Karva Chauth: Difference between revisions

Karva Chauth (Hindi: करवा चौथ, Punjabi: ਕਰਵਾ ਚੌਥ) is an annual one-day festival celebrated by Hindu women in North India, the Indian state of Gujarat and parts of Pakistan in which married women fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their husbands.^[1][2][3] The fast is observed in the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Indian Punjab, Rajasthan,Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.^[1][4][5][6] The festival falls on the fourth day after the full moon, in the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Kartik. Sometimes, unmarried women observe the fast for their fiances or desired husbands.^[7]

Karva is another word for Matka or Ghada (a small earthen water-pot) and chauth means 'fourth' in Hindi (a reference to the fact that the festival falls on the fourth day of the dark-fortnight, or krishna paksh, of the month of Kartik).^[8]

It is uncertain how the festival originated and how it came to be celebrated only in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. One hypothesis is that military campaigns and long-distance travel usually resumed around the time of the festival, as the area dried and numerous rivers of the region (see: Sapta Sindhu) subsided from the effects of the monsoon.^[9] Women observed the fast to pray for the safety of their husbands at this time as they ventured away from home. 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 also sometimes called karvas, so the fast may also have begun as a prayer for a good harvest in this predominantly wheat-eating region.^[9]

Women begin preparing for Karva Chauth a few days in advance, by buying cosmetics (shringar), traditional adornments or jewelry, and puja items, such as the karwa lamps, matthi, henna and the decorated puja thali (plate).^[10] Local bazaars take on a festive look as shopkeepers put their Karva Chauth related products on display.^[10] On the day of the fast, women from Punjab awake to eat and drink just before sunrise. In Uttar Pradesh, women eat soot feni with milk in sugar on the eve of the festival. It is said that this helps them go without water the next day. In Punjab, sargi (ਸਰਗੀ) is an important part of this pre-dawn meal, and always includes fenia. It is traditional for the sargi to be sent or given to the woman by her mother-in-law. If the mother-in-law lives with the woman, the pre-dawn meal is prepared by the mother-in-law. The fast begins with dawn. Fasting women do not eat during the day, and some additionally do not drink any water either. In traditional observances of the fast, the fasting woman does no housework.^[11] Women apply henna and other cosmetics to themselves and each other. The day passes in meeting friends and relatives. In some regions, it is customary to gift and exchange painted clay pots filled with put bangles, ribbons, home-made candy, cosmetics and small cloth items (e.g. handkerchiefs). Since Karva Chauth follows soon after the Kharif crop harvest in the rural areas, it is a good time for community festivities and gift exchanges. Parents often send gifts to their married daughters and their children.

In the evening, a community women-only ceremony is held. Women dress in fine clothing and wear jewellery and henna, and (in some regions) dress in the complete finery of their wedding dresses.^[12] The dresses (saris or shalwars) are frequently red, gold or orange in color, which are considered auspicious colors.^[13] In Uttar Pradesh, women wear Saris or lehangas. Women sit in a circle with their puja thalis. Depending on region and community, a version of the story of Karva Chauth is narrated, with regular pauses. The storyteller is usually an older woman or a priest, if one is present.^[14] In the pauses, the Karva Chauth puja song is sung collectively by the women as they perform the feris (passing their thalis around in the circle). In Punjabi communities, the Karva Chauth song is sung seven times, the first six of which describe some of the activities that are taboo during the fast and the seventh describes the lifting of those restrictions with the conclusion of the fast. The forbidden activities include weaving cloth (kumbh chrakhra feri naa), pleading with or attempting to please anyone (ruthda maniyen naa), and awakening anyone who is asleep (suthra jagayeen naa). For the first six feris they sing -

...Veero kudiye karvara, Sarv suhagan karvara, Aye katti naya teri naa, Kumbh chrakhra feri naa, Aar pair payeen naa, Ruthda maniyen naa, Suthra jagayeen naa, Ve veero kuriye karvara, Ve sarv suhagan karvara...

For the seventh feri, they sing -

...Veero kudiye karvara, Sarv suhagan karvara, Aye katti naya teri nee, Kumbh chrakhra feri bhee, Aar pair payeen bhee, Ruthda maniyen bhee, Suthra jagayeen bhee, Ve veero kuriye karvara, Ve sarv suhagan karvara...

In Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, the women exchange karvas seven times between themselves. In Rajasthan, before offering water seven times the fasting woman is asked "Dhai?", to which she responds, "Suhaag na Dhai". In Rajasthan, stories are told by older women in the family, including narratives of Karva Chauth, Shiv, Parvati and Ganesh. In earlier times, an idol of Gaur Mata was made using earth and cow dung, which has now been replaced with an idol of Parvati. Each fasting woman lights an earthen lamp in her thali while listening to the Karva story. Sindoor, incense sticks and rice are also kept in the thali.

In Uttar Pradesh, a priest or an elderly woman of the family narrates the story of beejabeti or Veervati. Women make Gauri, Ganesh and Shankar idols with mud and decorate them with colourful and bright clothes and jewellery. While exhanging Karvas seven times, they sing -

...Sadaa suhagan karva lo, Pati ki pyari karva lo, Saat bhaiyon ke behen karva lo, Veera beti karva lo, Saas ki pyaari karva lo...

Thereafter, the women offer baayna (a melange of goodies like halwa, puri, namkeen mathri, meethi mathri, etc.) to the idols (mansana) and hand over to their mother-in-law or sister-in-law.

The fera ceremony concluded, the women await the rising of the moon. Once the moon is visible, depending on the region and community, it is customary for a fasting woman, with her husband nearby, to view its reflection in a vessel filled with water, through a sieve, or through the cloth of a dupatta. Water is offered (arka) to the moon (som or chandra, the lunar deity) to secure its blessings. She then turns to her husband and views his face indirectly in the same manner. In some regions, the woman says a brief prayer asking for her husband's life. It is believed that at this stage, spiritually strengthened by her fast, the fasting woman can successfully confront and defeat death (personified by Yama). In Rajasthan the women say "Like the gold necklace and the pearl bracelet, just like the moon may my suhaag always shine brightly".

The husband now takes the water from the thali and gives his wife her first sip and feeds her with the first morsel of the day (usually something sweet). The fast is now broken, and the woman has a complete meal. It is customary for the husband to make a gift to his wife, such as jewelry or a new dress.^[11][14][15]

In modern North Indian society, Karva Chauth is considered to be a romantic festival, symbolizing the love between a husband and wife.^[16] It has been celebrated in Bollywood movies such as Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, where an unmarried woman signals her love for a man by keeping the fast for him and he reciprocates by secretly fasting as a gesture of empathy, as well as demonstrating his concern for her during the day and breaking her fast by feeding her at moonrise, and Baghban, in which a man persuades his elderly fasting wife to break her fast over the telephone because they have been separated by their uncaring children.^[17][18][19] News coverage of celebrities sometimes highlights the keeping of the fast by an unmarried female public figure because it indicates a strong and likely permanent romantic attachment.^[20] Similar to Valentine's Day, the lack of a romantic partner can acutely be felt by unattached women.^[21] The festival is used extensively in advertising campaigns in the region, for instance in a Chevrolet TV spot in which a man demonstrates his caring for his wife by buying a car with a sunroof so he can drive her around on Karva Chauth night until she spots the moon through it.^[22]

Since Karva Chauth is celebrated primarily by women (men are entirely excluded from the festival's observances until moonrise, though they are expected to demonstrate attention and concern for their fasting wives) and because beauty rituals and dressing-up are a significant part of the day, the festival is seen as an event that bonds women together.^[23] In the present day, groups of unmarried women sometimes also keep the fast together out of a sense of friendship, though this practice is far from universal.^[24] This is especially true in the urban areas of North India and is interpreted as a prayer for a loving husband in the future.^[24] Another trend in the northern urban areas is the spreading of the festival's observance to women originating in communities and regions (such as Bihar, Bengal and Maharashtra) that have not traditionally celebrated Karva Chauth or even been aware of the festival's existence.^[15]

The festival has been criticized as being inherently sexist because there is no reciprocal fasting by males.^[25] There have been calls to modify or eliminate the festival by commentators who hold it to be "anti-women" and to "perpetuate the notion of women's dependence on men."^[26] Karva chauth has been cited as a symbol of cultural repression of women by some Indian feminists, such as Madhu Kishwar who has put it in the same class as "Khomeinivad" (i.e. pushing women into position of subservience to their husbands, similar to the family structure allegedly favored by Ayatollah Khomeini).^[27] Other feminists, however, have called the festival empowering for women because Karva Chauth enables them to quit housework completely for the day and expect gifts from their husbands.^[11] Some writers have asserted that such "rituals work insidiously" to create a "an instrument of social control" that oppresses women, and that the even greater popularity of Karva Chauth among urban, educated women raises the question of "which is the greater barrier to women's liberation: religion or the market."^[15]

Sikh doctrine opposes austerities and ritualism for spiritual benefit, including the concepts of pilgrimage and fasting.^[28] The Sikh gurus did not support the idea of any spiritual or religious benefits of fasting.^[29][30][31] Specifically, while fasting is permitted for health reasons, "fasting as an austerity, as a ritual, as a mortification of the body by wilful hunger is forbidden in Sikhism," whether it is Karva Chauth, Ramadhan or any other fast.^[28][32] This approach has been documented in Sikh scripture. The Adi Granth (verse 1136) says, "I do not keep the fast (vrat) nor Ramadan. I serve only the One who will save me in the end."^[33] In addition to registering their disagreement, in Guru Granth Sahib, on the religious/spiritual aspects of fasting, they specifically rejected the idea of Karva Chauth: ਛੋਡਹਿ ਅੰਨੁ ਕਰਹਿ ਪਾਖੰਡ ॥ ਨਾ ਸੋਹਾਗਨਿ ਨਾ ਓਹਿ ਰੰਡ ॥ ("She who partakes in forsaking grain and doing such a hypocrisy is neither married nor widowed, from AGGS, p873).^[34] For strict adherents, the observance of fasts by Sikh women are "outrageous" and "nothing short of blasphemy."^[35]

However, despite this fundamentalist/orthodox condemnation, Karva Chauth has "become a part of Sikh life", and a survey of Sikh women in the United Kingdom found that "Karva Chauth, a fast kept to secure the long life of husbands, was popular among Sikh women."^[36][37] Some Sikh commentators have called for greater tolerance for syncretic traditions such as Karva Chauth and Valentine's Day, which has also been condemned by orthodox members of several religious denominations in India but continues to make deeper inroads into both Sikh and Indian society.^[38]

There are various legends associated with the Karva Chauth festival. In some tellings the tales are interlinked, with one tale acting as a frame story for another.

A beautiful queen called Veervati was the only sister of seven loving brothers. She spent her first Karva Chauth as a married woman at her parents' house. She began a strict fast after sunrise but, by evening, was desperately waiting for the moonrise as she suffered severe thirst and hunger. Her seven brothers couldn't bear to see their sister in such distress and created a mirror in a pipal tree that made it look as though the moon had risen. The sister mistook it for the moon and broke her fast. The moment she ate, word arrived that her husband, the king, was dead. Heartbroken, she wept through the night until her shakti compelled a Goddess to appear and ask why she cried. When the queen explained her distress, the Goddess revealed how the queen had been tricked by her brothers and instructed her to repeat the Karva Chauth fast with complete devotion. When Veervati repeated the fast, Yama was forced to restore her husband to life.^[39][40]

In a variant of this story, the brothers build a massive fire behind a mountain instead and trick their sister by convincing her that the glow is the moon. She breaks her fast and word arrives that her beloved husband has died. She immediately begins running to her husband's house, which is somewhat distant, and is intercepted by Shiv-Parvati. Parvati reveals the trickery to her, cuts her own little finger to give the wife a few drops of her holy blood, and instructs her to be careful in keeping the complete fast in the future. The wife sprinkles Parvati's blood on her dead husband and, coming back to life, they are reunited.^[14]

The belief in this fast and its associated rituals goes back to the pre-Mahabharata times. Draupadi, too, is said to have observed this fast. Once Arjun went to the Nilgiris for penance and the rest of the Pandavas faced many problems in his absence. Draupadi, out of desperation, remembered Lord Krishna and asked for help. Lord Krishna reminded her that on an earlier occasion, when Goddess Parvati had sought Lord Shiva's guidance under similar circumstances, she had been advised to observe the fast of Karva Chauth. In some tellings of this legend, Shiva tells Parvati the story of Veervati to describe the Karva Chauth fast. Draupadi followed the instructions and observed the fast with all its rituals. Consequently, the Pandavas were able to overcome their problems.^[40]

There was a woman named Karva, who was deeply devoted to her husband. Her intense love and dedication towards him gave her shakti (spiritual power). While bathing at a river, her husband was caught by a crocodile. Karva bound the crocodile with a cotton yarn and asked Yama (the god of death) to send the crocodile to hell. Yama refused. Karva threatened to curse Yama and destroy him. Yama, afraid of being cursed by "Pati-vrat" (devoted) wife, sent the crocodile to hell and blessed Karva's husband with long life. Karva and her husband enjoyed many years of wedded bliss. To this day, Karva Chauth is celebrated with great faith and belief.^[41]

When Lord Yama, came to procure Satyavan's soul, Savitri begged him to grant him life. When he refused, she stopped eating and drinking and followed Yama who carried away her dead husband. Yama said that she could ask for any other boon except for the life of her husband. Savitri asked that she be blessed with children. Yama agreed. Being a "Pati-Vrat" (devoted) wife, Savitri would never let any other man be the father of her children. Yama was left with no other choice but to restore Savitri's husband to life.^[39]

• BBC pictorial feature on women getting henna applied and shopping for Karva Chauth
• Karwa Chauth Poetry
• Karwa Chauth Katha in hindi
• Website exclusively on Karwa Chauth
• Origin of Karwa Chauth
• Origin, Legend and Customs of Karwa Chauth
• panchangam for your place to find out when is karwa chauth at your location