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The goddess enthroned in a red sari under a canopy, attendants fanning her, a musician with a veena at her feet — a Ravi Varma Press print titled Ambika.
Parvati as Ambika, the Mother — Ravi Varma Press, Malavli, early 20th century

Parvati, Shiva, Ganesha & Chandra · Pre-dawn to moonrise

Karwa Chauth — sargi to moonrise

Kartik Krishna Chaturthi (29 Oct 2026; 18 Oct 2027)

In the simplest words

From pre-dawn sargi to the moon in the sieve — the whole loving day, step by step, including what to do when the moon hides behind clouds.

From a pre-dawn sargi to the sieve raised at the moon, Karwa Chauth is a day-long love letter kept with a nirjala fast. Its heart is the evening: the karwa exchanged, the katha heard among women, and the moon received before the beloved's face.

Beneath the mehndi and the moonlit finery runs one of the tradition's fiercest ideas: that love can be practised as tapasya. The day's hunger is not the point but the vessel — each pang redirected into prayer for one person's life. Queen Veeravati's story warns what haste costs; the sieve at moonrise rewards what patience keeps.

Perform this puja

6 steps, one at a time, with the lamp, the mantras and the bell — on this screen.

Samagri — what you need

0/6 gathered

The vidhi, step by step

0/6 done

  1. Sargi before dawn

    Eat the sargi before sunrise — after it, the nirjala vrat begins.

  2. Sankalpa

    After bathing, the vow is taken for the beloved's long life — Parvati the witness.

    ॐ पार्वत्यै नमः

    Oṁ Pārvatyai Namaḥ

    Om, salutations to Parvati, daughter of the mountain. The name is her birth: parvata is the mountain, and she is Sati reborn as Himavat's child to win Shiva back — the story the Shiva Purana (Rudra Samhita, Parvati Khanda) and Kalidasa's Kumarasambhava tell. The reciter bows to Shakti in her gentlest form: consort, mother, and the half without which the ascetic is not whole.

    Source: Traditional nāma-mantra

  3. Evening katha circle

    Before sunset, women gather in solah shringar with decorated thalis; the Karwa Chauth katha (the sahukar's daughter, the false moon) is told; thalis circle with the songs — 'veero kudiye Karwara…'

    सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके । शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥

    Sarva-maṅgala-māṅgalye śive sarvārtha-sādhike, śaraṇye tryambake gauri nārāyaṇi namo'stu te

    O auspiciousness of all that is auspicious, O benevolent one, accomplisher of every aim, refuge of all, three-eyed Gauri, Narayani — salutations to you. The epithets widen ring by ring — auspiciousness, accomplishment, refuge — until Narayani holds them all, and the verse rests in the only gesture left: namo'stu te, to you my bow.

    Source: Durgā Saptaśatī 11.10 (Devī Māhātmya)

  4. Gauri puja

    Ganesha first; then Chauth Mata / Gaur Mata worshipped with roli-akshat; the karwa offered and exchanged; the baya sent to the mother-in-law with pranam.

  5. Moonrise — chhalni & arghya

    When the moon rises, see it through the sieve with the diya, offer arghya from the karwa, then turn the sieve to the beloved's face. Water from their hand breaks the fast.

    ॐ श्रां श्रीं श्रौं सः चन्द्राय नमः

    Oṁ śrāṁ śrīṁ śrauṁ saḥ candrāya namaḥ

    Om — with the seed-syllables śrāṁ śrīṁ śrauṁ saḥ — salutations to Chandra, the Moon. The Moon waxes and wanes, and jyotisha says the mind moves with it. The jaap asks that its tides turn gentle: emotions that move like moonlight on water, not like storm surf.

    Source: Navagraha bīja-mantra tradition (jyotiṣa / graha-śānti practice)

  6. The first meal, together

    Elders' blessings taken; dinner shared. Many couples now keep the fast jointly — a modern turn the tradition has absorbed.

Note: Nirjala is the custom, health is the rule — pregnant women and the unwell keep it with water/fruit on elders' and doctors' advice, and the vrat is no less. Moonrise time is city-specific; check locally.

Karwa Chauth →