Karwa Chauth Puja 2023: Date, Importance, History and Rituals

Karwa Chauth is a ritual of fasting observed by married Hindu women seeking the long life, well-being, and prosperity of their husbands. The festival and fast of Karwa Chauth are celebrated with much exuberance and fanfare mostly in the states of North and North-West of India.

It is considered an important and auspicious day for married women. A married woman celebrates this day with great fervour and dedication. Karwa is another word for clay pot and Chauth means ‘fourth’ in Hindi because this festival is commemorated on the fourth day after the Full Moon in the Kartik month of the Hindu calendar.

The Importance of Karwa Chauth

Karwa Chauth pooja at home is an essential tradition among Hindus as it holds significant meaning.

• Women do nirjal fast from sunrise to moonrise, where they can not even take a sip of water. They do Karwa Chauth morning pooja and eat sargi before dawn, with different fruits and nuts from their mother-in-law. They do all this so that their husband can live a long life.
• They prepare a Karwa Chauth pooja thali in which they include all the ingredients required for Karwa Chauth night pooja. Women do Karwa Chauth thali preparation according to their creative skills, which also keeps them distracted from hunger. This thali is given to the family’s eldest member after the Puja in return for their blessings.
• Karva Chauth puja preparation starts before sunrise, and this pooja is done to increase bonding and show the importance of a husband in their life.
• Married women also apply Heena on their hands, and in some regions, it is believed that doing so augments longevity and spiritual insight and boosts husbands’ fertility.
• Married women listen to Katha and wish their husbands a long life and happy marriage by praying to Goddess Parvati.

Karwa Chauth in 2023

Karva Chauth will be celebrated on 1 November 2023.

History of Karwa Chauth

The following are some fascinating traditional stories about Karwa Chauth and how it started.

Tale of the Queen Veervati

An enchanting queen named Veervati was born to an affectionate and caring family of seven brothers. She was at her parent’s house during one of the Karwa Chauth and began a stringent nirjal fast after sunrise.

By evening she was sorrowing in hunger and thirst and was keenly waiting for the moonrise. Her brothers loved her very much and could not see her suffer like this and decided to make her end the fast. They concoct a plan to trick Veeravati into believing that the Moon is up by reflecting a mirror through a Pipal tree. She misunderstood that reflection for the Moon and broke the fast.

The news that Veervati’s husband had died arrived as soon as she broke her fast. She was inconsolable and kept crying. That’s when Goddess appeared before her and divulged that her brothers tricked her into ending the fast. The goddess granted her the boon of bringing the king back to life when the queen asked for forgiveness.

But for that to happen, the queen had to do the Karva Chauth fast under stringent rituals, and then solely her husband would revive. She did the Karwa Chauth fast with complete dedication and faith. After witnessing the devotion, Yama, the Lord of death, resurrected her husband.

From the Story of the Mahabharata

It is believed that Draupadi also did this Karwa Chauth fast. Draupadi loved Arjuna the most, and when he went to the Nilgiri mountains for self-punishment, all his brothers started having problems without him.

Draupadi couldn’t see them like this, so she prayed to Lord Krishna to ask for a solution to fix the challenges. Lord Krishna articulated a tale of Goddess Parvati, who observed the Karwa Chauth rituals in an analogous situation. So, Draupadi then observed the stringent practices of Karwa Chauth, and Pandavas solved their problems.

The Story of Karwa

One woman named Karwa loved her husband deeply, and this passionate love gave her many spiritual powers.

Once her husband was taking a bath in a river, and that was when a crocodile attacked him. The fearless Karwa restrained the crocodile with cotton yarn to protect her husband.

She called Yama, the Lord of death, and asked him to send that repulsing crocodile to hell. When Yama said no, she forebode to curse him. Yama was terrified that he would be condemned by such a loving and devoted wife, so he banished the crocodile to hell and endowed her husband with longevity.

The Tale of Satyavan and Savitri 

According to legend, when Yama, the God of death, attempted to take Satyavan’s life, Savitri implored Yama to give him life. But Yama was headstrong and took her husband’s life. After Yama had taken her husband away, Savitri ceased eating and drinking and followed Yama.

Seeing all this, Yama offered Savitri a boon in which she could ask for anything except her husband’s life. Savitri was a brilliant woman, and she requested Yama to accord her with children. Yama knew that Savitri was a devoted wife and would not even think of another man, let alone touch her. Thus, Yama had to give Satyavan the blessing of life so that Savitri could bear children.

Karwa Chauth Rituals

The rituals of Karwa Chauth Puja include :

• Ganesha Puja
• Kalash Puja
• Sankalp
• Panch Dev Puja
• Karwa Puja
• Karwa Chauth Katha
• Maha Mangal Aarti
• Aashirvachan
• Prasad Vitran etc.

Karwa Chauth Preparations for the Puja

Karwa Chauth puja preparations start one day in advance. Buy cosmetics, traditional jewellery, and additional pooja items like the karwa, matthi, and heena. Buy Karwa Chauth Puja essentials like Puja Thali, Karwa, mud diyas, sieve, etc.

Prepare and eat meals in the early morning, before daylight. Do other festive activities like applying henna to one’s hands and feet, arranging the puja thali, and visiting with friends and family in the morning.

Clean the house and decorate it with flowers and diyas. You can also decorate your karwa chauth puja thali the way you like. A karwa chauth puja thali mainly contains Karwa, mud diyas, sieve, sweets, incense sticks, rice, and vermilion.

Karwa Chauth Thali: Components and Significance

• Sieve (Chalni)– A sieve, also known as a chalni, is a crucial component of the Karwa Chauth meal. Every lady worships the moon at the exact moment it rises due to the full-day fast. Therefore, a sieve continues to be a crucial component of the list of Karwa Chauth thali goods to protect your eyes from those dangerous rays and seek filtered light and divine blessings.
• Water in a pot (Karwa)– An earthen pot with a nozzle on top is referred to as a “Karwa,” and it stands for peace and prosperity. You can choose a brass karwa in your thali instead of a clay karwa if you can’t find one. It is used to offer water to the moon. Also, don’t forget to include a glass of water in your thali to break your fast after visiting the moon.
• Sweets– When performing the nighttime chaand puja, sweets are placed in the pooja thali for the moon. By consuming these treats, you can break your fast. Your thali should have mathri as a dessert.
• Diya (lamp)– Your puja thali must include a lamp or diya. To perform Karwa Chauth puja, you can either put a clay lamp or a flour lamp in your thali. The flame of the Diya represents positive energy. Additionally, the frequencies emitted by a flour-based lamp counteract the unfavourable energies in the area, assuring a long life of health and happiness for the praying couple.
• Incense sticks– According to Hindu mythology, lighting an incense stick during a prayer causes pleasant scents to fill the air and purges it of harmful energies. Ashes from burning incense sticks are afterwards gathered to encourage self-sacrifice for others.
• Rice and vermilion– In most Hindu rituals, rice is used as a universal stand-in for everything. Include 10–12 pieces of rice in your puja thali because they are considered extremely auspicious. The beginning of the bride’s married life is symbolised by a dash of vermillion applied to her hair parting. It confirms her position as a married woman and is worn by her husband throughout the wedding, making it a significant aspect of Karva Chauth, which is observed for the partner’s health and well-being.

Karwa Chauth Across Different Regions

Punjab

For Punjabi ladies, Karva Chauth is of the greatest importance. Women accessorise with lovely sarees and other items from the bazaar. Throughout Punjab, many different kinds of sweets and other foods are available during Karva Chauth. Punjab demonstrates how important and successful the Karva Chauth rite is to all of them. Young single people in Punjab also observe fasts to locate their ideal spouse.

Uttar Pradesh

Women observe the fast and offer prayers for their husbands’ long lives in Uttar Pradesh. The most distinctive feature of their festival is that they cover the walls of their residences with artwork of Gauri Ma, the state’s patron goddess.

Rajasthan

The significance of Karva Chauth varies in Rajasthan. Rajasthani women use mud to create their Karvas, which they subsequently fill with rice and wheat. Women dress up in the stunning gown they wear to their wedding. In this well-known auspicious tradition, several people also wear chunri. Typically, Karva Chauth is observed on Jyeshtha, the full moon day of the Karthika month. According to legend, women who perform Karva Chauth for their husbands are blessed with their husband’s well-being and have the good fortune of keeping the same husband for the following seven reincarnations.

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