Fasting & Feasting

You grew up watching someone fast. A mother, a grandmother, an aunt who kept the Ekadashi without making a production of it. You understood, without being told, that certain days were different from other days.

Then you moved. And the practice that was held in place by everything around you suddenly required something it never used to require: you to do it consciously, alone, far from the calendar you grew up with.

Fasting and Feasting is the complete guide to Hindu vrat practice for those living outside India. Not a book of theology. Not a recipe collection. A practical manual for keeping the practice alive wherever you are.

What this book covers

• 22 vrats in full - Ekadashi, Navratri, Shravan Mondays, Pradosh, Karva Chauth, Satyanarayan Vrat, Purnima, Amavasya, Santoshi Ma, Mangala Gauri, Solah Somvar, Varalakshmi Vratam, Jitiya, Hartalika Teej, Shani, Surya, and more
• The physiology behind the fast - what the body actually does across 12, 24, and 36 fasting hours, and why the lunar calendar prescribes these specific intervals
• Tithi dates for your location - how to calculate correctly for the UK, US, Canada, and Australia, why calling family in India gives you the wrong date, and which app to trust
• The ingredient problem solved - where to find sendha namak, kuttu atta, sabudana, singhara atta, and makhana in Western supermarkets and online, including the mainstream substitute for rock salt that most people do not know exists
• Fasting through a working day - the energy curve hour by hour, what to tell colleagues, how to handle lunch invitations, and when nirjala fasting at work is and is not advisable
• Family and household guidance - managing a household where not everyone fasts, introducing children to the practice without making it feel like punishment, and maintaining solo practice without community support
• Regional vrats in depth - Varalakshmi Vratam for South Indian households, Jitiya for Bihar and Jharkhand, Hartalika Teej for Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and how to research and preserve your own family lineage's specific practice

Why the vrat still works abroad

The tradition figured out something that modern fasting research is now confirming: structured, timed interruption of eating, aligned with the lunar cycle, produces measurable effects in the body and the mind. The mechanism does not require proximity to India. It requires only that you observe the fast correctly, on the right day, with the right intention.

This book explains the mechanism and gives you everything you need to act on it. The calendar. The ingredients. The timing. The adaptations for diaspora life that no existing guide has brought together in one place.

Who this book is for

Hindu diaspora readers in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere who want to maintain or rebuild a vrat practice. Those returning to the tradition after years away. Those who observed vrats growing up but lost the thread when they moved, and want to find it again.

The practice your family kept is still available to you. This book shows you how to keep it, wherever you are.