Karwa Chauth Vrat Katha

Karwa Chauth Vrat Katha

How the fast is kept
On the morning of Karwa Chauth, before sunrise, eat the sargi as your family does and take the vow of the fast.
Fast through the day. Keep a waterless fast only if your health allows; women who are unwell or pregnant may take water and fruit.
In the evening, place pictures of Shiv ji, Maa Parvati (Gauri), Ganesh ji and Kartikeya ji on a low stool. Fill a clay karwa with water, light a lamp, and offer roli, rice, flowers and sweets.
The women sit together, pass their puja thalis around the circle and listen to this katha with faith.
When the moon rises, look at it through a sieve, offer water to it from the karwa, then look at your husband’s face and break the fast after taking the blessings of the elders.

The story
Once Arjun had gone to the Nilgiri mountain to do tapasya. Back home, Draupadi worried about the troubles the family might face. She remembered Shri Krishna. When he came, she asked him what she could do. Shri Krishna said, “Once Maa Parvati asked Shiv ji this very question. Shiv ji then told her about the Karwa Chauth fast. Listen, I will tell you the story of this fast.”

Long ago, in the city of Indraprastha, there lived a good Brahmin named Vedsharma. He had seven sons and one daughter named Veeravati. Being the only sister of seven brothers, Veeravati was everyone’s darling. When she grew up, she was married to a worthy young man.

When the first Karwa Chauth after her wedding came, Veeravati was at her parents’ home. She kept the fast from the morning along with her brothers’ wives. But as the day went on, she grew very weak with hunger and thirst, and fainted.

The brothers could not bear to see their dear sister like this. They knew Veeravati would not eat anything without offering water to the moon. So they thought of a plan. One brother climbed a tree far away with a lamp and a sieve. When Veeravati woke up, the other brothers said, “Sister, look, the moon has risen.” They took her up to the roof. Seeing the lamp glowing behind the sieve in the tree, Veeravati truly believed it was the moon. She offered water to it and sat down to eat.

In the first bite she found a hair, at the second she sneezed, and as she lifted the third, a message came from her in-laws’ home. Veeravati hurried there and found that her husband had passed away. She wept bitterly and wondered what mistake she had made in her fast.

Hearing her cry, Indrani, the wife of Indra dev, came to her. Veeravati held her feet and asked, “Mother, why did this happen to me on Karwa Chauth itself? Please give my husband back his life.” Indrani said gently, “Daughter, you broke your fast before the real moon rose, without offering water to it. Out of love, your brothers showed you a lamp and called it the moon. Now keep the fast on the chauth of every month for a whole year with faith. On the next Karwa Chauth, worship Gauri and Shiv, Ganesh ji, Kartikeya ji and the moon properly, and break your fast only after offering water to the moon.”

Veeravati took Indrani’s words to heart. For the whole year she stayed by her husband’s side, caring for him, and kept the fast on every chauth without fail. When the next Karwa Chauth came, she kept the fast fully. In the evening she worshipped Shiv and Parvati, Ganesh ji, Kartikeya ji and the moon, and took water only after offering it to the real moon.

Through her true faith and patience her fasts were complete, and her husband came back to life, as if waking from a long sleep. Joy returned to the home once more.

Hearing this story, Draupadi too kept the Karwa Chauth fast with faith, as Shri Krishna had said.

This story teaches that a fast is completed not by hurry or by a trick, but with patience and truth, and that even out of love we should not let go of the truth.
May Shiv ji and Maa Parvati keep love, trust and peace in every family.
Bolo Karwa Chauth Mata ki Jai! Bolo Umapati Mahadev ki Jai!