Karwa Chauth

Long ago, in a certain town, there lived a moneylender with seven sons and one daughter, Veeravati. The seven brothers loved their only sister so dearly that they would not eat until she had eaten.

Veeravati was married, and her first Karwa Chauth after the wedding came while she was at her parents’ home. From dawn she kept the fast without food or water. With the women of the house she worshipped Karwa Mata and waited for the moon to rise. But as the day wore on, hunger and thirst overcame her and she began to faint.

When her brothers came home in the evening, they could not bear to see her like this. They begged her to eat, but she said, “Today is Karwa Chauth. I will take food and water only after offering water to the moon.” The moon had not yet risen.

The youngest brother climbed a peepal tree outside the village, lit a lamp and held it behind a sieve. From afar it looked as though the moon had risen. The brothers came and said, “Sister, the moon is up — make your offering.”

Veeravati called her sisters-in-law. They saw that it was a trick and warned her, “Sister, that is not the real moon.” But faint with hunger, she would not listen. She offered water to the false moon and sat down to eat.

In the first mouthful she found a hair. At the second she sneezed. As she lifted the third, a message came from her husband’s home: her husband was dead. Weeping, she hurried there.

On the way she met the goddess Indrani and fell at her feet. Indrani said, “You broke your Karwa Chauth fast before the moon rose; that is why this has happened. Keep the fast of every Chaturthi for a whole year with faith, and keep the next Karwa Chauth perfectly — and your husband will return to you.”

Veeravati watched over her husband’s body and served him. She kept every monthly Chaturthi fast. All year she sat beside him, picking out the needle-like grass that grew around him. When Karwa Chauth came again, she kept the fast with every rite, worshipped Karwa Mata, and broke it only after offering water to the risen moon.

Pleased with her devotion, Karwa Mata and Lord Ganesha blessed her, and her husband came back to life. Since then, married women keep this fast with full care and break it only after seeing the moon.

Another story tells of a faithful wife named Karwa. While her husband bathed in the river, a crocodile seized his leg. Karwa bound the crocodile with raw cotton thread, went to Yama, the god of death, and said, “Send this crocodile to its punishment and give my husband a long life, or I will curse you.” Afraid of the power of her devotion, Yama punished the crocodile and granted her husband long life. From her the fast takes its name.

O Karwa Mata, as you kept Veeravati’s and Karwa’s marriages safe, keep every wife’s marriage safe. Jai Karwa Mata!