PARV 16 OF 30 · ASHWIN
जितिया · जीवित्पुत्रिका
Ashwin Krishna Ashtami (September–October)
"जितिया के भूख, बेटा के उमिर"
Katha · The story
King Jimutavahana of the Gandharvas, walking by the sea, found an old woman weeping: her son was to be given that day to Garud, who ate one snake each day by a pact with the nagas. Jimutavahana took the boy's place, wrapped in the red cloth, and lay on the rock. Garud carried him off and began to eat, and the king neither cried out nor resisted. Garud, astonished, stopped, and when he learnt the truth he gave up eating the nagas forever and restored every one he had killed. The mothers of Mithila keep the vrat in Jimutavahana's name, that their children may be protected as that mother's son was.
The second story is of a kite and a fox who watched the vrat being kept and tried it themselves; the kite kept it honestly and her children lived; the fox broke it in secret and lost hers. That is why the vrat is nirjala and why nothing is hidden.
Mahatva · Significance
Jitiya is the hardest vrat a Bihari mother keeps: a full day and night without a drop of water, for the long life of her sons and daughters. It is older and fiercer than Chhath in its demand, and every child in a city gets a phone call that morning.
"जिउतिया के व्रत, माई के परान"
A line everyone at the festival knows
Vidhi · How it is done in Malinagar
Maruwa roti, noni saag, jhingi, machhli on nahay-khay; jhor-bhaat and thekua on paran.
The jitiya thread, with a gold or silver locket for each child, is worn by the mother all year and renewed each Jitiya.