Jamai Sasthi (Bengali: জামাই ষষ্ঠী) is a traditional cultural ritual of Bengali people. This ritual is performed on the sixth tithi of the Shukla paksha of the Joishtho month.[1] On this day married women and their sons-in-law are invited and entertained by women's parents.[2] In this way, in an attempt to keep the son-in-law happy, the mundane tradition of Shashthi Puja has become the festival of Bengali's Joishtho month.[3]
A custom in the Indian subcontinent prohibited a girl from entering her parents' home until she gave birth to a son. As a result of this custom, any girl's parents would have to face difficulties in meeting their daughter. For this reason the society rules that on Shukla Shashti of the month of Joishtho the girl and her husband will be invited to the house of the girl's parents and on the same day it is decided to organize Shashthi Devi Puja so that the girl can have a son soon.[4]
According to a legend, a greedy wife of a family used to steal food and blame it on the cat, the vehicle of Goddess Shashthi. When Shashthi came to know about this false allegation, she got angry and took the life of the wife's child, which left the wife grief-stricken. Later, when the goddess approached the wife in the form of an old woman and reminded her of her fault, the wife realized her mistake and apologized, and the goddess brought her child back to life.[5] The people of the society get angry when they come to know about the misdeeds of the wife and restrict her from going to her parents' house. Then on Shashthi Puja day the wife's parents invite her and her husband to come their home and henceforth the day came to be known as Jamai Shashti.[6]
On this day mother-in-law performs Shasthi Puja to please Goddess Shasthi and seek her blessings for good luck and prosperity for her daughters and sons-in-law. The son-in-law is invited home and treated to a sumptuous feast of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food prepared by the mother-in-law. Gifts are also given to daughter-in-law on this day. Jamai Shashti is celebrated as a family reunion day and the whole family comes together to celebrate by having a meal together.[7]
