Navratri vrat katha

The story of Sumati

A vrat katha handed down in tradition. This telling follows the text printed in the same words by Amar Ujala (2019, 2020) and the Sanskrit Subhashita blog; Times Now Navbharat, Webdunia, Sri Mandir and HinduPad tell it in their own words.

Once Brihaspati, the guru of the gods, asked Brahma: “Why are the Navratri fast and festival kept in the bright fortnight of Chaitra and of Ashwin? What does the vrat give, how should it be kept, and who kept it first?”

Brahma was glad that Brihaspati had asked something for the good of all. By the katha, he said that those who meditate on Durga, who fulfils wishes, and on Mahadev, Surya and Narayana are blessed, and that this vrat fulfils the heart’s wishes: a son for one who wants a son, wealth for one who wants wealth, learning for one who wants learning, and happiness for one who wants happiness. He added that whoever cannot fast the whole day may eat one meal, and should hear this katha for ten days with their kin. Then he said, “Listen closely to the story of the one who first kept this great vrat.”

Long ago, in the town of Manohar, lived an orphaned brahmin named Pithat, a devotee of Bhagavati Durga. A daughter named Sumati was born to him, very beautiful and full of every virtue. Playing with her friends, she grew day by day like the moon of the bright fortnight. Every day her father worshipped Durga and offered homa, and every day Sumati was there without fail.

One day Sumati was so caught up in play with her friends that she did not come at the time of puja. Her father was deeply displeased at her carelessness. In anger he said, “Today you did not worship Bhagavati. For this I will marry you to a leper or a pauper.”

Sumati was hurt by her father’s words, but she answered calmly: “Father, I am your daughter and in every way under your authority. Marry me to a king, to a leper or to a poor man, and what happens will be what is written in my fate. Action is in human hands; its fruit is in God’s.”

Hearing his daughter speak so fearlessly, the father’s anger flared up like dry grass thrown on a fire. He married Sumati to a man with leprosy and said, “Go, live with the fruit of your deeds. Let us see what you can do, trusting to fate.”

Her father’s bitter words filled Sumati with grief, and she wondered why such sorrow had been written in her fate. Then she went away into the forest with her husband. It was a lonely, frightening forest, overgrown with kusha grass, and there the two of them passed that night in great hardship.

Seeing the plight of the sorrowing girl, and moved by the merit of her past life, the goddess Bhagavati appeared there and said, “Brahmin woman, I am pleased with you. Ask for any boon you wish.” Sumati folded her hands and asked, “Who are you?” The Devi said, “I am Adi Shakti, Bhagavati. I am Brahmavidya, and I am Saraswati. When I am pleased, I take away the sorrow of living beings and give them happiness.”

Then the Devi told her, “I am pleased with you because of the merit of your past life. In that life you were the faithful wife of a Nishad (a Bhil). One day your husband stole, and soldiers seized you both, threw you into prison and gave you nothing to eat. Those were the days of Navratri. For nine days you ate nothing and drank no water, and so, without knowing it, you kept the Navratri vrat. By the power of that vrat I grant you whatever boon you wish.”

Sumati bowed and said, “Mother, if you are pleased with me, take away my husband’s leprosy.” The Devi said, “Offer your husband the merit of one day of the fast you kept in those days. By that merit he will be free of the disease.” Sumati joyfully said “Tathastu, so be it”, and that very moment, by the Devi’s grace, her husband’s body was freed of the disease and shone with radiance.

Seeing her husband’s fair form, Sumati began to praise the Devi: “O Durga, you are the mother of the world, who removes misfortune, takes away the suffering of the three worlds, heals the sick and destroys the wicked. My father married me to a sick man and sent me from home, and I was wandering in the forest. You alone have lifted me out of this trouble. I bow to you; protect me.”

The Devi was delighted with this praise and said, “Soon a son named Udalaya will be born to you, very wise, wealthy, renowned and master of his senses.” Then she told Sumati to ask for anything else she wished. Sumati asked, “Mother, if you are pleased, tell me in full how the Navratri vrat is kept and what it gives.” Then the Devi told her the vidhi of the vrat, given next.

The vrat as the Devi taught it to Sumati

The last part of the katha, from the same text (Amar Ujala 2020, Sanskrit Subhashita). This is the vidhi as the katha gives it; keep the vrat by your family custom and your own purohit’s advice.

The Devi said: keep the vrat by its rules for nine days from Ashwin Shukla Pratipada; if you cannot fast the whole day, eat one meal. Set up the ghat (kalash) after asking learned brahmins, and make a small sown bed, a vatika, and water it every day.

Install images of Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati, worship them by rule every day, and offer arghya with flowers. The katha also names the fruit of offering arghya with fruits: with the citron, beauty; with nutmeg, renown; with grapes, success in one’s work; with amla, happiness; and with bananas, ornaments.

When the vrat is complete, perform a havan by rule on the ninth day, with khand sugar, ghee, wheat, honey, barley, sesame, bel, coconut, grapes and kadamba. By the katha, offerings of wheat bring Lakshmi; kheer and champa flowers, wealth; bel leaves, radiance and happiness; amla, renown; bananas, a son; lotuses, honour from the king; and grapes, riches; while khand, ghee, coconut, honey, barley, sesame and fruits bring whatever one wishes.

After the havan, bow humbly to the acharya and give him dakshina so that the rite is complete. The Devi said that whoever keeps the vrat this way has their wishes fulfilled, that gifts given in these nine days bear fruit crores of times over, and that the vrat gives the fruit of an Ashvamedha sacrifice. It may be kept at a tirtha, at a temple or at home.

With these words the Devi vanished. Brahma told Brihaspati that any woman or man who keeps this vrat with devotion finds happiness in this world and, at the end, the rare gift of moksha. Brihaspati, overjoyed, thanked him. Brahma said, “This Bhagavati Shakti sustains all the worlds; who can know the greatness of the Mahadevi?” The katha ends with “Bolo Devi Bhagavati ki jai.”