Sun-worship Vratas (8) Avyaṅga-saptamī

The Avyaṅgasaptamīvrata is observed in every year on the seventh day of the bright fortnight in the month of the Śrāvaṇa. On this particular day, the Sungod is worshipped with flowers and incense and Avyaṅga should be offered. The Avyaṅga is a hollow strip made of fine white cotton thread that resembles to a serpent’s slough. It is of one hundred and twenty-two, or one hundred and twenty, or one hundred and eight fingerbreadths long. The reference to this vrata is found in the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa^[1] along with the legend of Avyaṅgotpatti.^[2] The vrata lasts for a year and at the end, the Brāhmaṇas should be fed and offered fee, according to the capability of the worshipper.

This Avyaṅgākhyavrata is also referred to in the Nāradīyapurāṇa,^[3] where it is said that if the tithi conjoins to Hastā constellation, it becomes more fruitful, and all the sins of the worshipper is destroyed by it:

yadi ceddhastayukteyaṃ tadā syātpāpanāśinī/^[4]