करवा चौथ व्रत कथा

This is a story from long ago. In a certain town lived a moneylender who had seven sons and one daughter. The daughter's name was Veeravati. She was the only sister of seven brothers, and so the darling of the whole house. The brothers loved her so much that whatever she asked for appeared before her; if a single tear fell from her eye, seven hearts trembled. When she grew up, Veeravati was married to a prince and became a queen.

After the wedding came her first month of Kartik. Veeravati spent the day of Kartik Krishna Chaturthi, Karwa Chauth, at her parents' house, because the first Karwa Chauth is usually kept in the mother's home. Before sunrise she ate the sargi her mother had prepared, then with her brothers' wives took the vow that she would take neither food nor water until the moon rose. She was a new queen and full of eagerness; she dressed in her sixteen adornments, had mehndi put on her hands and decorated her karwa. At first the fast did not seem hard at all.

But as the day wore on, hunger and thirst closed in on her. Veeravati was delicate; she had never in her life gone a day without water. Towards evening everything went dark before her eyes and she fell down in a faint. Her brothers saw it and panicked. They lifted her, sprinkled water on her face and said, 'Sister, eat something.' In a weak voice Veeravati said, 'Brother, until I see the moon I cannot take even a drop.' The moon of the Kartik chauth rises late; there was still time to go.

The brothers could not bear to see their sister suffer. They thought: by the time the moon rises, Veera will be gone. Then one brother found a way. He climbed a peepal tree standing some distance away, set a burning lamp behind a sieve and raised it high among the leaves; from far off the flame looked exactly like a rising moon. Another brother came running and cried, 'Veera, get up! Look, the moon is out. Quick, give the arghya and eat.' In some homes the story is told with the brothers showing her the lamp's reflection in a mirror, but it comes to the same thing: the moon was false.

Innocent Veeravati looked towards the peepal, took the lamp's flame for the moon, gave the arghya through her sieve and said to her brothers' wives, 'Come, break your fast too.' The sisters-in-law knew everything. They turned their faces away and said, 'You go ahead; our moon has not risen yet.' Veeravati lifted her plate. She put the first morsel in her mouth, and found a hair in it. In the second there was a pebble. She had just raised the third when a messenger came running from her husband's house: 'Queen, come at once. The prince has taken a sudden turn for the worse.' In some tellings the prince's life had left him at that very moment.

For Veeravati it was as if the sky had fallen. Weeping, she set out for her husband's home. On the way the Goddess appeared to her; in some traditions it was Mother Parvati herself, in others Indrani, the wife of Indra, who had come down to earth that night to see the chauth being kept. Veeravati fell at her feet and said, 'Mother, what was my fault? I kept the fast; I gave up food and water.' The Goddess said, 'Daughter, you offered arghya to a false moon and broke the fast before it was complete. Chauth Mata was displeased, and that is why this calamity has come upon your husband. The fault is not in your devotion but in the unfinished vrat.'

Veeravati folded her hands. 'Mother, tell me the remedy. Whatever you say, I will do.' The Goddess said, 'For one year, keep the fast on the Krishna Chaturthi of every month. Keep your husband's body safe and tend to it. On the next Karwa Chauth in Kartik, keep the fast in full: stay without water after the sargi, decorate the karwa, hear the katha, and give the arghya only when the true moon has risen and you have looked at it, and at your husband, through the sieve. Until then, hold on to your patience. I give you my word: your husband will be returned to you.'

Veeravati reached her husband's house. She kept his lifeless body safe in a room, rubbed oil and turmeric into it every day, sat awake beside it and prayed. On the chauth of every month she kept the waterless fast; no excuse, no concession. Twelve months passed and Kartik came again. This time Veeravati kept Karwa Chauth exactly as it should be kept: sargi at dawn, neither food nor water through the day, the karwa decorated in the evening and the katha of Chauth Mata heard, and then her eyes fixed on the sky. This time, not on anyone's word but with her own eyes, she saw the true moon rise. She looked at the moon through the sieve, then at her husband's face, poured the water of the arghya and called on the Goddess.

In that instant life returned to the prince's body. He opened his eyes and sat up as if waking from a long sleep. The Goddess, well pleased, blessed Veeravati with unbroken good fortune. There was rejoicing in the town; the seven brothers asked their sister's forgiveness and touched her feet. From then on Veeravati kept this fast all her life and taught the women of the town its proper method. It is said that this is why women hear this story every Karwa Chauth: so that they remember that the fast of Chauth Mata is broken only at the sight of the true moon, and that Gauri herself guards the married happiness of the woman who keeps it with faith.

What you need: a spouted karwa of clay or brass with its lid, a sieve (chhalni), a picture of Chauth Mata (Gauri) or a figure drawn on the wall in red ochre and rice paste, an image or picture of Shiva, Parvati, Ganesh and Kartikeya, a red cloth, roli, mauli (the red thread), unbroken rice, turmeric, wheat, raw milk, water, a ghee lamp, incense, flowers, sweets and fruit, the sixteen items of a married woman's adornment, and the baya for the mother-in-law (a plate with sweets, cloth, fruit, dry fruit and dakshina).

On the day, rise before sunrise, bathe, and eat the sargi your mother-in-law has given; it is the first and last meal of the fast. Then take the vow: 'I keep the waterless fast of Karwa Chauth for my husband's long life, health and unbroken good fortune, and I will break it at moonrise after offering arghya to the Moon.' Married women keep this fast; in many homes girls whose marriage has been fixed keep it too.

Take neither food nor water through the day; this is what makes the fast hard, and what gives it its standing. Women who are pregnant, unwell or very old may take fruit or water; a vrat is kept with faith, not with stubbornness. Dress in the sixteen adornments during the day, in red, pink or maroon, with bangles, bindi, sindoor and mehndi; black and white are avoided. Keep away from heavy work and the sun, take the Lord's name or sing the songs of Chauth Mata.

In the afternoon prepare the place of worship. Spread a red cloth on a low stool and set the images of Gauri, Shiva and Ganesh on it. In many homes a picture is drawn on the wall in ochre, showing Chauth Mata, the moon, the sun, a karwa and women keeping the fast, or a printed picture from the market is put up. There is also the custom of shaping a small Gauri from yellow clay or cow dung and offering her a red chunri and adornments.

Prepare your karwa: fill it with water, put wheat or rice and a sweet in the lid on top, tie mauli around it and draw a swastika or seven dots on it in roli. Each woman has her own karwa. Remember Chauth Mata as you fill it. In some traditions two karwas are kept, one for the arghya and one to be given to the mother-in-law or an elder woman.

Before dusk, around sunset, the women of the house or the neighbourhood sit in a circle for the shared puja. Ganesh is worshipped first, then Gauri and Shiva, with roli, rice, flowers, incense, lamp and an offering of food. Then this katha is told. As it is told, the women pass their puja plates and karwas around the circle seven times, the custom called 'pheri' or 'turning the karwa', and with each round they sing the traditional Karwa Chauth song that lists the rules of the fast and what is allowed.

The mantras, by name: 'Om Gam Ganapataye Namah' for Ganesh, 'Om Umayai Namah' or 'Om Gauryai Namah' for Gauri, 'Om Namah Shivaya' for Shiva, and 'Om Somaya Namah' for the Moon at the time of the arghya. No long japa is required; taking the name with faith is enough. If you wish, read any hymn to Gauri-Parvati.

At moonrise (the moonrise time for New Delhi is shown at the top of this page) go up to the roof or out into the open courtyard. On a plate keep the sieve, a lamp, the karwa and water. Place the lamp in the sieve and look at the moon through it, then through the same sieve look at your husband's face. From the karwa pour the arghya of water (in many homes mixed with raw milk) to the Moon, offer rice and flowers and pray for your husband's long life. Then the husband gives his wife the first sip of water from the karwa and the first bite of a sweet. Here the fast is broken.

After breaking the fast, touch the feet of your mother-in-law (or the eldest married woman of the house) and give her the baya: adornments, cloth, sweets, fruit, dry fruit and dakshina. She blesses you with unbroken good fortune. Then the whole family eats together. Keep the meal sattvik, without onion, garlic or anything heavy. The next morning pour the karwa's water at a tulsi or another plant and give the wheat or rice from the lid to birds or mix it into the kitchen grain; the karwa is kept at home or given to a married woman.

The sargi is the meal of the fast that a mother-in-law gives her daughter-in-law, eaten before sunrise in the brahma muhurta. It has feni, mathri, vermicelli, parantha, dry fruit, coconut, fruit and sweets: foods that give strength through the day and do not bring on thirst. With the sargi plate the mother-in-law also gives the items of adornment, a saree or suit, bangles, bindi, sindoor and mehndi. A woman whose mother-in-law is no more, or lives far away, receives sargi from her husband's elder brother's wife, her own mother or any elder married woman. Drink plenty of water with the sargi, because after it no water is taken until the moon.

After the sargi the day passes without water: no food, no water, no tea. This is what sets the fast apart from every other. Through the day the women dress and have mehndi put on, and before evening they put on new clothes, often the wedding saree or lehenga, and gather for the puja. Each woman brings her own plate and her own karwa, filled with water, with grain and a sweet in the lid. Sitting in a circle they hear the katha, pass the karwa around seven times and sing the songs of Chauth Mata.

The moon of Kartik Krishna Chaturthi rises late, and the women wait on the roofs with their eyes on the sky. If there are clouds the wait grows longer, which is why the exact moonrise time for New Delhi is given at the top of this page. When the moon appears, the woman sets a lamp in her sieve and looks at the moon through it, then through the same sieve at her husband's face. The sense of the sieve is that the moon is seen not directly but through a veil, and the husband is looked at right after, as if the Moon's coolness and length of days were passing on to him. Then the arghya of water is poured to the Moon from the karwa, rice and flowers are offered, and the woman prays to the Moon for her husband's long life.

After the arghya the husband gives his wife the first sip of water from the karwa and the first bite of a sweet. This is the moment the fast is broken, and it is why the day is thought of as the couple's own. In many homes the husband gives his wife a gift at this point. The woman then touches her mother-in-law's feet, gives the baya and takes her blessing, and only then does the family eat. A woman who cannot see the moon may break the fast after the moonrise time by offering arghya in the moon's direction, or to the picture of the Moon kept in the puja; this is explained in the questions below.

By tradition the Karwa Chauth fast is kept for the husband's long life and health and for the couple's unbroken good fortune. The message of the story is plain: there is no room in a vrat for excuses or trickery, and a false moon does not work; but the woman who owns her mistake and keeps the fast again in full, with patience, has everything returned to her by the Goddess. Veeravati's year of steadfastness was her real worship. The fast also binds mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, one giving the sargi and the other the baya, and in this way the festival joins the whole family.

At the centre of the fast is the Moon, the graha of the mind, of feeling, water and life-span, and its goddess is Gauri-Parvati, the symbol of a marriage won and held through hard tapas. One day of waterless restraint disciplines the mind, and looking at the husband through the sieve is a reminder that a marriage runs on patience and on protecting each other. Women whose kundli has a weak Moon or Venus, or an afflicted seventh house, are said to gain most from this fast; but in truth it is the festival of every married woman.

After the katha the aarti of Chauth Mata is sung; in most homes this is the Gauri aarti 'Jai Ambe Gauri', followed by the Ganesh aarti 'Jai Ganesh Deva', and in some homes the Shiva aarti 'Om Jai Shiv Omkara' as well. At moonrise, after the arghya, the Moon is saluted with folded hands. After the aarti, share the sweet from the karwa and the offered food as prasad.