Vrat Katha

Design Resource

Gangaur Festival of Rajasthan

Infographic Timeline of Festival

Niharika Kumawat and Prof. Ravi Poovaiah

IDC, IIT Bombay

Vrat Katha

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Shiva Parvati Vrat Katha about the Gangaur worship. (Image source)

Reading aloud of Vrat Katha is mandatory for the devotees as part of the ritual. Following is one of the common Vrat Kathas read during the pooja:

“Once upon a time, Lord Shiv, along with Goddess Parvati and Narad Muni went out to take a small trip. When they reached a nearby forest, the news of their arrival spread like wild fire. All the women of high-class families wanted to offer them delicious food. As the women were busy preparing a gorgeous spread for the Gods and Goddess, the women of the low class came with their offerings.

Lord Shiv and Goddess Parvati happily ate the food and Goddess sprinkled the "suhagras" on them.

After a certain time, the women of the high classes came with the food they had prepared. They arranged it on the golden and silver platters. The food was also consumed by the deities. When they had finished eating Lord Shiv asked his wife that with what was she going to bless the women as she had already finished every bit of the "suhagras" on blessing the women of lower classes. To this, Goddess Parvati replied that she intended to bless these women with her own blood. Saying so, she scratched the tip of her finger and sprinkled the blood on these women.

Once this was done, Goddess Parvati went to take a bath in the nearby river, After her bath, she stepped on the beach and made a Shivalinga out of sand and worshipped it. She offered the Shivalinga with food that she prepared out of sand. All these took a lot of time and when she went back to her husband, he asked the cause of her delay. Goddess Parvati lied to Lord Shiv and said that she met her family on the way. When Lord Shiv asked what she ate, she said that her relatives offered her milk and rice. Upon hearing this, Lord Shiv also wanted to taste the same. In reality Lord Shiv knew that Parvati was not being true. When he said that he too wanted to meet his in- laws, Goddess Parvati started praying to Bholenath (Lord Shiv) to save her face.

As the three reached the banks, they saw a palace and all the relatives of Goddess Parvati waiting for them. The palace and the relatives were nothing but illusion. It was created by Lord Shiva himself. They were received and enjoyed their stay for two days.

After this, Goddess Parvati wanted to leave while Lord Shiva wanted to stay for a few days more. When Goddess Parvati pressed to leave, Lord Shiv has to leave along with Narad Muni. While on their journey back home, Lord Shiv realized that he had forgot to being his garland. Narad Muni was sent to fetch it. When he reached the place, he saw mothing but thick forest and wild beasts roaming around. He saw that the mala was resting on the branch of a tree.

When Narad went back to Lord Shiv, he narrated the entire incident to the God. On hearing this, Lord Shiv said that all this was the “Leela” of Goddess Parvati. She felt embarrassed. On seeing this, Narad Muni said that there was nothing to be embarrassed about doing the pooja in secret. He also said that Mata Parvati was the epitome of Marital bliss for all the women. She is the “adi shakti” and anyone who does the pooja in secret will duly be blessed by Lord Shiv. Since that day onward, the popularity of the Gangaur festival started spreading on earth.”

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Gangaur Festival of Rajasthan