Women fast for Goddess Varalakshmi on the Friday before Shravan Purnima, praying for wealth and family well-being.

Varalakshmi Vrat is kept on the Friday before the full moon of Shravan and is among the most important observances of the year for married women in South India. Varalakshmi is Lakshmi in her boon-granting form — vara means boon — and worshipping her is held to equal the worship of all eight Ashtalakshmis at once. The Skanda Purana relates that Shiva taught the vrat to Parvati, telling her of Charumati, a woman of Magadha to whom Lakshmi appeared in a dream and prescribed it. The visual centre of the observance is the kalasham: a pot filled with rice, coins and turmeric, its mouth crowned with a coconut and mango leaves, and given a face of Lakshmi with silver or paper features, dressed in a saree and jewellery.

Women fast from morning until the puja is complete, then take the prasad. The yellow thread tied during the puja is worn until it falls away naturally.