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Married women buy new karvas, and paint them with beautiful motifs before filling them with shringhar material such as bangles, make-up items, etc. On the festival day, women dress up in colourful finery, bedeck their hands with henna, wear heavy jewellery, bangles and put on make-up, complete with sindhoor and bindi. Women keeping this fast eat sargi (collection of various food items gifted by a mother-in-law to her daughter-in-law) before dawn, and then for the rest of day they abstain from food and even water. In the evening, women perform puja at home or gather at a place to pray and exchange the karvas. Lord Ganesh is also worshipped for the fulfilment of their wishes. The katha of Karva Chauth is also narrated. When the moon rises, they worship it and see the face of their husbands’ through a sieve. After the prayers have been offered, they accept a drink of water and food given by their husbands.
The Karva Chauth katha tells the story of Queen Veeravati. The only sister of seven brothers, she was very dear to them. In order to save their sister from the rigorous fast of Karva Chauth, they showed her false moonlight and made her have her food. Due to this, her husband, the king, died. He, however, regained life when the queen prayed to Goddess Parvati but remained unconscious with hundreds of needles inserted all over his body. Day after day, the queen sat by his side painstakingly taking out the needles from his body. The next year on Karva Chauth, when the last needle was left, the queen who had kept a strict fast left to buy karvas for the puja. In the meantime, the queen’s maid took out the last needle and the king who just came out of a long slumber, mistook her for his wife. When the queen returned, she was made to serve the new queen as a maid. Even this did not make her lose her faith in this fast and she continued to serve her husband with full devotion. Once when the king was going to visit a far off kingdom he asked Veeravati if she wanted a gift from there. She asked for a doll. This doll then became her companion and everyday after work, she would sing the story of her maid’s deceit to her. The king happened to overhear it one day and on knowing the truth, restored her position as the queen and punished the culprit. It is said that this was possible only due to the queen’s devotion and her faith in this fast. In line with the current commercialisation of all festivities, this event has also witnessed a lot of change. For many, it is more of an occasion to exhibit their expensive finery and jewellery. |
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IN
October, when you find the markets stocked with colourful beautiful
bangles, clothes, bindis, sindhoor and mehndi, you
realise it is time for that special day — Karva Chauth. On this day
women keep a fast to express eternal love for their spouses and to
pray for their well-being. The word karva means a clay pot and chauth
stands for fourth. Celebrated on the fourth day after the Full
Moon in the month of Kartik, this festival is celebrated by most
married women in North India.
