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Ahoi Ashtami · puja vidhi

How to do the Ahoi Ashtami puja at home

A mother's vrat for her children: Ahoi Maa on the wall at dusk, and the arghya to the first stars. About 60 minutes.

Every step is named here and the first 3 are given whole. The whole puja, every mantra with its meaning, is in the Kalava app.

Form
Tara darshanAt moonrise
Puja
CompleteEssential

The fuller puja: the achaman, the sringar for Ahoi Mata, the syau with its new beads, the kshama prarthana, and the grains to a cow. About an hour in the evening.

Ahoi Ashtami

The morning · the sankalp

7:01 AM · Columbus

After the bath: the sankalp for your children. From sunrise, nothing — not even water — until the arghya.

  1. The morning

    The bath

    1. Rise before sunrise and bathe.
    2. Put on clean clothes; leave black and dark blue aside today.
    3. From sunrise, nothing to eat or drink until the arghya.
    The bath

  2. The morning

    The sankalp

    1. Sit facing east before the place of puja. Take a little water and a few grains of akshat in the right palm.
    2. Say your name and your gotra, and in your own words resolve: for the long life and wellbeing of your children you keep Ahoi Mata's vrat today, without food or water, and will open it after the arghya to the stars.
    3. Let the water and the akshat fall to the ground.

    The sankalp names how the vrat will be opened — at the stars or at the moon — as the family keeps it.

    The sankalp

Before sunset · Ahoi Mata on the wall

4:30 PM · Columbus

In the late afternoon: Ahoi Mata drawn in geru or Her picture put up, the place made ready, and the kalash with the karwa set before Her.

  1. Before sunset

    Ahoi Mata on the wall

    1. Wipe a part of the wall near the place of puja clean.
    2. With geru mixed in a little water, draw Ahoi Mata: a figure with eight corners, for the ashtami.
    3. Beside Her draw the syahu, the porcupine, with her young; many houses draw the seven sons as well.
    4. Where the wall cannot be drawn on, put up the printed Ahoi Mata calendar, or a cloth with Her figure worked on it.

    The eight corners are for the ashtami, the eighth day; the syahu and her young are the katha's own.

    Ahoi Mata on the wall
    1. The place of puja
    2. The kalash and the karwa
    3. The thali

    These 3 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

At sandhya · the puja

5:30 PM–8:12 PM · Columbus

Just after sunset: Ahoi Mata's puja, the katha with seven grains in the hand, the aarti, and the bayna for your saas.

    1. Achaman
    2. The diya
    3. Roli and akshat
    4. Flowers, seenk and dhoop
    5. The sringar
    6. Milk and the bhog
    7. The syau
    8. The katha, with seven grains
    9. Ahoi Mata's aarti
    10. Kshama prarthana
    11. Wearing the syau
    12. The bayna for your saas

    These 12 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

The arghya · the vrat opened

5:58 PM · Columbus

When the first stars are out: the arghya from the karwa, then water from your child's hand.

    1. Waiting for the stars
    2. Arghya to the stars
    3. Water from your child's hand
    4. The grains to a cow
    5. The meal, and the kalash

    These 5 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

The samagri list