Santoshi Ma Vrat, On Fridays, a religious ritual is held in
honor of the goddess Santoshi Ma ("the mother who satisfies").
Women frequently take this religious vow (vrat) to achieve
particular objectives for themselves or (more often) their family, such as
gaining a job, passing an exam, having a child, or arranging a marriage.
When one's desire is realized, the observant is required to
feed eight brahmin boys a dinner of rice, yogurt, and bananas in a concluding
ritual.
After this last ceremony, one is no longer obligated to keep
the pledge, however many women opt to do so in order to retain the household's
overall good fortune.
Since the late 1970s, the Santoshi Ma Vrat has grown in
popularity throughout northern India, owing to its simplicity and low cost.
The worshiper should not eat until the evening meal on the
day of the fast (upavasa), however tea and other drinks are often permitted.
The worshiper should light a lamp in front of a picture of
Santoshi Ma in the late afternoon, offer her small amounts of chickpeas and raw
sugar (which can be found in even the poorest households), and read aloud the
rite's charter myth, which describes how a poor, unfortunate woman solved all
her family's problems through her devotion to Santoshi Ma.
After that, the worshiper is free to enjoy the evening meal,
albeit there are certain restrictions: Santoshi Ma is a goddess associated with
sweetness, hence there must be no sour, hot, or bitter seasonings in the
cuisine.
This observance therefore combines two frequent aspects of
religious vows: some sort of worship and dietary modification in exchange for
promised benefits.
