Karwa Chauth is a famous festival celebrated by most Hindu women. It is celebrated on the fourth day after Purnima (that is a full moon day) in the month of Kartika.
On Karwa Chauth, married women and sometimes unmarried women who are going to marry soon keep fast from sunrise to moonrise. This fast is observed for the safety and wish of the long lives of their husbands.
Karwa Chauth is mostly celebrated in North India. The meaning of Karwa Chauth is Karwa means ‘pot’ and Chauth means ‘fourth’. This is why this festival is celebrated on the fourth day of Kartik month.
There are many legends associated with the Karwa Chauth festival one of them is the story of Queen Veeravati.
Veeravati was a beautiful queen and also the only sister of seven loving brothers. She would share a great bonding with their brother.
It was her first Karwa Chauth and as per the Hindu rituals, she came to celebrate her first Karwa Chauth at their parent’s home. She observed & followed a stick fast as per the rituals after sunrise. But, by the evening she had feelings of severe thirst and hunger and was eagerly waiting for the moonrise.
Her seven brothers who loved and care for her very much were sad to see their sister in such distress. They created a false moon with the help of a mirror in a papal tree.
The sister assumed this false moon as a real moon and broke her long day fast. She also told her Bhabhis to break their fast. They also told her that it was the trick of her brothers so that she could get relief in her hunger and thirst. But she broke her fast by keeping faith in her brothers.
As soon as she took the first morsel of food, she sneezed. In the second morsel, she saw a hair. And after having the third, she heard the news of her husband that the king was dead.
A heartbroken queen Veeravati wept throughout the night. Then her Shakti compelled a Goddess to appear. When the queen explained her sorrow and pain, the goddess revealed the truth that how she had been tricked by her own brothers to feed her.
Goddess instructed her to repeat the Karwa Chauth fast with complete devotion. When Veeravati repeated the fast with complete devotion, then Yama restored her husband’s life.
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