Karva Chauth Vrat Katha: The Story of Veeravati

Karva Chauth falls on the Chaturthi of the waning moon in Kartik, between Dussehra and Diwali. Traditionally, married women eat sargi, food given by the mother-in-law, before sunrise, and then fast without water until the moon rises. In the evening, dressed in full bridal finery, they worship with a karva (a clay pot with a spout) and listen to the katha. At night they look at the moon through a sieve and then at their husband, offer water to the moon and break the fast.

A moneylender had seven sons and one daughter named Veeravati. The seven brothers loved their sister dearly. After her marriage, Veeravati spent her first Karva Chauth at her parents' home. She fasted all day without water. By evening, weak from hunger and thirst, she was close to fainting.

Her brothers could not bear to see her like this. They came up with a trick. One brother climbed a distant peepal tree with a lamp and a sieve, so that it looked like the moon had risen. The brothers said, 'Sister, the moon is out. Offer water and eat.' Trusting them, Veeravati broke her fast.

With her very first bites, bad news began to arrive, and finally word came that her husband's life was in danger. She rushed to her in-laws' home. There she learned that her brothers' loving trick had left her vrat incomplete. She wept with regret.

According to the katha, Devi Indrani (Mata Parvati in some versions) appeared to her and told her to keep the fast with faith on every Chaturthi for a whole year. Veeravati cared for her husband all year and kept every Chauth fast. On the next Karva Chauth she observed the vrat fully, and her husband was given new life. In many places, the katha of a devoted woman named Karva is also told.