Shani Pradosh vrat katha

The Shani Pradosh katha: Dharmagupta and Shuchivrata

Gargacharya said to Suta that he had described all the Pradosh vrats and now should tell the rite of Shani Pradosh. Suta told this old story. The wife of a poor brahmin, worn down by poverty, went to sage Shandilya and said, "Great sage, I am in deep sorrow. My two sons are in your refuge. The elder is Dharma, who is a king’s son; the younger is Shuchivrata. We are poor; only you can save us." The sage told her to keep Shiva’s Pradosh vrat.

The mother and both sons began to keep the Pradosh vrat. When the Pradosh came, all three took the vow. The younger son Shuchivrata went to bathe at a pond and found a golden pot full of treasure. He brought it home and showed his mother. She praised Shiva’s greatness, called the king’s son and said this wealth had come by Shiva’s grace; the two should take it as prasad and share it half and half.

The king’s son meditated on Shiva and Parvati and said, "Mother, this wealth belongs to your son; I have no right to it. I will take what Lord Shankara and Mother Parvati give me, when they give it." Saying this, he went back to the Shiva puja.

One day the two brothers went out roaming. They saw many Gandharva maidens at play. Shuchivrata said, "Brother, we should go no further," and sat down there. The king’s son went among them alone. A very beautiful maiden was charmed at the sight of him. She told her friends that all kinds of flowers were in bloom in the nearby forest and they should go and see; her foot hurt, so she would sit there. The friends went away.

The maiden asked the king’s son who he was and whose son. He said he was the son of the king of Vidarbha. The maiden said she was Anshumati, daughter of a Gandharva named Vidravik, that fate had brought them together, and she put a pearl necklace round his neck. He accepted the necklace but said he was poor. The maiden said she would do as she had said, and he should go home now. At home the king’s son told Shuchivrata everything.

On the third day the king’s son went to the same forest with Shuchivrata. There the Gandharva king came with his daughter. He said that he had gone to Kailasa, where Shankara told him that there was a king’s son named Dharmagupta, now without kingdom or wealth and his great devotee, and asked him to help. "By Mahadeva’s command I have brought this maiden to give to you; I will help you and set you on your throne." The Gandharva king had them married with due rite and gave great wealth. In time Dharmagupta defeated his enemies, won his kingdom and ruled happily. By Shiva’s grace the lives of both the brahmin woman’s sons were filled with wealth, grain and happiness.