Jivitputrika 2027

About Jivitputrika

Jivitputrika, better known as Jitiya or Jiutiya, is a fast mothers keep for their children on Ashwin Krishna Ashtami, and in 2027 the main fast day falls on Thursday, 23 September 2027. It is kept across Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Terai of Nepal. Most mothers fast without food or water, between a ritual bath and meal the day before and parana, the breaking of the fast, the day after.

Jitiya falls on the Ashtami, the eighth lunar day, of the waning fortnight of Ashwin, as the purnimanta calendar of north India counts it. That puts it inside Pitru Paksha, the fortnight for the ancestors, and about a week before Navratri begins. Drik Panchang lists it on the same day as Ashtami Shraddha.

The name says what the fast is for. Jivit-putrika means "one whose child lives". In Bhojpuri homes it is Jiutiya, in Maithili homes Jitiya, and in the Terai of Nepal it is the main festival of married Tharu women.

Three days, one hard fast

1. Saptami · Nahay-khay
   Bath and one clean meal

   Mothers bathe in a river, pond or at home and eat a single vegetarian meal cooked in ghee. In many Maithil and Tharu homes the meal is marua roti, the finger-millet flatbread, with noni saag, and fish where the family eats it.

2. Before dawn on Ashtami · Othgan
   A last bite before the crows call

   In Mithila and the Terai, mothers touch a little curd and chura, beaten rice, to their lips before the first crow is heard. After that, nothing.

3. Ashtami · Khur Jitiya
   The fast and the puja

   Most mothers go without food or water through the day and the night. In the evening they worship Jimutavahana and hear the katha.

4. Navami · Parana
   Breaking the fast

   Once Ashtami has ended, the fast is broken, often with cucumber and the puja offerings, then a cooked meal of marua roti, noni saag, jhimni (ridge gourd) and rice.

Most families break the fast on Navami morning, after sunrise. Maithil families often follow the Mithila almanac, which in some years starts the fast a day earlier and breaks it in the evening. In 2022 Maithil women in Indore reported a fast of about 36 hours. So two neighbours may break the fast hours apart. Ask before you assume.

The stories behind Jitiya

Families tell one of three stories at the puja.

Jimutavahana. As tradition tells it, Jimutavahana was a prince of the Vidyadharas who would not shed blood to win back his lost kingdom. In the Malaya hills he met an old Naga mother weeping because her son, Shankhachuda, was next in line to be eaten by Garuda, the king of birds. Jimutavahana wrapped himself in a red cloth, lay on the rock in the boy's place and let Garuda take him. When Garuda found he had taken a man and not a Naga, he was so moved that he gave up eating the Nagas. In most tellings Jimutavahana is brought back to life. It is the plot of Nagananda, a Sanskrit play attributed to King Harsha in the 7th century, and it also appears in the Kathasaritsagara. Mothers worship Jimutavahana on Jitiya as the one who saved another woman's son.

The eagle and the she-jackal. This is the katha most homes in Bihar and eastern UP know best. An eagle and a jackal living by the Narmada watched women keep the fast and decided to keep it too. The jackal grew hungry in the night and ate in secret; the eagle kept her vow. Both were reborn as sisters. The eagle's seven sons lived; the jackal's did not. After jealousy, a plot against the younger sister's sons and a miracle that saves them, the elder sister learns why, keeps the fast properly, and her children live. This is why the puja often has small figures of a cheel and a siyarin, shaped from clay and cow dung.

Uttara's son. A third telling ties the fast to the Mahabharata. Ashwatthama's weapon killed the unborn child of Uttara, Abhimanyu's widow, and Krishna brought the baby back to life. The child grew up to be King Parikshit.

Nahay-khay

"Bathe and eat": the bath and single clean meal the day before the fast

Othgan

The pre-dawn bite of curd and chura before the fast begins, kept in Mithila and the Terai

Khur Jitiya

The main fast day, Ashwin Krishna Ashtami

Nirjala

Without water as well as food

Parana

Breaking the fast once the tithi has ended

Marua

Finger millet (ragi); marua roti is eaten on nahay-khay and at parana

Noni saag

A leafy green, purslane, cooked for nahay-khay and parana

Kusha

A sacred grass; the Jimutavahana figure for the puja is often made from it

How the puja is done

In the evening the mothers of a lane or a family sit together. A small figure of Jimutavahana is made from kusha grass and set on a cleaned spot of ground, in some homes with the clay eagle and jackal beside it. The women offer flowers, fruit, cucumber, paan and sweets. An older woman reads or tells the katha. After parana, mothers bless their children, and these days that often happens over a video call to a son or daughter in another city.

In the Terai of Nepal, married Tharu women often go back to their parents' home for the festival, and Tharu women dance the jhamta. Offerings of mustard cake, jaggery and mustard oil go to Jitamahan, as the deity is called there, and to the family's ancestors. The oil is later rubbed on the children.

A nirjala fast through a day and a night is a medical question for anyone pregnant, diabetic or on daily medicine. Many families allow a lighter fast in these cases.

What to write, and what to leave out

The same eastern belt keeps Chhath Puja about five weeks later. Mothers in western UP and Delhi keep a similar fast for their children on Ahoi Ashtami, and in Magh many keep Sakat Chauth for their sons and daughters.

How to wish someone on Jivitputrika

A good Jitiya message is written to the mother, not about the children. Acknowledge a long waterless day, wish her strength and an easy parana, and offer practical help if you can. Never joke about food or hunger, and don't send food photos on the fast day. Write "your children" rather than "your sons" unless you know the family's custom, and for a mother who has lost a child, write privately and name the child.

Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.

Language tip: English, Hindi + Bhojpuri, Maithili.

Good to know: Hard nirjala fast: wish strength, never tease about food or water. Say 'your children', not only sons. Mothers who have lost a child: private, named note. Ghat drownings recur (22 in Bihar, Oct 2023).

When is Jivitputrika in each year?

Jivitputrika is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 10 days earlier than in 2026.

Frequently asked questions