game, 'who will lose and who will win, who will decide?' Shankar and Parvati started thinking. Meanwhile, the priest of this temple, Tapodhan Brahmin came there and Shankar-Parvati entrusted him with the task of deciding.

After a game, Lord Shankar won. He asked the Brahmin, "Who lost? Who won?"

"Lord! You won and Mother lost." said the Brahmin.

Parvati won the second game. She asked the Brahmin: "Who lost? Who won?

My Lord won and Mother lost."

Mother won the third time too...and he lied again when asked by the Brahmin. Because he wanted to please Mahadevji. This made Parvati angry and she cursed the Brahmin:

“Hey Brahmin! I won two out of three bets, yet you lied, I curse you that 'leprosy will appear all over your body.'

Due to the curse of Maa Parvati, leprosy immediately appeared all over the Brahmin's body. The Brahmin pleaded and begged forgiveness from Shankar-Parvati to remove the curse, but all in vain. Shankar-Parvati disappeared.

The Brahmin left from there crying and trembling. On the way he met a Maharishi. When he asked the Brahmin the reason for his crying, he told him the whole truth and asked him for a way out of this situation. The Maharishi asked him to do penance to Shiva with a sincere heart. The Brahmin decided in his mind and went to Shiva's temple on Kailash in the Himalayas. He set out to do penance. On the way he met a brown horse. The horse was very sad. The Brahmin went to him and patted his back, then the horse said: "Brother, why are you crying? And where are you going crying?"

The Brahmin said: "I have been cursed by Mother Parvati. I am going to take revenge for it."

The horse said: "Brother! Come and do one of my works too. I am so beautiful and tall, yet no one rides me. You come and ask for atonement for my sins."

"Okay." Saying this the Brahmin moved on.

While moving forward, the Brahmin met a cow on the way. The cow stopped the Brahmin and asked him the reason for his crying:

The Brahmin told the cow everything, then the cow said: "Brother! I am also very sad. My udders are bursting with milk, but no one feeds me milk and my calves do not feed me milk. You ask for the remedy for my sin."

"Okay." Saying this the Brahmin moved on. A little further on, the Brahmin saw a small mango on the way. The mango had mango leaves on it. The Brahmin sat down under the mango tree to rest. There the mango tree spoke. He said to the Brahmin: "Brother! I know your pain, but you should also listen to my pain. Delicious mangoes grow on my tree, but no one eats my fruit, and if someone eats it, they die immediately. Therefore, ask me for the remedy for my sin."

"Okay." Saying this, he sat under the tree for some time and moved on.

While moving forward, a lake came on the way. The Brahmin went down to drink water, then a crocodile climbed there and asked the Brahmin the same question. The Brahmin also gave him the same answer. Then the crocodile said: "Brother! I live in this cold water, but my whole body remains hot. Ask for the remedy for my sin."

"Okay." Saying this the Brahmin moved on. He reached Kailash mountain in the Himalayas and sat under a tree and started doing penance. He did very hard penance. Mahadevji was pleased and gave darshan to the Brahmin and asked him to ask for a boon.

The Brahmin said: "Hey Mahadevji! Please save me from my mother's curse and remove my leprosy."

Hey Bhudev! If you observe sixteen Monday fasts with a sincere heart, your leprosy will be cured and you will be freed from Mataji's curse."

"Lord! How should I observe this fast?"

Mahadevji said: "Hey Bhudev! This fast is observed from the first Monday of Shravan month till the sixteenth Monday. In the month of Shravan, the next day, that is, on Divasa, take four yellow threads and tie four knots at a little distance between them and wear them around your neck. Every Monday morning, wake up, take a bath and wash yourself, go to the temple of Mahadevji and worship him. Observe a fast every Monday. Observe this fast till the sixteenth Monday on the last Monday of Shravan, Bhadrapada, Ashadh and Kartik months.

On the sixteenth Monday, make laddus by mixing half a part of ghee and half a part of jaggery in four and a half parts of wheat flour. Divide this laddu into four parts. Give one part of the laddu to the priest of the temple, the second part to the children playing, the third part to the cowherd and the fourth part should be broken and eaten by the fasting person. If the laddu becomes more, then grind the remaining powder and fill it in the ant's hole, and if it becomes more, then bury it in the ground. In this way break the fast. If you observe this fast for sixteen Mondays with devotion, your body will become like gold.

The leper Brahmin touched the feet of God. Then he talked about the atonement of the horse's sins, then Lord Shankar said: "This horse was a thief in his previous birth. He used to cheat people by keeping false scales, and used to lend money to people and recover double the money including interest. If you ride on it, all its troubles will go away."

Then when the Brahmin told about the sin of the cow, Lord Shankar said: "This cow was a woman in her previous birth. That woman was very angry. She used to separate her infant child. She is suffering the consequences of this sin at this time. To atone for her sin, you take out milk from her udder and anoint me with it, then all her sorrows will go away."

Then when the Brahmin told about the sorrow of the mango, Lord Shankar said: "In her previous birth she was very greedy. Even after having a lot of wealth, she did not do charity. To atone for her sin, treasures of wealth are hidden under that mango tree, if you take them out and use them in auspicious deeds, all her sorrows will go away."

Then the Brahmin narrated the pain of the crocodile, then Lord Shankar said: "In the previous birth this crocodile was a great scholar, yet he did not teach the scriptures to anyone. That is why in this birth he is suffering as a crocodile. If you put the leaf kept on me on its eye, all its irritation will go away."

In this way, knowing the remedy for everyone's troubles, Tapodhan Brahmin bowed to God and left from there with the leaf placed on the Shivling.

First of all he reached near the lake. The crocodile was sitting on the bank of the lake waiting for the Brahmin. The Brahmin applied the leaf offered by Mahadevji to the crocodile's eye, and the burning sensation in the crocodile's body immediately subsided.

From there the Brahmin moved on. On the way he found a mango tree and he told him the things said by Mahadevji. Then he took a spade and dug a tree from under the mango tree. He resolved to use that wealth for auspicious works. He plucked a mango from the mango tree and ate it till he felt the juice.

From there the Brahmin moved on. On the way the cow was sitting waiting for the Brahmin. The Brahmin told the cow what Mahadevji had said. Then he milked the cow, collected her milk in a vessel, took the name of Mahadevji and anointed a rock, and the cow's pain immediately went away. Her calves started playing and milking the cow.

From there the Brahmin moved on. On the way the horse was standing waiting for him. The Brahmin told him what Mahadevji had said. Riding on the horse, he said: "Now your sins have been atoned for."

When the time came, the month of Shravan came, then the Brahmin started the fast of sixteen Mondays. In the blink of an eye four months passed. On the sixteenth Monday, the Brahmin broke the fast. Due to the Brahmin's firm faith and devotion, his body became as beautiful as before. His leprosy was completely cured.

Freed from Parvati's curse, the Brahmin reached his village and saw a huge pavilion built there. In it, princes from all over the country were sitting adorned with ornaments and clothes. When Tapodhan Brahmin asked someone, he came to know that 'this is the swayamvar of the daughter of our king, so all the kings and princes have come.'

Tapodhan Brahmin went and stood in a corner of the pavilion. A decorated elephant came to the Brahmin with a garland and put it around the Brahmin's neck. Seeing this, the king said: "The elephant forgets, misses."

The king threw the Brahmin out of the pavilion. The elephant again clung to the garland and turned into a swayamvar. The elephant went back to the Brahmin who had been thrown out of the pavilion with the garland and put the garland around his neck.

The entire royal court cheered: "May what the Lord wishes happen."

The king married his daughter to that Brahmin. The king gave him gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, pearls, silk zari clothes, elephants and horses.

The Brahmin made the princess his wife and brought her home. The Brahmin's mother was very happy to see her son and daughter-in-law. She went to welcome them both with lentils, but there the lentils turned into pearls. All this was the fruit of Mahadevji's grace.

After some time the king died and that Brahmin became the king and his wife became the queen. The Brahmin again observed the fast of sixteen Mondays. When the month of Kartik ended, the sixteenth Monday came. The Brahmin king told his wife the method of observing the fast of sixteen Mondays.

The queen thought, "Maharaj, will they eat such dry, stale laddus? They have made thirty-two types of dishes and many other dishes."

The king sat down to eat. Seeing the food being prepared, he became angry with the queen. He praised Lord Shankar and completed his fast. He picked up four grains of food and threw them in all four directions and went to sleep hungry.

That same night Mahadevji appeared to the king in a dream and said: "Hey Rajan! Your queen has broken your fast, so you should exile her."

As soon as it was morning, the king exiled the queen and expelled her from his kingdom.