Vishnu (as Satyanarayan)
Honoured alongside: Lakshmi
Vishnu in the form of Satyanarayan — 'the embodiment of truth'. Not a festival but a vrat kept at thresholds: a new home, a wedding, a job, a recovery, or simply each full moon. Included here because it is the puja most households perform and least often have explained to them.
What the puja consists of
- Keep a fast through the day, usually on fruit and milk.
- Set a kalash with a coconut and mango leaves, and Satyanarayan's image beside it, on a decorated platform.
- Invoke Ganesha and the navagraha first, then Satyanarayan.
- Hear the katha in its five chapters, read aloud — the vrat is not complete without it.
- Offer sapatha bhog and the characteristic sheera or panjiri prasad of sooji, ghee, sugar and banana.
- Aarti, then distribute prasad to everyone present before the family eats.
Core chants
Named, not printed — each links to a recording where the catalogue has one.
- Katha
Satyanarayan Vrat Kathaसत्यनारायण व्रत कथा
Five chapters from the Skanda Purana — the centre of the entire observance.
Not in the catalogue yet — ask at your local temple or gurdwara, or learn it from a teacher in your tradition.
- Mantra
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevayaॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
The twelve-syllable mantra used through the puja.
Not in the catalogue yet — ask at your local temple or gurdwara, or learn it from a teacher in your tradition.
- Paath
Vishnu Sahasranamaविष्णु सहस्रनाम
The thousand names, recited where the household keeps a longer form.
Not in the catalogue yet — ask at your local temple or gurdwara, or learn it from a teacher in your tradition.
- Aarti
Jai Lakshmi Ramanaजय लक्ष्मी रमणा
The Satyanarayan aarti sung at the close.
- Aarti
Om Jai Jagdish Hareॐ जय जगदीश हरे
Usually sung immediately after.
It differs where you are. Kept across north, west and east India and in Nepal, with the katha's regional recensions differing in detail. In parts of Andhra and Telangana it is a common pre-wedding observance.
This page is editorial context, not religious instruction. Where your family, region or lineage does it differently, that is the version to follow — ask an elder or a teacher in your tradition rather than a website.