KATHMANDU: Rishi Panchami, the last day of Teej festival celebrated by Hindu women, is being marked across the country today.

In this holy day, Hindu women, primarily of Khas-Arya group, worship the Saptarishi (the Seven Saints) — Kashyapa, Atri, Bharadwaja, Vishwamitra, Gautama, Jamadagni, and Vashishta.

Rishi Panchami falls on the fifth day of Shukla Pakshya in the Nepali month of Bhadra. Women visit nearby rivers and ponds, and take a bath prior to carrying out the worship.

It is believed that Lord Brahma himself is the one who narrated the story of Rishi Panchami and that spirits of the seven sages inhabited the constellation Ursa Major (Great Bear), the seven brightest stars of the north.