Monday — *Somvar* — is named for *Soma*, the Moon, and is dedicated in Hindu tradition to Shiva (whose head bears the crescent Moon). The Monday fast is among the most widely observed weekday vratas, kept in three principal forms.
✦ The Three Forms
1. Simple Somvar Vrat Kept any Monday as a one-day vrat. The fast lasts from sunrise to evening; the evening *aarti* of Shiva ends the fast and a single satvik meal is taken. Anyone — including children, the elderly, the unwell — can keep this in modified form (fruits + milk all day, single meal).
2. Solah Somvar Vrat — Sixteen Mondays Kept for sixteen consecutive Mondays. Often begun in the bright fortnight of Shravana or Ashadha, it is concluded with a small *udyapana* ceremony in which sixteen items (sixteen lamps, sixteen flowers, etc.) are offered. Traditionally undertaken by unmarried women seeking a suitable life partner, but also by anyone seeking sustained discipline.
3. Shravan Somvar — Mondays of Shravana Each of the four (sometimes five) Mondays of the lunar month of Shravana is kept as a special vrat. Shravana is Shiva's month, and the discipline is taken more seriously — several Mondays back to back, often with extended Shiva temple visits.
✦ A Simple Day's Routine
- 1**Pre-dawn bath**, clean clothes (white or saffron preferred).
- 2**Sankalpa** — a brief mental statement: "On this Somvar I undertake this fast for the welfare of family and the deepening of my Shiva-bhava."
- 3**Shiva puja** at the home shrine or at a temple — bathing the lingam (*abhishek*) with water, milk, honey or just water; offering bilva leaves (*bel patra*), white flowers, dhoop, deepa.
- 4**Mantra-japa** — *Om Namah Shivaya* (108 repetitions) is the standard. Mahamrityunjaya for those familiar with it.
- 5**Fast through the day** — water, milk, fruits, sabudana, kuttu, singhara are permitted. Grains, salt, and onion-garlic are avoided.
- 6**Evening aarti**, breaking of fast with a satvik meal.
✦ What the Vrat Asks
The food rules matter — but the deeper rule is *vak-tapas*: a day's restraint of speech. Ill-tempered words, gossip and harsh exchanges break the spirit of the vrat even when the fast is technically kept. The Monday fast is, classically, an exercise in temporary asceticism — a way of asking what one really needs and what one can do without.