Vrat kathas
The stories told during the main vrats, retold in English and Hindi, with the usual puja steps and the text each story comes from.
Kathas14
From Purana or epic10the rest are folk stories
Ekadashi
- Vishnu · Purana Ekadashi Vrat Katha (the birth of Ekadashi) Why the eleventh tithi is sacred to Vishnu: a radiant goddess born from his body defeats the demon Mura and receives the boon that her day will free people from sin. Read the katha
- Vishnu · Purana Nirjala Ekadashi Vrat Katha (Bhima’s Ekadashi) Bhima cannot go hungry for 24 Ekadashis a year; Vyasa tells him to keep one fast without even water in Jyeshtha, which gives the merit of all of them. Read the katha
- Vishnu · Purana Devshayani Ekadashi Vrat Katha (King Mandhata and the drought) A righteous king’s land suffers three years of drought; the sage Angiras tells him to keep the Ashadha Shukla Ekadashi, and the rains return. Read the katha
- Vishnu · Purana Putrada Ekadashi Vrat Katha (King Mahijit) A just but childless king learns from the sage Lomasha that a fault in a past life stands in his way; his subjects keep this Ekadashi for him and a son is born. Read the katha
- Vishnu (Krishna) · Purana Mokshada Ekadashi Vrat Katha (King Vaikhanasa) A king dreams that his father is suffering in hell; on a sage’s advice he keeps this Ekadashi and gives its merit to his father, who is released. Read the katha
Vishnu and Satyanarayan
- Vishnu as Satyanarayan · Purana Shri Satyanarayan Vrat Katha Vishnu teaches Narada a simple vow of truth for the age of Kali; a poor Brahmin, a woodcutter, a merchant and a king each learn that keeping one’s word to God brings well-being and breaking it brings trouble. Read the katha
- Vishnu and the Moon · Folk tradition Purnima Vrat Katha (the two sisters) Of two sisters who keep the full-moon fast, the younger keeps it carelessly and loses her children; when she keeps it fully, her elder sister’s merit brings her child back to life. Read the katha
Shiva
- Shiva and Parvati · Purana Pradosh Vrat Katha (Prince Dharmagupta) A poor widow raises her own son and an orphaned prince; the sage Shandilya teaches them the Pradosh vow, and the prince regains his kingdom. Read the katha
- Shiva and Parvati · Folk tradition Solah Somvar Vrat Katha (Sixteen Mondays) A temple priest who tells a lie to Parvati is struck by illness; the sixteen-Monday vow taught by apsaras heals him, and the vow passes on to Parvati, Kartikeya and others, fulfilling each wish. Read the katha
Ganesha
Devi and married women’s vrats
- Parvati (Gauri), Shiva, Ganesha and the Moon · Folk tradition Karwa Chauth Vrat Katha (Veeravati) A young bride breaks her first Karwa Chauth fast early when her brothers show her a false moon; her husband falls lifeless, and her devotion over the following year restores him. Read the katha
- Savitri, Satyavan and the banyan (vat) tree; Brahma and Yama · Itihasa (epic) Vat Savitri Vrat Katha (Savitri and Satyavan) Princess Savitri marries Satyavan knowing he will die within a year; when Yama comes for him she follows, and by wisdom and steadfastness wins back his life. Read the katha
- Shiva and Parvati · Purana Hartalika Teej Vrat Katha (Parvati’s penance) Parvati, determined to marry Shiva, is taken to the forest by her friends when her father promises her to Vishnu; her penance and sand-linga worship on this tithi win Shiva as her husband. Read the katha
- Santoshi Mata · Folk tradition Santoshi Mata Vrat Katha (Friday vow) A neglected daughter-in-law, whose husband has gone abroad, keeps the Friday vow of Santoshi Mata with gram and jaggery; her husband returns wealthy, and a lapse caused by sour food teaches the family the vow’s one rule. Read the katha
Every katha is our own retelling of a public-domain traditional story. We name the Purana or epic it is read from, and mark folk stories as folk rather than giving them an invented source.