Omkar Dattatray
Karwa chauth is an important Hindu festival celebrated by the married women especially in north India. On this auspicious occasion ,married women keep fast till the rising of the moon and break the fast by drinking water from the hands of their husband .This festival is celebrated to pray for the long ,happy and prosperous life of the husband and thus Karwa chauth is dedicated to the well being and longevity of the life of the husbands .As the name indicates it falls on the fourth day of the first fortnight of the Hindu month of Kartika and is celebrated with great fanfare and devotion to ones husband by all the married women .It in fact is the celebration of the intense love and respect to the husband .This year Karwa Chauth falls on November 1STwhich is Wednesday .This auspicious Hindu festival of Karwa Chauth is marked with zeal across the country ,especially in North Indian states of Himachal Pradesh ,Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh ,Haryana ,Punjab ,Gujarat and Rajasthan . It also known as Karaka Chaturthi or Karwa Chauth .It is celebrated during the Chaturthi tithi of Krishna Paksha in Kartik month .Married women observe this festival by keeping a difficult nirjala vrat (fasting without water and food ) for their husband’s long life and prosperity .They break the fast after the moon rise by sighting it through a sieve and then looking at their husband through it .After which ,the husband gives the wife a morsel of food and sip of water .While the fast is special for all married women ,it holds special significance for the newlywed brides observing their first Karwa Chauth fast .For any married women ,the first Karwa Chauth holds significance .Both the husband and wives family see it as a special day .Every family friends and relatives drop by to wish the newlywed couple and the bride gets gifts from everyone .Newly married women celebrating their first Karwa Chauth receive thoughtful gifts from their in-laws and their maternal home and this makes them feel special on this day .The newly married daughter -in-law usually gives her mother-in-law a specially curated Baya clessings containing clothes ,jewelry ,food items ,and wedding items .This ritual is performed to receive blessings from the mother-in-law .Sagri is another important ritual of the festival .On the first Karwa Chauth ,the mother-in-law gives Sagri to her daughter -in-law .The Sagri plate consists of fruits, mathri ,sweets ,dry fruits and other food items .Both mother -in-law and daughter -in-law should eat Sagri together before sunrise .The newly married women wake up early in the morning and take a bath .Then ,they clean the temple ,light a diya ,worship Maa Parvati ,Lord Ganesha and Lord Kartikeya ,take a pledge for a nirjila vrat and listen the Karwa Chauth Katha .Newly-married brides wear traditional clothes in red ,do solah sringar ,and apply mehendi on their hands and feet .They should avoid wearing black ,brown and white colors .While white and black are not considered auspicious ,brown represents Rahu and Ketu .Apart from red ,they can wear ,pink ,yellow ,green and maroon .On this day married women keep nirjala fast which literally means fasting in which even water is not consumed from sunrise till moonrise .Women fast on this day to pray for safe and long life of their husbands ,though these days many husbands too observe fast along with their wives for similar reason and it is so good and positive and it should be encouraged .On this day ,married women dress up in new clothes (preferably red which signifies a happy married life) and apply mehendi on their hands and feet as a part of the festivities .Women observing this fast get together on this day and celebrate it by narrating folk tale ,reading Karwa Chauth Vrat Katha and singing folk songs -all of which make it a lively festival .Women also worship Goddess Parvati in the Karwa Chauth Puja followed by Lord Shiva ,Lord Ganesha and Lord Kartikeya .The fast is later broken after having a glimpse of the moon .Though this Hindu festival is celebrated across India ,it is particularly celebrated in north Indian states .If we talk about the literal meaning of Karwa Chauth ,it means offering Argya to the moon using earthen pot known as Karwa on the Chaturthi of the Karthika month .A women named Karva was deeply devoted to her husband .Her intense love and dedication towards him gave her shakti (spititual power ).While bathing at a river ,her husband was caught by a crocodile .Karva bound the crocodile with cotton yarn and asked yama (the god of death) to send the crocodile to hell .Karva is another word for pot ( a small earthen pot of water) and Chauth means fourth in Hindi ( a reference to the fact that the festival falls on the fourth day of the dark -fortnight ,of Krishna Paksha ,of the month of Kartika) .In Sanskrit scriptures ,the festival is referred to as Karaka Chaturthi ,Karaka meaning an earthen water pitcher and Chaturthi denoting the fourth day of the lunar Hindu month .One hypothesis is that military campaigns were often conducted by men in far off places whereby men would leave their wives and children at home to go off to the war .Their wives would often pray for their safe return .The festival also coincides with the wheat -sowing time(i.e ,the beginning of the Rabi crop cycle).Big earthen pots in which wheat is stored are sometimes called Karvas ,so the fast may have begun as a prayer for a good harvest in this predominantly wheat-eating Northwestern region .Another story about the origin of this festival relates to the bond of feminine friendship .With the custom of arranged marriage being prevalent ,the newlywed is supposed to reside with her husband and in-laws .Being new to the family ,the custom arose of befriending another women as her friend (kangan -Saheli ) or sister (dharm -behn) for life .The friendship would be sanctified through Hindu ritual during the marriage ceremony itself. The bride’s friend would usually be of the same age or slightly older ,typically married into the same village (so that she would not go away) and not directly related to her in-laws (so there was no conflict of interest later) .This emotional and psychological bond would be considered akin to a blood relationship .It is said that Karva Chauth festival evolved to include celebrating this special bond of friendship .Husbands should reciprocate and show the loyalty and obedience and total love and faithfulness to their wives .In brief it can be safely said that Karwa Chauth is the festival of celebration of love and bonding between the husbands and wives in Indian culture .May Indian wives and husbands uphold purity of mutual love and bonding and this is the best tribute to the married couples on Karwa Chauth.
(The author is a columnist and KP activist).
