Karva Chauth
Celebrating the bond of marriage
The festival of Karva Chauth or Karak Chaturthi, is exclusive to the women of the north and north-western states of Bharat like Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu/Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. There is a particular reason for this. The Indian Army at one time was made up of a huge number of soldiers from these parts of Bharat so the wives who were left behind started fasting on this day for their safety. Due to this, the festival is mainly observed by married women. The word “karva” means an earthen pot and “chauth” is the number “four.” This festival is celebrated on the fourth day of the dark fortnight (krishna paksha) of the month of Kartika. This year, 2022, Karva Chauth starts at 2 am on Thursday, 13th October and ends at 3 am on Friday, 14th October.
The time of the festival coincides with the Rabi or wheat sowing season in these places. The women of the families used to fill an earthen pot or karva with wheat grains on the chaturthi day of the dark fortnight in the month of Kartika and offer it to God and pray for a good crop. They used to fast the whole day and offer arghya (water, dhruv grass and whole rice) in an earthen pot to the moon as it rose up. Only then would they break their fast.
Like the lesser known festivals of Hariyali Teej, Kajari Teej, Hartalika Teej and Savitri Vrat, Karva Chauth aims at strengthening the bond between a man and his wife. However, even unmarried girls (above the age of 18) can observe this vow in order to get a good husband.
I have already mentioned the utilitarian origin of the festival. There was another reason why this became popular during the middle ages.
In those days girls were married off between the ages of ten and thirteen. They certainly did not get time to enjoy their teen years in their own homes. This festival was one in which they could congregate with the rest of the married women of their age or even older and celebrate. They used to call each other “sisters or friends given by God.” In this way they could forget their loneliness. They could always depend on their “kangan sahelis” (bangle friends) if they wanted some help. They would all congregate at one place and spend the whole day together, singing and laughing and chatting until the moon rose in the eastern sky. They used to present each other with bangles, sindoor (vermilion) and other small trinkets to remind them of the fact that they had a friend in the village who was like a sister. These two anecdotes show us the origin of this festival. But as is usual with all festivals in Bharat, we always try to connect it with some story from the Puranas. There are a number of stories connected with this. One of the most famous which is always narrated by the priest during the puja is about the Queen Veeravati.
Once there was a beautiful girl called Veeravati who was the only girl in a family of seven sons. She was married off to a king and returned to her parents’ home on the occasion of her first Karva Chauth festival. She was determined to fast for the sake of her husband but by evening she was so weak that she fainted. Her brothers loved her dearly so they placed a lamp behind a sieve and showed it to her through some peepul trees. She thought it was the moon and broke her fast but as soon as she put the first morsel into her mouth, she experienced many bad omens. In the first morsel she found a piece of hair and in the next, she sneezed and when she took the third morsel, she was given the news that her husband was seriously ill. She immediately set out for her husband’s house. On the way she met Lord Shiva and Parvati who told her that this mishap had happened because she had been tricked by her loving brothers and had broken the vow and eaten before moonrise. Seeing the state of the grief-stricken Veeravati, Parvati told her to undertake the Karva Chauth vow on every fourth day of the waning moon in every month, for one full year and her husband would recover. Veeravati did as she was told and her husband returned to her in full health.
The next story is about a woman called Karva who was deeply in love with her husband. She was a true “pativrata” – chaste wife and this intense love gave her a lot of spiritual powers. Once, a crocodile caught her husband while he was bathing in the river and tried to drag him down into the waters. Hearing his cries his wife, Karva, came on the scene. She bound the crocodile with the cotton yarn she was carrying in her hand and prayed to Yama, the Lord of Death to release her husband. The curses of a chaste woman are as powerful as those of a rishi so Yama was terrified of being cursed by her and released her husband.
The next two stories are from the pages of the Mahabharata. Of course Draupadi is a classic example of an extremely chaste wife. Once Arjuna went to the Himalayas to do penance to Shiva. The rest of the brothers had to undergo many challenges without Arjuna. Draupadi immediately prayed to Krishna to tell her how she could help her husbands. Krishna told her that once Parvati had performed the Karva Chauth rituals in order to overcome her problems. Draupadi immediately went on a strict observance of the Karva Chauth rituals and eventually her husbands became victorious.
Another beautiful story concerns the princess called Savitri who insisted on marrying a prince who was foretold to have an early death. At the time when Yama came to take away her husband, Satyavan, Savitri insisted on following him up to the very gates of Yama’s abode. This, she was able to do due to her great chastity. The day that this happened was the fourth day of the dark fortnight. Savitri had totally given up all food and drink on that day and kept following the God of Death. She kept on petitioning Yama to give back the life of her husband. At last Yama told her that he would grant her any boon except the life of her husband. Savitri very cleverly asked that she should have children. Of course being an extremely chaste woman she could only have children with her husband. Yama realised that he had been tricked and gave back the life of her husband, Satyavan.
The Ritual
The ritual starts with the sargi. Ladies wake up well before dawn for sargi. A sargi is traditionally prepared by the mother-in-law. It is a thali (plate) which contains food items like sweets, savouries, dry fruits, fresh fruits, and clothes and jewellery. This is usually sent by the in-laws the previous evening. This is the pre-dawn meal that you eat before starting the fast. In the morning women adorn themselves in their bridal attire and apply henna and other beauty adornments. They are allowed to eat anything from this thali after it has been offered to God. This should be eaten before sunrise which is normally round about 6 am in the morning in the month of Kartika. They fast for the rest of the day without food or even water. In the evening the women gather together and exchange gifts.
The priest or some older lady narrates the different Karva Chauth stories from the Puranas. They sing songs and wait for the moon to rise. Once it rises they are supposed to look at the reflection in a bowl of water or through a sieve. They offer water and fruits to the moon and pray for the long life of their husbands. After that they turn to look at their husbands through the same sieve. The husband then takes the thali from his wife’s hands and feeds her with some fruits or sweets from the thali and thus breaks her fast. Of course after this, all wives and husbands enjoy a good feast.
There are many reasons given for looking at the moon through a sieve. It is said that in the story of Veeravati, her brothers kept a lamp behind a sieve in between the peepul trees and thus she thought it was the moon. This tradition is still carried on and women see the moon through the sieve.
As we have seen many of our festivals, especially those concerning women, are connected in some way or other with the moon. This is because a woman’s monthly cycle closely follows the moon cycle of twenty-eight days. So the moon has even more effect on women than on men.
The moon is supposed to be a manifestation of Brahma who is endowed with a very, very, long life. So it is believed that the moon can grant long life to their husbands. The moon is beautiful, cool and adorable. Women pray to the moon that their husbands will have the same qualities. In olden days North Indian women used to wear a veil or ghoonghat to cover their faces when they came before their elders. Similarly, they look at the moon through a sieve to show their respect.
It is said that if a woman’s health is very bad or she is in the hospital, the husband can observe the fast.
In olden days this fast was hardly known to all women in Bharat but now with modern methods of communication, many other ladies from other states are also following the tradition.
In any religion, festivals and rituals are what keep the members together so it is always good to observe all the festivals that are kept in the Hindu Dharma.
Hari Aum Tat Sat!