GT Digital
Vat Purnima was celebrated across Goa on Saturday, June 3, 2023. It is a celebration mostly seen in North India and in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat.
On this occasion, married Hindu women pray for the well-being and long life of their husbands.
They do so by tying a ceremonial thread around a banyan tree.
The celebration is based on the legend of Savitri and Satyavan as narrated in the epic Mahabharata.
On this day, the women also fast and pray.
The banyan tree, which belongs to the genus ficus, is one of the important keystone species of the forests.
On the occasion, seasonal fruits are offered to the tree and distributed in a leaf cone to other women who come to worship.
According to Hindu mythology, the banyan tree fulfills every wish and grants materials, and hence it is also called kalpavriksha.