Jyesta Pournami 2026

Jyesta Pournami is the full-moon day of Jyeshtha Shukla Paksha. For Telugu farmers it is Eruvaka Pournami, the festival that marks the start of ploughing with the first monsoon rains. Vata Savitri vratham and the Snana Yatra of Lord Jagannatha at Puri also fall on this day.

Eruvaka Pournami

"Eru" means plough and "vaka" means to set going. By Jyeshtha Pournami the southwest monsoon brings the first showers (tolakari). In villages across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, farmers bathe their bullocks, paint their horns, decorate them with bells and garlands and worship them. The plough and yoke are smeared with turmeric and kumkum, pongali is offered, and the first furrow is ploughed at an auspicious moment. Some villages also hold bullock races. The festival reflects our farming culture and gratitude toward cattle.

Vata Savitri and Snana Purnima

In regions such as Maharashtra and Gujarat, married women tie threads around a banyan tree on this day and observe Vata Savitri vratham, remembering Savitri who won back her husband Satyavan's life from Yama; in North India the same vratham is kept on Jyeshtha Amavasya. Some Telugu families also follow it. At Puri in Odisha, Jagannatha, Balabhadra and Subhadra are given a ceremonial bath with 108 pots on this day.

Puja Steps

• Bathe in the morning, draw a muggu at the entrance and worship your family deity.
• Farming families decorate their cattle, perform nagali (plough) puja and bow to Bhumata.
• Those keeping Vata Savitri vratham pour water at a banyan tree, tie thread around it and circumambulate it.
• Satyanarayana vratham or Vishnu puja may be performed.
• Offer arghyam to the moon in the evening, and donate water, buttermilk and food.

Significance

Jyeshtha Pournami honours nature, the land, cattle and the marriage bond. Farmers believe crops begun on this day yield a rich harvest. Fasting is optional; avoiding non-vegetarian food is the common rule.

Under the Eruvaka full moon, may the fields turn green and every farmer's home be filled with grain.