Karva Chauth: The Fast, the Puja and the Moonrise

Karva Chauth is among the most widely kept observances in northern India. It falls on the fourth tithi of the dark fortnight of Kartika, and married women keep it for the long life and wellbeing of their husbands.

Its distinguishing feature is that it is a waterless fast and that it cannot be broken until the moon has been seen.

The name

Karva is the earthen pot from which water is offered to the moon. Chauth refers to the fourth tithi.

The pot stands for auspiciousness and for the water element. It also marks the communal side of the observance, since women exchange karvas with one another.

Sargi

The day begins with sargi, the meal given by the mother in law and taken before sunrise in the early hours.

It usually contains fruit, dry fruit, sweets, vermicelli and coconut. Its purpose is to supply enough energy for a waterless day.

One practical suggestion is worth making. Keep fried and heavily salted items to a minimum in sargi, since they increase thirst through the day. Fruit, dry fruit and milk are more suitable.

Where there is no mother in law, a senior woman of the family performs this role.

Materials

The karva and its lid, water, wheat or rice, roli, mauli, rice grains, sandalwood, turmeric, kumkum, a lamp, incense, flowers, sweets, fruit, a sieve, the Karva Chauth story, an image of Gauri made of clay, sindoor and the sixteen items of adornment.

The sieve has particular significance. The moon is first viewed through it, and then the husband's face is seen through the same sieve.

The observance

Take sargi before sunrise, bathe and make the resolve, which is for the long life of the husband and the wellbeing of the family.

Keep the waterless fast through the day, taking neither food nor water.

In the evening, bathe again, complete the sixteen adornments and wear new or auspicious clothing.

At the place of worship, install Gauri, Ganesha and the karva. Custom calls for shaping an image of Gauri from clay.

Hear or read the Karva Chauth story. This is a necessary part of the observance.

Afterwards women exchange karvas with one another and take the blessing of the elder women.

The moon and the breaking

At moonrise, go to the terrace or an open place and view the moon through the sieve.

Offer water from the karva and ask for long life.

Then look at the husband's face through the same sieve, take water from his hand, and the fast is complete.

A simple meal follows.

The point about moonrise

This is where most of the confusion arises.

The moonrise time for Karva Chauth differs from city to city. Delhi, Mumbai, Patna and Kolkata do not share a time, and the difference is sometimes more than half an hour.

A time given in a general panchang or announced on television cannot be applied to your own city. It has to be taken for your own latitude and longitude.

For families outside India the gap is larger still, because the tithi itself has to be determined by local calculation.

If the moon is not visible

Cloud or rain sometimes makes the moon impossible to see.

The accepted solution is that once the calculated moonrise time has passed, the offering may be made facing that direction and the fast broken.

The merit of the fast rests on the resolve and the sincerity, not on visibility.

A word on health

It should be said plainly that a waterless fast is not advisable during pregnancy, for those with diabetes, or in any condition of serious ill health.

The texts themselves hold that the body is the first instrument of dharma. Keeping the observance with fruit in such circumstances is entirely acceptable and carries the same merit.