Photo: Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Shrawan month (Saun) is the fourth month of the Bikram Sambat year and runs from mid-July to mid-August. In 2083 BS, Shrawan 1 fell on July 17, 2026, and the month ended on August 16. Shrawan is dedicated to Lord Shiva. During the month, devotees fast on Mondays (Shrawan Sombar), married women wear green bangles, green pote and mehendi, and Bol Bam pilgrims walk barefoot to Shiva temples carrying river water. Temples open earlier than usual and Shiva temples are crowded every Monday morning.
Why Shrawan is Shiva's month
One story told about Shrawan recalls Shiva drinking the poison produced during Samudra Manthan, and devotees offering water in remembrance. Offering practices and what counts as a complete household Puja differ. Ask the temple or family about their custom rather than treating one short description as a universal rule.
There is also a farming reason. Rice is transplanted in Asar, and in Shrawan the fields need rain more than work. That slack period in farm work left time for fasting, puja and pilgrimage.
Shrawan Sombar: the Monday fast
Sombar means Monday. Mondays in Shrawan are fasting days for Shiva devotees, and the rules vary by household:
- Strict fast: no food until the evening puja.
- Common fast: fruit, milk and one meal cooked without salt (alino).
In the morning, devotees visit a Shiva temple and offer water, milk, bel leaves and dhaturo. Pashupatinath in Kathmandu has some of its longest queues of the year on these Mondays. The fast is broken in the evening after lamps are lit.
Traditionally, unmarried women keep the Shrawan Sombar fast to get a good husband, and married women keep it for their husband's long life. Many people now keep it as a personal discipline without a specific wish. There is no rule about who may fast. Prepare the puja items (water pot, milk, bel leaves, flowers) the evening before so the Monday morning is not rushed.
The green month
In Shrawan, married women wear green bangles, a green pote and green tika, and put mehendi on their hands. The pote is the glass-bead necklace worn by married women. Green stands for the new growth of the monsoon and for good fortune in marriage, and wearing it through Shrawan is considered auspicious for married women. Bangle sellers make a large share of their yearly sales in these weeks, and mehendi stalls set up on pavements that have none the rest of the year.
The custom is now followed more loosely. Young unmarried girls also wear green bangles because they like them, and mehendi designs have become more detailed. The religious meaning, green as a prayer for the husband's long life, is still the main reason. Women who normally wear red bangles often mix green ones in during Shrawan.
Bol Bam: the barefoot pilgrimage
Through Shrawan you will see groups in saffron and yellow clothes walking along the highways and chanting "Bol Bam." These are Bol Bam pilgrims, and they follow set rules:
- Walk barefoot.
- Carry river water in two pots hung from a decorated bamboo pole (kanwar) on the shoulder.
- Pour the water over a Shiva linga at the end of the walk.
In Nepal the common destinations are Pashupatinath in Kathmandu and the Shiva temples along the Koshi in the east. Depending on the starting point, the walk takes from one day to more than a week. It is the Nepali form of the long pilgrimage tradition to Deoghar in India, and the number of participants grows every year.
If you drive on Nepal's eastern highways on a Shrawan weekend, drive slowly. Pilgrim groups walk on the road, and by custom drivers give them the way.
What else falls in the Shrawan month
Two dates are worth marking. Nag Panchami, the day of serpent-deity worship, falls on the Shukla Panchami (fifth day of the bright fortnight) of lunar Shrawan, usually in the second half of the month. In 2083 BS it fell on Bhadra 1 (August 17, 2026), the day after Shrawan ended. Households paste a printed picture of the nag above the main door and offer milk and dubo grass.
The end of Shrawan leads straight into the big Bhadra festivals. In 2083 BS, Janai Purnima fell on Bhadra 12 (August 28, 2026), and Gai Jatra was the next day. The exact date of each festival for the current year is on the holidays calendar. The daily panchang shows each day's tithi if you want to follow the fortnights yourself.
Keeping Shrawan practically
If you want to observe the month without the full fast, these steps are enough:
- If visiting a Shiva temple on a Shrawan Monday, check its current opening hours, queue arrangements and permitted offerings. Crowd levels vary; an early arrival does not guarantee a short queue.
- Offer water. Nothing more is required.
- If you fast, drink plenty of water. The monsoon heat is strong, and the tradition does not require going without water.
- Check the calendar before planning official work on a Shrawan Monday. Government offices open normally, but many of the people you need to meet may be fasting, and roads near the big temples are jammed until late morning.
After Shrawan ends, the calendar moves straight into Bhadra with Nag Panchami, Janai Purnima and Gai Jatra, followed by Teej.