Karva Chauth – Part 1

Karva stands for an earthen pot and Chauth is the fourth day of the full moon, a day when married women fast the whole day for the well-being, prosperity and long life of their husbands, leading to a happy married life and also gaining the title of a ‘Saubhagyavati’, the most joyous and coveted state of womanhood.

Karva Chauth is a festival that dates back to the times when a woman, be she a daughter, sister, wife or a mother, was always dependent on the man of her life. There is many a myth of Karva Chauth, but before that, let’s look at the genesis of this festival and how it has changed over time, thus giving it a new and a different meaning altogether.

In olden days, girls were married off at a very tender age and sometimes were very far off from her parents, friends, etc. In large families of her in-laws, she was often lonely. Husbands were accessible only at night and often the age-difference made it quite difficult to converse, leave alone confide. To keep her company and also to lend her a shoulder during times of distress, she would befriend another girl/woman at her in-laws. They would then be god-sisters/god-friends for life and this relationship was sometimes sanctified right at the time of the marriage through a small ceremony.

Karva Chauth was a festival to celebrate this bonding and new friendship. Fasting and praying for the husband came much later as an addition to the original festival. The aspect of the husband was quite obvious, since the new bonding was through the husband. But how original reason of the festival was lost, could be a matter of debate. In due course of time, this festival became a festival to pray for the well-being and the prosperity and long-life of the husband and a number of myths were woven as part of the traditional katha which became the ritual de rigueur.

First, let us understand the concept of worshiping the moon. The whole aspect of the moon-worship had to do with the worship of Shiva-Parvati, as they were considered to be a couple with eternal marital bliss, and Parvati had been blessed with Shiva as her spouse in every life of hers – an honour for many a woman as seen in our society. The moon is symbolically seen as an adornment of Shiva’s locks and also derives his strength from Shiva during its waning phase. In some myths, the Moon is also seen as the god of medicines, and thus brings in the aspect of good health and better life for the spouses. Also, in the absence of the husband being physically present, the moon came as a good substitute!

The most common myth of Karva Chauth is that of the woman named Karva who used to live with her husband near a river. Once when the husband was having a bath in the river, a crocodile attacked him. Soon Karva came there, and tied a cotton thread around the crocodile and went to meet Yama, the god of death, to demand punishment (in the form of banishment to hell) for the crocodile. When Yama refused to give in to her demand, she threatened to curse him, and herein lies the message – that a devoted wife could even risk cursing a god for her husband. Yama did not want to earn the wrath of such a woman and gave in to her wishes and blessed her husband with a long life. This myth is similar to that of Savitri-Satyavan, where Savitri goes to extremes to get her husband back to life from death and the god of death was left with no choice. The myth of Queen Veeravati is another important myth which is recited during the katha (which I will take up tomorrow on Karva Chauth).

Over a period of time, and thanks to numerous Bollywood portrayals, this has become an important festival. Though this might not seem to be a relevant custom from the time it originated, but somehow it still manages to hold sway with the people. Some do it for the original reasons; some do it for the glamour attached to it while some do it from the plain reason to appease-the-in-laws. Irrespective of what modernists feel and how chauvinist it all seems to a few in the Society, this festival is here to stay and prosper and as some say, helps to bond amongst the womenfolk.

So how long will this one-sided demonstration of love and bonding for the ultimate marital-bliss work? Your guess is as good as mine.

The Mythical explanation of an Eclipse - World

The Chinese believed that an eclipse happened when a mythical dragon tried to eat up the sun in the sky. The Chinese for solar eclipse is 日食 (re shi), meaning “sun eat”. When the eclipse occurred, the Chinese would make a lot of noise, by banging pots and drums, bursting crackers, hoping that the noise created by them would drive away the dragon and spare the sun, and sure enough, the sun was soon spared and it would come out in full visibility – most probably by the noise created!

The idea of monsters, etc. eating up the sun or the moon during eclipses is quite common. The Incas believed that the sun or the moon was being eaten up a cat by the name of K’owa, and like the Chinese they too tried to scare away the cat by making a noise.

The Egyptians had a similar belief where the sun god Ra was being eaten up the goddess of darkness, Apep who was in the form of a serpent. However, some myths also referred to this phenomenon, due to a hawk trying to eat the sun.

Similar myths are found in Siberia with a vampire, a three legged toad in Vietnam and a jaguar in Paraguay. In Scandinavia, two wolves are supposed to be responsible for this, one devoured the sun and the other the moon.

According to Japanese mythology, an eclipse occured due to a spat between two siblings! Amaterasu is the Sun goddess (rare portrayal of Sun as a goddess) who has a brother, Susano-o, a Storm deity. Once Susano-o misbehaved with Amaterasu, and she got so upset that she went into a cave. But this led to a world sans light and warmth. The other gods then pleaded to Amaterasu who would just not agree, till the gods tricked her to come out and that’s how, there was light again. Since then it is said that an eclipse happens when Amaterasu gets upset with her bother Susano-o, and goes inside a cave, and the goddess shows up only on the request of the other gods!

A common theme across all myths is of one eating the other, violence, etc. But a Tahitian myth talks of love and is very different from the others. According to the Tahitian myth, Laa, the Sun god and Marama, the Moon goddess were in love. But whenever the two came together, the Sun would get very hot (I am not sure if there is a pun here!). So Laa and Marama decided to separate, but also decided to meet once a year. According to the myth, an eclipse occurs whenever the two meet!

Thus we see that nearly every civilization had its own version of an eclipse. Its sinister connotations and the suddenness of it all were the reason, why majority of the myths had eating, biting and devouring as the theme behind the phenomenon, till of course Science stepped in.

The Mythical explanation of an Eclipse - Indian

The Hindu myth has its origins in the famous episode of samudra manthan. As per the myth, the gods and asuras got together to churn the ocean to get the wealth from the bottom of the sea. Amongst this wealth, the most coveted and awaited of all was the amrita (nectar of life) consuming of which would grant immortality. Both the gods and the asuras were after it, but both knew that they needed each others might to churn it out of the sea.

When they finally got the nectar, Lord Vishnu took the form of Mohini, the enchantress and asked all of them to stand in a queue and she would serve it to one and all, with the idea of not serving it to the asuras at all. All the asuras were too enchanted to see thru the deception, except for one of them, by the name of Swarbhanu. Swarbhanu could sense something amiss and so he disguised himself like the gods and managed to get a sip.

Sun and the Moon came to know about it and informed this to Lord Vishnu, who immediately cut Swarbhanu with his Chakra into two. However, since Swarbhanu had already consumed it, nothing much could be done. So the top half of Swarbhanu came to be known as Rahu and the tail became Ketu, with no body in between.

Rahu and Ketu came to dislike Sun and Moon, and so once in a while they try to swallow them. Since there is no body, every time the mouth (Rahu) swallows the Sun or the Moon, it slips out of the tail (Ketu). During the time that the Sun and the Moon pass thru Rahu and Ketu, there is darkness all around. This is the mythical reason of a Solar eclipse and a Lunar eclipse!

Rahu and Ketu have a lot of astrological significance (negative impact) on the mortals, which is a different subject altogether.

The picture shows Rahu swallowing the Sun and causing an eclipse. This Rahu Temple (Named Wat Srisathong) is in Nakhon Chaisi 65 kms from Bangkok.

The Waxing and Waning of the Moon.

As per a Vedic myth, Daksha Prajapati had given 27 of his daughters in marriage to Chandra (the moon god). Chandra was known for his good looks and virility. But Chandra amongst all the wives preferred Rohini, which angered the other sisters, who complained to their father about this partiality.

Daksha Prajapati cursed Chandra with a degenerative disease, which led him to lose his lustre and thus Chandra started to wane. Chandra was worried and on the advice of Lord Brahma, prayed to Shiva, who allowed him to take refuge in his locks and gain his potency back.

Later, the curse was reduced to a temporary state, and from that day onwards, Chandra, the moon, waxes when it approaches Rohini and wanes when it moves away from her. On the full moon day, Chandra attains his full potency, and then onwards, it loses its potency to the new moon night, when he has no wife by his side and on the previous day, when he is just a crescent, he takes refuge on Shiva’s locks. The day Chandra, takes refuge on Shiva’s locks, Lord Shiva is known as Chedrashekhar!

Another myth has its origin in the ravenous appetite of Lord Ganesha. It so happened that once Ganesha had an overdose of his favourite sweet, modaks (sweet rice balls), till the point of feeling extremely uncomfortable. He then decided to out in the open air. While was in the jungle, a snake crossed his path, which scared his vahana, the mouse, who backed out a bit, toppling Ganesha. On falling, Ganesha’s big tummy burst open and all the modaks rolled out. Ganesha ran after them, collected all of them and stuffed them back, and tied his tummy with the help of the snake Vasuki.

All this was being witnessed by Moon and his wives, and they all burst out laughing! Ganesha felt very insulted and cursed the Moon god, to disappear forever. Shiva realised that the disappearance of Moon could cause cosmic dis-balance, so he intervened. He made Moon god apologise to Ganesha and in turn asked Ganesha to reduce this curse. Ganesha then reduced the curse to slowly diminishing and then disappearing for a day, and then come back to his original size back, and then start the diminishing act again. This cycle would continue forever, so that people are reminded of the curse and also not to make fun of the Lord! 

Vijaya Dashami

Yesterday Ravan was burnt in full public view and with a lot of enthusiasm and joy. Quite ironic to see celebrations over a public execution. Some would say, why not after all this is celebration of the victory of good over evil, some prefer to keep quiet and overlook the other salient points of the eternal conflict.

What is good and what is evil? Who decided such standards in the absence of central governance or a common human understanding?

Was it incorrect to questions people who donned the outfit of ‘harmless ascetics’ but carried arms and displayed the physique of warriors? A man should not kidnap another’s wife. But then should people allow their sisters to be insulted?

In which culture did one severe nose in response to what one might call an ‘indecent proposal’? Which is a bigger crime – insulting someone’s sister or kidnapping someone’s wife, in return? Is an individual taken by force the property of the one who has strength and power at his behest? For an individual enmity, is it correct to render the whole nation (read kingdom) vulnerable?

On one had we tell people to feel proud about ones achievements, but the moment we change the adjective (Proud) in to a noun (Pride) we start looking down on the same achievement, why is it like that?

Were there ulterior motives behind the whole apparent plot? Was it destined such? Were the characters just playing small roles in the overall big drama conducted by someone else?

Someone once asked me why do you ask so many questions and my answer was – Why not? He said, there that’s another question, but I thought that was an answer!