व्रत · Vrat & Vrat Katha
Sankat Mochan Vrat
संकट मोचन व्रत
Tuesdays or Saturdays in devotion to Hanuman — the dispeller of every sankat
- When
- Every Tuesday or Saturday — for a single day, or as a sustained weekly tapas
- प्रत्येक मंगलवार या शनिवार
- Deity
- Lord Hanuman (Sankat Mochan, Bajrangbali)
- भगवान हनुमान (संकट मोचन)
- Purpose
- Removal of obstacles (sankat), protection from enemies, victory in difficult situations, courage in adversity
About this vrat
Sankat Mochan Vrat (संकट मोचन व्रत) is observed on Tuesdays and Saturdays — the days sacred to Lord Hanuman — in devotion to him as Sankat Mochan, the dispeller of every sankat (calamity, obstacle, difficulty). Unlike vrats with fixed sankhya (sixteen Mondays, eleven Fridays), Sankat Mochan Vrat has no required count: it can be observed for a single Tuesday or Saturday in a moment of crisis, for forty-one days continuously through a difficult period (Mangal Mahadasha, court matters, illness in the family), or as a lifelong weekly tapas.
The vrat is rooted in the Tulsidas tradition and in the broader Hanuman-bhakti current that has shaped north Indian devotional life for five centuries. Tulsidas himself composed the Sankat Mochan Hanumanashtak (Eight Verses for the Dispeller of Calamity) in Varanasi around 1607, while imprisoned by Mughal authorities; the legend goes that monkeys descended on the prison, the imprisoning officials grew terrified, and Tulsidas was released. The Hanumanashtak became the central recitation of every Hanuman devotee's sankat-period observance — a hymn to be read when nothing else seems to be working.
In observance, Sankat Mochan Vrat is sober and direct. Tuesday or Saturday morning is dedicated to a Hanuman temple visit (or home Hanuman puja); sindoor, chola (a paste of orange-red sindoor and oil) is offered to the Hanuman murti; mustard oil is offered (the lamps in Hanuman temples burn mustard oil, not ghee, on these days); and the recitation of the Hanuman Chalisa, the Sankat Mochan Hanumanashtak, and the Bajrang Baan are the central acts. Many devotees fast through the day and break the fast only after sunset with a simple sattvik meal.
The vrat's spiritual centre is courage. Hanuman is the deva of fearlessness; whoever observes Sankat Mochan Vrat is asking not just for the removal of an obstacle but for the courage to face it. The sankat — whatever it is — is sometimes removed; sometimes it is faced and defeated. Either way, the vrat works.
Sankat Mochan Vrat — Katha
The legendary story recited as part of the vrat. Read aloud during the morning puja.
The Sankat Mochan Vrat Katha is the story of Tulsidas, the great bhakta-poet, in his most difficult hour. Tulsidas had spent his life in devotion to Lord Rama and had composed the Ramcharitmanas — the Hindi retelling of the Ramayana that became, and remains, the most beloved religious text of north India. He had also composed the Hanuman Chalisa, the Vinaya Patrika, and the Kavitavali. He lived for many years in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganga, in a small ashram surrounded by his disciples.
Around the year 1607, Tulsidas was unjustly imprisoned. The accounts vary — some say it was on a complaint from an envious local pandit, some say from a Mughal court official, some say from a personal enemy of the family he was visiting — but the result was the same: Tulsidas, an old man by then, was thrown into prison without trial, without recourse, with no certainty of when (or if) he would be released.
In the prison, Tulsidas turned where he had always turned — to Lord Rama and to Hanuman. He had no paper, no ink, and yet he composed the Sankat Mochan Hanumanashtak — eight verses to Hanuman as the dispeller of calamity, each verse beginning with a specific sankat from the Ramayana that Hanuman had resolved (the burning of Lanka, the flying with the Sanjivani mountain, the binding of the demons, etc.) and ending with the refrain: "Aur dev jo aabhau na koi · Sankat mochan deve to seva" — "Where no other god comes to help, Sankat Mochan comes to serve."
Tulsidas recited the Hanumanashtak through the night. By dawn, the city of Varanasi was being overrun by monkeys — they came down from the temples, from the forests, from the rooftops, in numbers no one had ever seen. They attacked the prison; they attacked the homes of the officials who had imprisoned Tulsidas; they did not harm anyone but caused such terror and disruption that the local authorities understood almost immediately that this was no natural event. Tulsidas was released that same morning. The monkeys, having received Hanuman's instruction through Tulsidas's verses, returned quietly to their temples.
The story does not end there. Tulsidas, having been freed, did not retreat into silence. He went to the Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple in Varanasi (a temple he himself is traditionally credited with founding) and prostrated before the deity. He instructed his disciples — and through them, every devotee who came after — that whoever recited the Sankat Mochan Hanumanashtak with full faith in a moment of difficulty would receive Hanuman's protection. The hymn would not always remove the difficulty; sometimes the difficulty would have to be faced. But in the facing, Hanuman's courage would be present.
A second story, popular in the broader katha tradition, illustrates the same principle. A merchant of Varanasi was once falsely accused of theft and was facing punishment. His family, in despair, came to the Sankat Mochan temple and observed the vrat for forty-one consecutive Tuesdays and Saturdays — recitation of the Hanumanashtak, offering of sindoor and mustard oil, fasting through the day. By the forty-first Saturday, the true thief had been caught; the merchant was released; his honour was restored. He himself, after his release, went to the temple and added a permanent endowment for the daily sindoor offering — a tradition that, in some Hanuman temples in Varanasi, continues to this day.
The katha closes with the affirmation that Sankat Mochan Vrat is the vrat of last resort and of unshakeable courage. Whoever observes it with full surrender — even for a single Tuesday or Saturday in a moment of crisis — is held by Hanuman through that crisis. The vrat does not promise that no difficulty will come; it promises that no difficulty will be faced alone.
Vrat Vidhi — How to observe
- Choose your day(s). Tuesday and Saturday are the days sacred to Hanuman. The vrat may be observed for a single day in crisis, for forty-one consecutive Tuesdays-and-Saturdays for major sankat, or as a lifelong weekly observance. Hold a clear sankalpa for whatever sankat you face.
- Morning bath and preparation. Wake early, bathe, wear clean clothes (red or saffron are auspicious). Through the day, do not raise your voice in anger; do not speak ill of anyone. The vrat is held especially with restraint of speech.
- Visit a Hanuman temple — or set up home puja. If a Hanuman temple is accessible, visit it in the morning. If not, set up a Hanuman murti or photograph at home with a clean cloth, a small ghee diya, sindoor, and mustard oil.
- Sindoor and chola offering. Apply sindoor (or a chola — a paste of sindoor mixed with til oil or mustard oil) to the Hanuman murti. This is the central offering of any Hanuman puja; sindoor is to Hanuman what tulsi is to Krishna.
- Mustard-oil diya. Light a diya with mustard oil (sarson ka tel) — not ghee, on these days. The mustard-oil lamp is the traditional Hanuman offering and burns in every major Hanuman temple on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
- Recite Hanuman Chalisa, Sankat Mochan Hanumanashtak, Bajrang Baan. These three are the core Hanuman recitations. The Hanuman Chalisa (forty verses by Tulsidas) is the foundational text. The Sankat Mochan Hanumanashtak (eight verses) is the sankat-specific text — recited eight or twenty-one times in difficult periods. The Bajrang Baan is the more intense recitation for serious crises.
- Offer prasad. Boondi laddoo, jaggery (gur), or roasted gram (chana) are traditional Hanuman prasads. Offer them at the murti, then distribute to family members and any visitors.
- Fast through the day. Take only fruits, milk, or one phalahar meal in the evening (after sunset). Avoid grains, onion, garlic, meat, alcohol, and all non-sattvik foods. Many strict observers keep a full fast on the day and break only the next morning.
- Feed monkeys (where possible). A traditional offering on Tuesdays and Saturdays is feeding monkeys with bananas, gur, chana, or roasted boondi. In Varanasi, Mathura, and other Hanuman-rich towns, this is a daily practice; elsewhere, do it where monkeys are accessible.
Mantras
ॐ हं हनुमते रुद्रात्मकाय हुं फट् स्वाहा
Om Ham Hanumate Rudratmakaya Hum Phat Swaha
Salutations to Hanuman, the form of Rudra. (Hanuman Beej Mantra — the most powerful single-mantra invocation.)
मनोजवं मारुततुल्यवेगं जितेन्द्रियं बुद्धिमतां वरिष्ठम् । वातात्मजं वानरयूथमुख्यं श्रीरामदूतं शरणं प्रपद्ये ॥
Manojavam Marutatulya-Vegam Jitendriyam Buddhimatam Varishtham · Vatatmajam Vanara-Yutha-Mukhyam Sri Rama-Dootam Sharanam Prapadye
I take refuge in the son of the wind-god — swift as thought, swift as the wind, master of the senses, foremost among the wise, leader of the vanara army, the messenger of Sri Rama. (The Hanuman Stotra opening verse.)
Udyapan — The concluding ceremony
Sankat Mochan Vrat does not have a fixed udyapan in the way Solah Somwar or Mahalaxmi do, because the vrat is open-ended. The traditional closing varies by the form of observance:
— **For a forty-one-day observance** (often kept during a major sankat — court matter, illness, financial crisis): on the forty-first day, perform a special Hanuman puja with a complete Hanuman Chalisa path (108 times if possible), an offering of a large boondi laddoo as bhog, and the feeding of forty-one brahmins or community members with a Hanuman-themed feast (boondi, halwa, puri, sabzi). Donate sindoor, oil, or money to a Hanuman temple.
— **For a lifelong weekly observance** (Tuesdays and Saturdays as ongoing tapas): there is no fixed end. Many devotees observe the vrat for the rest of their lives, with the annual closing being Hanuman Jayanti (Chaitra Purnima) — a special elaborate puja, the recitation of the entire Sundarkand of the Ramayana, and the feeding of community members on that day.
— **For a single-day-in-crisis observance**: after the immediate crisis has passed, return to the Hanuman temple within a week and offer thanksgiving — a special sindoor application, a complete Hanuman Chalisa path, an offering of laddoo prasad, and a small donation to the temple's daily oil-and-sindoor fund.
— **In all cases**: silently complete the sankalpa with which you began the vrat. Thank Hanuman for whatever has been given. Resolve to maintain at least a small weekly Tuesday or Saturday observance — even if just lighting a mustard-oil diya before a Hanuman photograph for five minutes — for the rest of the year.
— Many devotees, after a successful Sankat Mochan Vrat, also undertake a pilgrimage to one of the major Hanuman temples within the year: the Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple in Varanasi, Salasar Balaji in Rajasthan, Mehndipur Balaji also in Rajasthan, the Hanuman temple at Connaught Place in Delhi, or any major regional Hanuman shrine.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sankat Mochan Vrat?
Sankat Mochan Vrat is a vrat in devotion to Lord Hanuman as Sankat Mochan — the dispeller of every calamity. It is observed on Tuesdays and Saturdays (the days sacred to Hanuman), with the central recitations being the Hanuman Chalisa, the Sankat Mochan Hanumanashtak (composed by Tulsidas in prison in 1607), and the Bajrang Baan. The vrat may be observed for a single day in crisis, forty-one consecutive Tuesdays-and-Saturdays for major sankat, or as a lifelong weekly tapas.
When should I observe Sankat Mochan Vrat?
There are three traditional patterns: (1) a single Tuesday or Saturday in an immediate crisis, (2) forty-one consecutive Tuesdays-and-Saturdays during a sustained difficult period (court matter, illness, Mangal Mahadasha, prolonged financial crisis), or (3) a lifelong weekly observance on Tuesdays and Saturdays as ongoing devotion. Choose by the gravity of your sankat and the depth of your sankalpa.
What are the central recitations of Sankat Mochan Vrat?
Three texts form the core: the Hanuman Chalisa (forty verses by Tulsidas — the foundational hymn), the Sankat Mochan Hanumanashtak (eight verses composed by Tulsidas during his Mughal-era imprisonment — the sankat-specific hymn), and the Bajrang Baan (a more intense recitation for serious crises). Strict observers add the Hanuman Stotra and the Sundarkand of the Ramayana for major occasions.
Why is mustard oil used instead of ghee in Hanuman temples on these days?
Mustard oil (sarson ka tel) is the traditional offering to Hanuman, particularly on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The tradition stems from the Ramayana account: when Hanuman was setting Lanka on fire with his burning tail, he applied oil to the flame to keep it burning; mustard oil is offered in remembrance of that act, and also because mustard oil is the oil of strength and protection in Indian tradition. Hanuman temples burn mustard-oil diyas on Tuesdays and Saturdays as the tradition mandates.
Can women observe Sankat Mochan Vrat?
Yes. While Hanuman is a brahmachari deity, women observe Sankat Mochan Vrat freely — the vrat is for whoever faces sankat. Traditional observers note one nuance: women in some communities prefer the simple Hanuman Chalisa recitation rather than the Bajrang Baan (which has a more militant tone), though there is no strict prohibition. The vrat is observed in the same form by both men and women.
What is the difference between Sankat Mochan Vrat and Hanuman Jayanti?
Hanuman Jayanti is the annual birthday of Hanuman (Chaitra Purnima — typically March/April) — a single festival day with elaborate puja, recitations, and community celebration. Sankat Mochan Vrat is a recurring weekly observance on Tuesdays and Saturdays — practical, situational, focused on specific sankat. Many devotees observe both: Sankat Mochan Vrat for ongoing tapas, and Hanuman Jayanti as the annual culmination.