Karva Chauth

About Karva Chauth

Significance

Karva Chauth is a day-long fast kept by married women, and now often by engaged women too, for the long life and welfare of their husbands. The name joins karva, the small spouted earthen pot at the centre of the worship, and chauth, the fourth lunar day; in Sanskrit usage the day is Karaka Chaturthi. The worship is addressed to Gauri (Parvati) with Shiva, Ganesha and Kartikeya, and to the Moon, whose rising closes the fast.

Its stories belong to the vrata-katha tradition rather than to a single Purana. The best known is that of Veeravati, the only sister of seven brothers, who broke her fast when they showed her a false moon, lost her husband, and won him back through a year of devotion; another tells of a woman named Karva whose steadfastness is said to have saved her husband from a crocodile. Families recite the version their lineage keeps, and the tellings differ in detail.

How and where it is observed

The fast is chiefly a North Indian custom, kept in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Madhya Pradesh, and by families from these regions across India and abroad. In Punjabi households the mother-in-law sends sargi, a meal of fruit, sweets and dry fruit eaten before dawn, and in many families a gift (baya) passes from the daughter-in-law to the mother-in-law in the evening.

Rituals

Many women keep the fast nirjala, without food or water, from sunrise until the Moon is seen, though family custom varies. In the evening women gather in festive or bridal dress to hear the katha and pass their decorated puja thalis around the circle while the customary songs are sung; the karva is filled with water and offered with sweets to Gauri. When the Moon rises it is viewed, often through a sieve, water is poured to it as arghya, and the husband gives his wife the first sip of water and morsel of food that end the fast.

How the date is fixed

Karva Chauth is Kartika Krishna Chaturthi in the Purnimanta reckoning of North India; Amanta calendars call the same day Ashvina Krishna Chaturthi. It comes four days before Ahoi Ashtami. Because the fast ends at moonrise, moonrise decides the day: the date is the one on which Chaturthi is current when the Moon rises at your place, following the tithi–kaal convention of the Dharmashastra digests as applied by computed Panchangs. If moonrise falls within Chaturthi on two evenings, the rule’s tie-break chooses between them; if on neither, the day on which Chaturthi prevails longest is taken. Moonrise is computed for the chosen location; the actual sighting can come some minutes later.

Sources

• Nirnaya Sindhu and Dharma Sindhu: tithi–kaal conventions for vratas, as applied by computed Panchangs
• Government of India (DoPT) holiday lists: Karaka Chaturthi (Karva Chauth) among the restricted holidays
• Karva Chauth vrata-katha (North Indian household tradition, printed vrata-katha collections)

Customs differ between regions, communities and families; this description is background, not a prescription. The date above is calculated by the rule shown on this page.