Wednesday, 1 November 2023
Āśvina · dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Caturthī · Mṛgaśira
☀About the day
- Lunar month
- Āśvina
- Tithi at sunrise
- dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Caturthī · until 21:20
- Nakṣatra
- Mṛgaśira
- Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
- 06:32 · 17:49
Karaka Caturthī (Karvā Chauth)
North and West India
✦Significance
A wife’s day-long fast, without food or water, for her husband’s long life — broken only when the moon rises. Karaka is the small earthen pot through which arghya is offered to the moon and which is gifted with the vow.
📜The story from the scriptures
Karaka-caturthī-vrata-kathā (Vāmana Purāṇa tradition; folk kathā of Vīrāvatī)
Vīrāvatī, the only sister of seven brothers, kept her first fast at her parents’ home. By evening she was faint with hunger, and her brothers, unable to bear it, lit a fire behind a sieve on a distant hill and told her the moon had risen. She offered arghya and ate; with the first morsel she sneezed, with the second she found a hair, with the third came news that her husband lay dying. Indrāṇī appeared to the weeping girl, explained that the fast had been broken before the true moonrise, and taught her to keep the fourth of every dark fortnight through the year. She did so with devotion, and her husband was restored to life and health. The vrata-kathā also tells that Draupadī kept this fast, on Kṛṣṇa’s advice, for Arjuna’s safety in the Nīlagiri hills.
🪔Regional traditions and folklore
Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh keep it with great colour: the mother-in-law sends sargī, a pre-dawn meal; women in bridal red and henna gather in the afternoon to pass their thālīs in a circle while the kathā is sung; the moon is sighted through a sieve, then the husband’s face, and he gives the first sip of water.
🌙The vrata
Sargī before sunrise, a waterless fast through the day, the kathā in the late afternoon, and the breaking of the fast after arghya to the moon.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Gaurī (Cauth Mātā), Śiva, Gaṇeśa and Kārttikeya are drawn on the wall or set as images; the karaka filled with water or milk, with coins and grains, is worshipped and given to a married woman or a brāhmaṇa. Ten or thirteen karakas are gifted at the udyāpana.
ॐMantras and japa 2
सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके ।
शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥
sarva-maṅgala-māṅgalye śive sarvārtha-sādhike | śaraṇye tryambake gauri nārāyaṇi namo’stu te ||
Meaning: O auspiciousness of all that is auspicious, O consort of Śiva, accomplisher of every aim, refuge, three-eyed Gaurī, Nārāyaṇī — salutation to you.
Benefit: The best-loved verse of the Caṇḍī — recited for auspiciousness in the home, the fulfilment of rightful wishes and the Mother’s protection.
ॐ गं गणपतये नमः ॥
oṃ gaṃ gaṇapataye namaḥ ||
Meaning: Salutation to Gaṇapati, lord of the hosts.
Benefit: Recited before every beginning — removes obstacles and grants success, learning and a steady intellect.
📖Scriptural references 1
- Vrata-rāja; Nirṇaya-sindhu (Karaka-caturthī)
Saṅkaṣṭī Caturthī
✦Significance
The fourth of the dark fortnight, Gaṇeśa’s monthly vow: saṅkaṣṭa-hara, “the remover of hardships”. The fast is kept until the moon rises. When it falls on a Tuesday it is Aṅgārakī, the most prized of all.
📜The story from the scriptures
Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā-khaṇḍa; Mudgala Purāṇa
The Gaṇeśa Purāṇa tells that Aṅgāraka (Mars), son of the Earth and the sage Bharadvāja, worshipped Gaṇeśa with long austerity; the Lord appeared to him on a dark fourth that fell on a Tuesday and granted that the day bear his name, and that whoever keeps the vow on it have every obstacle removed. Each month’s Caturthī has its own form of Gaṇeśa and its own story, told at moonrise.
🌙The vrata
A day-long fast, fruit and roots permitted; at moonrise Gaṇeśa is worshipped, arghya is given to the Moon, the kathā is heard and the fast is broken.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Twenty-one dūrvā blades, red flowers, modaka or sesame laḍḍū; the Saṅkaṣṭa-nāśana Gaṇeśa-stotra from the Nārada Purāṇa and the Atharvaśīrṣa are recited.
ॐMantras and japa 1
ॐ गं गणपतये नमः ॥
oṃ gaṃ gaṇapataye namaḥ ||
Meaning: Salutation to Gaṇapati, lord of the hosts.
Benefit: Recited before every beginning — removes obstacles and grants success, learning and a steady intellect.
📖Scriptural references 2
- Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā-khaṇḍa
- Nārada Purāṇa (Saṅkaṣṭa-nāśana-stotra)