Satyanarayan Katha

Satyanarayan Katha and puja.

Śrī Satya Nārāṇaya puja and katha is a very popular hindu ritual in most parts of India including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Bengal, Orissa,Maharashtra and Goa. It is not known clearly when the origin of puja is started, but it is believed that doing this vratam (puja) is started for the first time in Andhra Pradesh.[citation needed] In Maharashtra, Satya Nārāṇaya Puja is not done on Ekādaśī or Caturthī. This puja has a special significance for the Chitpavan community of Maharashtra.[citation needed] In West Bengal, people perform this puja before house warming ceremony.

Almost all Hindus, throughout Andhra Pradesh, have strong faith, belief, and devotion towards Śrīman Nārāyaṇa, an incarnation of Viṣṇu. There is a very ancient famous temple for Śrī Satya Nārāṇaya Svāmī at Annavaram, East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. (near Visakhapatnam ), India. This vratam is performed daily in Annavaram. Large numbers of devotees, many with families, visit the temple, offer prayers, perform this Vrata there, right in the temple.

The Puja as it is performed today has its origin in the Syncretism of Hindu and Sufi traditions in Bengal during the Middle ages where the Satya Nārāṇaya of the Hindus became Satya Pir of the Muslims and vice versa.

The puja is performed by some buddhists in Bangladesh.