Teej at a glance
What it is: the monsoon festival of Rajasthan's women, honouring the reunion of Parvati with Shiva.
- When
- Hariyali Teej, Shravan Shukla Tritiya
- Usual month
- Late July or August
- Where
- Jaipur, Bundi, Udaipur and the villages
- Best day
- Teej evening, for Jaipur's procession
- Book by
- A few months ahead is usually enough
- Good for
- Women travellers, photographers, repeat visitors
- The second Teej: Kajli Teej follows in Bhadrapad, and Bundi has made it its own.
- The taste of the season: ghevar, the honeycomb sweet.
- Why travellers love it: it is the one great festival of Rajasthan that comes in the rains, in the quietest weeks of the travel year.
A goddess, a husband and the rain
Parvati, the daughter of the mountains, set her heart on Shiva, the ascetic god who wanted nothing to do with marriage. She fasted and prayed through heat and rain, and in the telling our grandmothers loved, she was born again and again before he finally accepted her.
A love story from the woman's side: Teej is the day of Shiva's acceptance, the reunion of the divine couple.
Teej Mata: in Rajasthan the goddess of the festival is called simply Teej Mata, or Parvati in her form as a bride.
- A festival of marriage: like Gangaur in spring. Married women keep it for their husbands' happiness and long life, and unmarried girls for a good match.
- Of the monsoon: where Gangaur belongs to the end of winter, Teej belongs entirely to the rains, which in the desert mean life.
- The old songs: full of clouds, peacocks, green fields, swings and longing.
- Waiting wives: before trains and telephones, the rains stopped travel. Husbands away on trade or campaign could not come home, and wives sang of waiting.
- The name: Teej means the third, for the third day of the lunar fortnight.
- Hariyali Teej: the great one in Rajasthan, the green Teej, also called Shravani Teej or Sindhara Teej, in Shravan.
- Kajli Teej: also Badi Teej, about two weeks later in Bhadrapad, which Bundi has made its own.
- Akha Teej: in spring, the day Bikaner celebrates its founding with kites, a different festival with the same name.
- Green above all: fields, hills and women's clothes all turn green.
- Leheriya: the most beautiful green of all, the wave-dyed cloth of Rajasthan, its colours rippling across the fabric like rain running down a window.
When Teej falls
Hariyali Teej: the third day of the bright half of Shravan, which in the calendar used in Rajasthan usually lands in late July or August.
Kajli Teej: on the third day of the dark half of Bhadrapad, usually in August.
They move: the calendar is lunar, so both shift by up to a few weeks each year.
- Hariyali Teej
- Shravan Shukla Tritiya, late July or August
- Kajli Teej
- Third day of the dark half of Bhadrapad, usually August
- Budhi Teej
- The day after Teej, in Jaipur
- Days
- Warm and humid, low thirties
- Rain
- Heavy showers that come in bursts and pass
- Two processions: Jaipur's procession goes out on Teej and again the next day for Budhi Teej, the elder Teej.
- Confirmed each year: we confirm the exact dates as soon as the palace and temple calendars are set.
- The light: soft and grey, with washed blue skies between storms.
- The hills: the Aravallis, brown for most of the year, turn a startling green.
- Flexible plans: it can rain hard enough to cancel an outdoor event for an hour, so we keep plans loose.
- Month guides: Rajasthan in July and Rajasthan in August explain the season in full.
Sindhara, the day before
The gift: parents send their married daughters sindhara: new clothes, bangles, henna, cosmetics and, always, sweets.
- A first Teej: in many families a daughter married in the past year comes home to keep her first Teej with her mother.
- The mood: a day of visiting, shopping and mehndi.
Teej itself
Morning: married women fast, dress in their finest, and worship the goddess at home or in the temple.
- Afternoon: the swings come into their own.
- Evening: in Jaipur the royal procession leaves the City Palace.
The weeks around it
- A season, not a day: from the first rains until Kajli Teej, women sing the monsoon songs, swings hang from the trees and the sweet shops make ghevar.
- Any time works: come at any point in these weeks and you will feel it.
Why the rain is worth a festival
A few short weeks: Rajasthan receives most of its rain in a few weeks, and in the west the monsoon can fail altogether.
Catching the water: for centuries every village depended on stepwells, tanks, the johads or earthen ponds of the farms, and underground cisterns in desert courtyards.
What the clouds meant: the wells would fill, the millet would grow and the cattle would live through the year.
- Why it belongs to women: they carried the water home, so the festival of its arrival is theirs.
- The painters knew: in the miniatures of Bundi, Kota, Kishangarh and Mewar, the monsoon is the season of love.
- In the paintings: dark clouds edged with white over palace terraces, lightning, peacocks dancing on rooftops, and a woman waiting at a window for a lover who cannot come home through the storm.
- The music: the musical mode of the season, Megh Malhar, was said to be able to call the rain.
- Two worlds as one: see the paintings, then step outside into a Teej afternoon, and the two feel like the same world.
- The smell: our grandmother called it mitti ki khushboo, the scent of the earth after the first rain on dry ground. In Teej week it is the smell of Rajasthan at its happiest.
Teej in Jaipur, the goddess leaves the palace
The royal Teej: as with Gangaur, the royal household keeps its own. The palace's image of the goddess, in silk and jewels, is carried out of the Zenani Deorhi of the City Palace in a palanquin.
The route: out through Tripolia Gate into Tripolia Bazaar. Budhi Teej follows the same route the next day.
The procession: decorated camels and horses, brass bands, drummers and folk dancers moving slowly through the walled city.
- Starts from
- Zenani Deorhi, City Palace
- Leaves by
- Tripolia Gate
- Time
- The evening of Teej
- Second procession
- Budhi Teej, the next day
- Bring
- An umbrella
- Leheriya turbans: members of the old palace establishment walk in turbans dyed in leheriya.
- The crowd: women in green and pink leheriya fill the pavements and every roof along the route.
- The moment: when the palanquin appears, the crowd presses forward and the singing rises.
- If it rains: nobody minds. A shower on Teej is considered a blessing.
- The programme: Rajasthan Tourism usually supports it with folk music and dance, and the palace sometimes arranges a viewing area.
- Our rooftop: a roof above Tripolia Bazaar with a family we know, reached in good time, with an umbrella and dry cushions ready.
- Read more: our Jaipur guide and our journal on Teej in Jaipur.
Swings, songs and mehndi
The swings
The jhoola: the swing is the emblem of Teej.
How it is hung: ropes tied to strong branches of neem, banyan or pipal, with a plank across them decorated with flowers.
- Who swings: women and girls take turns, as high as they dare, while the others sing.
- In palaces: carved wooden swings hang in haveli and palace courtyards.
- In paintings: Radha and Krishna swing together under monsoon clouds.
The songs
What they sing of: the rain, green fields, peacocks calling, a husband far away and a brother bringing gifts from home.
- How: in groups as the women swing, with verses passed from mother to daughter.
- Ask for a translation: they are among the most beautiful folk songs in India.
Mehndi
Essential: no woman keeps Teej without henna.
- On the eve: mehndi artists set up on bazaar pavements and in courtyards, painting hands and feet with peacocks, vines and swings.
- The saying: the darker the stain, the deeper the love.
- Try it: our page on mehndi explains how we arrange a session with an artist.
Leheriya
How it is made: cloth is rolled tightly on the diagonal, bound at intervals and dipped in dye, then the process is repeated with new colours.
- The result: unrolled, the colour runs in waves across the fabric.
- The dress of the monsoon: leheriya turbans and saris. Before Teej the shops of Johari Bazaar are stacked with them.
- See it done: our page on leheriya and bandhani shows how.
Ghevar, the sweet the city waits for
How it is made: a batter of flour and ghee, poured in a thin stream into very hot ghee inside a ring-shaped mould, so it puffs into a crisp honeycomb.
How it is finished: soaked in sugar syrup and eaten plain, or topped with malai, thick cream, or rabri, sweetened reduced milk, with pistachios and saffron.
The taste: light, crisp, sticky and rich all at once.
- Only in the rains: it is made only in the weeks of the monsoon, when the humidity is right.
- The gift of the season: it goes into every sindhara basket, is sent to new in-laws and carried home to relatives in other cities.
- Where to buy: in the walled city, LMB in Johari Bazaar has sold it for generations, and the old sweet shops all have their own versions.
- How to buy: from busy shops where stock turns over quickly, and eat it the same day.
- Other monsoon tastes: hot pakoras in gram-flour batter while the rain falls, dal baati in the countryside, roasted corn from a street cart and endless masala chai.
- Read more: our journal on ghevar and Teej and our food of Jaipur guide.
Kajli Teej in Bundi, and Teej elsewhere
Bundi, Kajli Teej
When: in Bhadrapad, usually in August.
- What: the goddess is carried in procession through the town, women dress in green and leheriya, swings hang from the trees and a town fair fills the evenings.
- Why we love it: it is a local festival, not a show for visitors.
- The murals: Bundi's painters loved the rains more than any other school, and the monsoon scenes of the Chitrashala feel alive now. Our Bundi guide has more.
Udaipur, the city of lakes in the rain
The setting: the monsoon fills the lakes and turns the Aravallis green, and the city keeps Teej with swings, songs and leheriya.
- Hariyali Amavasya: just before Teej, on the new moon of Shravan, a fair near Fateh Sagar and the garden of Saheliyon ki Bari.
- The Monsoon Palace: it sits in cloud on its hill above the city.
- A journey for it: our Monsoon in Mewar journey is built for these weeks.
Villages and forts
At its most beautiful: in the countryside, with swings in village trees and whole streets of women in green walking to the temple.
- Close up: a night or two at a family-run fort or haveli.
- A journey for it: our village Rajasthan journey can be timed for it.
Teej day in Jaipur, hour by hour
Morning, the temple and the bazaar
The temple: start in the walled city, where women in green arrive with offerings for the goddess.
- The bazaars: leheriya in Johari Bazaar, bangles on Maniharon ka Rasta and the queue for ghevar.
- When it rains: stop for kachori and chai under an awning.
Midday, mehndi and lunch
Mehndi: an artist paints your hands at your hotel while lunch is laid out.
- Dress the part: we can arrange a sari draped in leheriya, or a turban tied in the colours of the season.
- Then rest: the procession is in the evening.
Afternoon, the swings
- Where: a garden or a family courtyard where the swings are up and the women are singing.
- Join in: if you are invited. Nobody expects you to know the words.
Evening, the procession
Get there first: climb to our rooftop above Tripolia Bazaar before the procession sets out.
- Watch: the bands, camels and dancers pass below, then the goddess emerge in her palanquin.
- Afterwards: wait for the street to clear before you come down.
Night, dinner and ghevar
- Dinner: on a haveli roof or at your palace hotel, ideally with the smell of rain in the air.
- The end: ghevar, of course.
Etiquette and respect
Ask first: before photographing women at worship, on the swings or in the procession, and accept no with a smile.
Swings: don't sit on one uninvited. If the women invite you, and they often do, accept.
- Wear green: dress modestly. Green is the colour of the day, and wearing it is a lovely gesture that will be noticed.
- Shoes off: before entering a home or a temple, and don't touch the images or the offerings.
- Right of way: give it to the procession, and don't step into the route for a photograph.
- Take sweets: if you visit a family. Ghevar is the perfect gift in this season.
- Mind the fast: many married women fast on Teej. Avoid eating in front of your hosts before they break theirs.
How we plan a monsoon journey around Teej
The quiet season: palace hotels are calm, rates are gentle, monuments are uncrowded and the countryside is green.
Hotels: the procession draws large local crowds, but hotels are rarely full, so a few months' notice is usually enough.
- Lead time
- A few months, more on a long weekend
- Weather
- Warm and humid, showers come and go
- Pack
- Light cotton, umbrella, wet-proof sandals, something green
- Crowds
- Dense at the procession, light elsewhere
- Ranthambore
- Core zones closed for the monsoon
- What we hold: a rooftop for the procession, with your plans kept flexible around the rain.
- The monsoon rhythm: mornings are often bright, afternoons bring storms, and evenings are cool and beautiful.
- Our plan: sightseeing early, indoor sights and long lunches for the afternoon.
- A spare night: we add one in case a road is slow after heavy rain.
- Wildlife: with Ranthambore's core zones closed, we suggest other places.
Where to stay in Jaipur
Samode Haveli: Samode Haveli puts you inside the walled city for the procession.
- Rambagh Palace: Rambagh Palace is lovely in the rain, with green lawns and peacocks calling from the gardens.
- The Oberoi Rajvilas: The Oberoi Rajvilas is the calm retreat.
- Compare: our guide to luxury hotels in Jaipur.
Where to stay in Bundi and Udaipur
- Bundi: small heritage havelis in the old town, described in our guide to the heritage havelis of Bundi.
- Udaipur: Taj Lake Palace and The Oberoi Udaivilas are at their most romantic when the lakes are full.
Journeys and places to combine with Teej
Monsoon in Mewar
- The route: Udaipur, Kumbhalgarh and the Aravalli hills at their greenest, with full lakes and clouds on the forts.
- Why: our Monsoon in Mewar journey is our favourite way to spend these weeks.
Jaipur, then Bundi
- The plan: Hariyali Teej in Jaipur, then about four hours south to Bundi for Kajli Teej two weeks later.
- On the way: a stop at the stepwells.
Janmashtami in Nathdwara
- When: Krishna's birthday usually falls in August too.
- Where: Janmashtami in Nathdwara, the temple town of Shrinathji near Udaipur, one of the great devotional experiences of the year.
Gangaur in spring
- Teej's spring sister: Gangaur follows the same royal route through Jaipur.
What we tell our cousins before Teej
Buy leheriya early: a few days before the festival, when the choice is widest and the shops are calm.
Order ghevar ahead: a day before, if you want a large one for a family visit. The queues on Teej itself are long.
- Rain kit: a small towel and a plastic pouch for your phone. A shower can arrive in minutes and leave as quickly.
- Sandals, not shoes: the lanes of the walled city flood briefly after heavy rain.
- Water: bottled or filtered only, and eat street food hot from the pan. The monsoon is the season for upset stomachs.
- Insect repellent: keep it with you for the evenings, especially near gardens and lakes.
Who will love Teej, and who won't
You will love it if: you enjoy colour, music and family life, and a summer storm sounds romantic rather than inconvenient.
Empty palaces: you will have palaces and monuments almost to yourself.
- A revelation for: women travellers, photographers and repeat visitors who know Rajasthan only in winter.
- Not for you if: you want guaranteed sunshine, tiger safaris or the desert at its best.
- The trade-offs: the monsoon is humid, the roads can be slow and Ranthambore's core is closed.
- The alternative: come between October and March, and read our guide to the best time to visit Rajasthan.