Kajari Teej 2027

About Kajari Teej

Kajari Teej is the second of the three Teejs of the rainy season, coming after Hariyali Teej and before Hartalika Teej. Like the others it celebrates Parvati's devotion to Shiva. Married women keep it for a happy married life, and many unmarried girls keep it hoping for a good husband. The name comes from kajari, the dark rain clouds of the season, and from the kajari songs sung on this day.

It falls on Bhadrapada Krishna Tritiya in the purnimanta calendar of the North. It is kept across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Mirzapur and Varanasi are known for their kajari singing, folk songs of longing and the rains. In Rajasthan the day is also called Satudi Teej, after the sattu sweets made for it, and in Bundi the Kajli Teej fair brings a colourful procession of Teej Mata through the town.

The day begins with a bath, new clothes and mehndi. Women keep a fast, often without water, though those who are pregnant, unwell or older often take water and fruit, and in many homes they worship the neem tree as Neemadi Mata: a small branch of neem is set beside a little pool of water and offered milk, roli, rice, fruit and flowers. Sweets of sattu, made from roasted gram, wheat, rice or barley flour with ghee and sugar, are prepared for the evening. Swings go up, women gather to sing kajari, and the Teej katha is told.

The fast is opened after moonrise. Women offer arghya to the moon, a little water, milk and rice, and then eat the sattu sweets first. On a cloudy night, many families offer the arghya facing the direction of the moon at its expected rising time. The day follows the Tritiya tithi, and the moonrise time shown above helps families plan the evening.