Karwa Chauth is a one-day festival celebrated by Hindu women in northern and western India. The day is especially auspicious for married women, who mark the event by fasting from sunrise to moonrise in order to pray for the well-being, prosperity and longevity of their husbands.
There are many stories in epic tales such as Mahabharat, story of Satyavan and Savitiri, Karwa and the queen Veervati, that tell how the festival originated and how it came to be celebrated only in certain part of Indian subcontinent. One theory is that Karva Chauth started as a festival to celebrate a special bond of friendship between the brides and their good-friends at their new in-law homes. A few days before the festival, married women would buy new karvas (spherical clay pots) and paint them on the outside with beautiful designs. Inside they would put bangles and ribbons, home-made candy and sweets, make-up items, and small clothes as gifts for their girlfriends. The women would then visit each other on the day of Karva Chauth and exchange these gift pots.
Another theory suggests, that since Karwa Chauth follows soon after the summer (Kharif) crop harvest in rural areas, it is a good time for community festivals and gift exchanges. The festival coincides with the time for sowing wheat crops. Karwas are big earthen pots in which wheat is stored so fasting by the woman may have originally started as a prayer for a good harvest in this predominantly wheat-eating region.
The fast begins at dawn. The women wake up early in the morning to eat fruits, sweets, bread and potatoes. After this, fasting women do not eat during the day, and some don’t drink any water either. Women receive gifts from their mothers and mother in laws. They dress up in fine traditional clothing, sometimes in their wedding attire. Wearing red, gold or orange sari or salwaar kameez signifies a bride. The women adorn their hands with mehndi (aka henna), their best jewlery, and spend the day socializing with friends and relatives.
Photo courtesy Tribune India
In the evening, all the women from the household, and sometimes the neighborhood, get together for a prayer (puja), while the eldest woman tells stories about wives who were able to change the destiny of their husbands through great devotion and fasting. Thalis (plates) decorated with offerings such as candles, flowers, sweets, sindoor (red color powder) are passed around and the women bless each other.
Here’s a song that is hummed while passing the thali:
“Veero Kudiye Karwada,
Sarv Suhagan Karwada,
A Katti Na Ateri Naa,
Kumbh Chrakhra Feri Naa,
Gwand Pair payeen Naa,
Sui Che Dhaga Payeen Naa
Ruthda maniyen Naa,
Suthra Jagayeen Naa,
Bhain Pyari Veeran,
Chan Chade Te Pani Peena
Ve Veero Kuriye Karwara,
Ve Sarv Suhagan Karwara”
“Veero Kudiye Karwada,
Sarv Suhagan Karwada,
Aye Katti Naya Teri Nee,
Kumbh Chrakhra Feri Bhee,
Aar Pair payeen Bhee,
Ruthda maniyen Bhee,
Suthra Jagayeen Bhee,
Ve Veero Kuriye Karwara,
Ve Sarv Suhagan Karwara”
At sunset, the husbands join their wives to complete the final ritual of the day. They gather outdoors awaiting the moon to make itself visible in the sky. When the moon rises, the women look at it through a fine-mesh sieve, and then look at their husbands reflection in a vessel filled with water, through a sieve, or through the cloth of a dupatta (stole). The women offer the water to the moon asking for blessing and her husband’s long life. Finally, the husband gives his wife her first sip of water and feeds her sweets to break her fast.
Photo courtesy BCCL
Karwa Chauth is still practiced by Hindu women all over the world.
Photo courtesy iloveindia.com
~ By guest blogger Shweta Sharma.
