Karva Chauth is a very special religious occasion for North Indian women. This fast is not only for religious reasons and beliefs, but it is also a festival of mutual love and dedication between husband and wife. Karva Chauth is a fast observed for the long life of the husband.
What is Karva Chauth
The word Karva Chauth is made up of two words, ‘Karva’ meaning earthenware and ‘Chauth’ meaning ‘fourth’. Earthen pots, that is, Karve, have special significance in this fast. All married women wait for this day throughout the year and observe a fast on the day of Karva Chauth and perform all its rituals with great devotion. The festival of Karva Chauth is a symbol of strong relationship, love and trust between husband and wife. On this day women wear suits, lehenga-choli or Karva Chauth special sarees.
According to the beliefs and Chandogya Upanishad, all sins are destroyed by observing fast on the day of Karva Chauth and worshiping Brahma in the form of Purusha in the moon. This not only removes all kinds of troubles in life, but also gives long life. Shiva, Parvati, Kartikeya, Ganesha and Moon should be worshiped during the fast of Karva Chauth. After moonrise, worship is done by offering arghya to the moon. After the worship, keeping rice, urad dal, suhaag material in an earthen curry should be offered to the mother-in-law or any suhagin equivalent to the mother-in-law and seek their blessings.
Karwa Chauth 2022 Date
Karva Chauth of the year 2022 is on 24 October 2022.
Why Karwa Chauth is Celebrated
According to the belief of Hindu religion, all married women observe this fast for the long life of their husband and happiness and good luck in their married life. In North India, Nirjala fast is observed from the rising of the sun till the moon rises in the night. The origin or roots of this fast are found in North India, but it is prevalent in many parts like Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana etc. According to the Panchang, this fast is observed on the Chaturthi Tithi of Shukla Paksha in the month of Kartik, that is, on the fourth day after the full moon.
In Uttar Pradesh, the honeymooners worship by making the figure of Gauri Maa on the wall. Along with these, the moon and the sun also form. They worship by making earthen karva and light a lamp. During the day, women worship collectively at home or in the temple, listen to kathi, and then in the evening at the time of moon rise, offer arghya to the moon and complete the fast by drinking water at the hands of the husband and the elderly women of the family Takes blessings.
In Rajasthan, Karwa is filled with rice and wheat. It is believed that keeping this fast not only prolongs the life of the husband, but also keeps both husband and wife together and their mutual love and trust lasts till birth after birth.
In Punjab also this fast is celebrated with full devotion and devotion. Married women take sargi at sunrise. After that Narjala fasts for the whole day. On this occasion, she shows her love and devotion towards her husband by performing sixteen singing with full devotion. In the morning all women worship. Then during the day everyone listens to the fasting story and exchanges Karve. When the moon rises during the night, she prays for the long life of her husband by offering arghya.
Karva Chauth fasting story
Long ago a Brahmin named Vedasharma lived in a town in Indraprasthapur. Vedasharma was married to Lilavati, by whom he had seven great sons and a virtuous daughter named Veeravati, as she was the only sister of seven brothers, due to which she was dear to her parents as well as her brothers.
When she became fit for marriage, she was married to a Brahmin young man. After marriage, when Veeravati was with her parents, she along with her sisters-in-law kept a fast of Karva Chauth for the long life of her husband. During the fast of Karva Chauth, Veeravati could not bear hunger and due to weakness she fainted and fell on the ground.
All the brothers could not bear the pathetic condition of their beloved sister. They knew that Veeravati, a virtuous woman, would not take food without seeing the moon, even if she lost her life. All the brothers made a plan together so that their sister would take the food. One of them climbed up a tree some distance away with a sieve and a lamp in his hand. When Veeravati woke up unconscious, all her other brothers told her that the moon had risen and brought her to see the moon on the terrace. Veervati saw the lamp behind a sieve on the banyan tree some distance away and believed that the moon had come out. Distraught with her hunger, Veeravati soon broke her fast by offering Arghya to the lamp considering it to be the moon. When Veervati started eating food, she started getting inauspicious signs. In the first mouth she found hair, in the second she sneezed and in the third mouth she got the news of her husband’s death from her in-laws.
Seeing the dead body of her husband, Veeravati started crying and blamed herself for some of her mistake during the fast of Karva Chauth. She started moaning. Hearing his lament, Goddess Indrani, who is the wife of the god Indra, reached to console Veeravati.
Veeravati Devi started pleading with Indrani to revive her husband. Seeing Veeravati’s sorrow, Goddess Indrani told her that she had broken the fast without offering Arghya to the moon, due to which her husband died untimely. Goddess Indrani advised Veeravati to observe the fast of every month throughout the year along with the fasting of Karva Chauth and assured her that by doing so her husband would return alive.
After this Veeravati would perform all religious activities and monthly fasting with full faith. In the end, Veervati got her husband back due to the merits obtained from all those fasts.
Rules of Karva Chauth Vrat
It is very important to take care of the rules and precautions related to the fasting of Karva Chauth. Let’s read the important things.
Shri Ganesh, Maa Gauri and Moon are worshiped on the day of Karva Chauth. Only married women or those whose relationship has been fixed, only those women can observe this fast. A woman observing a fast should never wear black and white clothes. Wearing red and yellow clothes on the day of Karva Chauth is especially fruitful. The fast of Karva Chauth is kept from sunrise to moonrise. This fast should be kept nirjala or by consuming only water. Complete makeup should be done on this day. In case of ill health of the wife, the husband can also observe this fast.
Do’s and Don’ts on Karva Chauth
Before observing the fast of Karva Chauth, it is important that you feel reverence and faith in your mind towards this fast. It is mandatory to wake up on time on the day of the fast and take a bath. Then take the resolution of this fast methodically and start fasting according to the rules. On this day, bath-meditation is not done according to convenience, but according to the rules in Pratbela. Clothes should also be clean and not worn before. This fast is the fast of the honeymooners, so it is necessary that the color of the clothes should also be the same, which is favorable for the married people. Do not wear such a color due to any fashion, which is said to be taboo for married women, such as black or white.
By worshiping Maa Gauri with full adornment, one should wish for their good fortune.
After listening to the story during the day, the karva thali is turned around.
Do not eat or drink anything repeatedly on the day of fasting. During the fasting of Karva Chauth, if there is no emergency in the middle or if the health is not bad, then even water is not drunk.
This fast is observed collectively. Sleeping during the day is prohibited in this fast.
On Karva Chauth, mother-in-law definitely gives sargi to her daughter-in-law as her blessings.
Karva Chauth Importance
The justification for worshiping is the desire for happiness and good fortune. We invoke such forces or energies, which intensify our attention and deepen it in the fulfillment of our desire. Shubh Muhurta is such a time fixed for worship according to the planetary conditions, when we can easily concentrate our mind with little effort and meditate on worship. The worship performed during this time is particularly fruitful.
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Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about Karva Chauth
Q1. Can we drink water on Karva Chauth?
Ans: It is customary to keep the fast of Karva Chauth dry, but in some places there is a provision to keep the fast only after eating sargi before sunrise. Although this fast is kept without drinking water for the rest of the time, but if your health is not good then you can drink some water as an exception.
Q2. What is the date of Karva Chauth of 2020?
Ans: The Karva Chauth fast of the year 2020 is on 4th November.
Q3. I live abroad and cannot do karva pheras, what should I do?
Ans: You can get the Karva Chauth calendar easily available on the internet or take out its printout and do Karva Chauth Puja in auspicious time. Even in this, your fast will be completed, because anyone demands faith before the worship method.
Q4. Can we keep Karva Chauth before marriage?
Ans: Generally this fast is kept only by sweets. In some places it is also in vogue that girls who have already got engaged have started observing this fast.
Q5. Can men also keep the fast of Karva Chauth?
Ans: If a husband loves his wife very much or the health of the wife is not good, then the husband can also keep this fast. Anyway, the fast of Karva Chauth is a symbol of mutual love between husband and wife.
