Karva Chauth (IInd and Concluding Part)

Karva Mata Story is as follows:

A family had seven brothers and a sister in a village. They were all married. The sister had come to the brothers’ house on Karva Chauth. On this night, it is important to look at the moon through a sieve, perform arghya to the moon, perform aarti to the husband and then only partake of the food with him. The brothers told their sister to have food with them. The sister insisted that she would only have food after completing the above rituals.

The brothers could not have food without the sister. So, they went to the forest and stoked a large fire. Then, they went to their sister to tell her that the moon had arisen. The sister told her sisters-in-law that they should perform the relevant rituals and then, have food. The sisters-in-law told her, “Your moon would have arisen, not ours. We will wait for our moon to rise and then only have our food.”

The sister believed her brothers and completed all the rituals. She performed aarti to the God’s idol because her husband was away and sat with her brothers to have her food. She found a bunch of hair in the first mouthful of food. This was a bad omen. In the second mouthful, she found some pebbles. This was also a bad omen. Before she had her third mouthful, she got a message from her in-laws that her husband was terribly ill and she was told to leave immediately.

When she was about to leave, her mother gave her some coins and told her to take the blessings of the person coming in front of her. The person, who blessed her with the long life of her husband, she had to give those coins to them. She walked all the way to her in-laws’ village and waited for the blessings of the people she met. None of them give the blessings of her husband’s good health.

The moment she placed her foot on the threshold of her in-laws’ home, her sister-in-law appeared in front of her and the sister touched her feet. She blessed the sister for the long life of her husband and she gave the coins to the sister-in-law. When she went inside home, her husband was lying unconscious. The sister heard the curse of Karva Mata, “You believed your brothers and did not wait for the moon to partake of food. That is why your husband is lying unconscious.”

The sister prayed to the Mata of the Chauth of every month and they told her that they cannot revoke the curse. A year passed and the next Karva Chauth arrived. She performed the fast without even having water and in the evening, Karva Mata was angry and insisted that she would not revoke her curse.

The sister offered the insignia of suhag (mangalya) to her mother-in-law and some coins to her sister-in-law. Then, she fell at their feet and received blessings for the well-being of her husband. The other 2 women prayed to Karva Mata, requesting that their blessings should be fructified. Then, Karva Mata’s anger reduced and the sister’s husband woke up. He said, “I have slept for a long time.” Everybody told him that he had slept for one full year and had woken up due to his wife’s pooja.

This story tells us how curse and blessings work. After saying this story and the moon has arisen, we have to look at the moon with a sieve. Or look at the moon’s reflection in water. The water in the karva is poured as arghya to the moon. Then, we have to perform aarti to our husband and take his blessings. We have to partake of a sweet given by him. Then, we have to have food with him.