Karva Chauth

Karva Chauth is a one-day Hindu festival observed primarily in Northern and Western India by married Hindu women who undertake a strict dawn-to-moonrise fast — without food or water — for the long life, prosperity, and safety of their husbands. The festival falls on the fourth day (chaturthi) of the dark fortnight of the Hindu lunar month of Kartika (typically October). The name combines karva — a small earthen water pot — and chauth — meaning fourth, after the lunar tithi. The festival commemorates several legendary stories including those of Queen Veervati, Karva, Mahabharata's Draupadi, and Savitri, all of whom triumphed over death through their devotion as wives. In recent decades the fast has expanded to include unmarried women fasting for their fiancés and engaged couples, and in some progressive families husbands now also fast in solidarity.

The fast begins before dawn with a pre-fast meal called sargi traditionally prepared and gifted by the mother-in-law, featuring fruits, mathri, sweets, and warm beverages. Throughout the day women dress in red or maroon bridal attire, apply mehendi henna patterns to their hands, wear all sixteen traditional adornments called solah shringar, and gather in the evening for the community Karva Chauth Katha story-telling session presided over by an elder. After the storytelling and pujas to Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva, women await the rising of the moon. When the moon appears, each fasting woman views it through a sieve, then views her husband's face through the same sieve, and finally accepts a sip of water and a morsel of food from her husband's hand to break the fast.

Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh observe Karva Chauth most prominently, with cosmetic shops, mehendi artists, and bridal-wear retailers seeing the season's busiest day. The festival has become widely depicted in Bollywood cinema, particularly through films such as Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Hum Aapke Hain Koun, which have spread the practice into communities that historically did not observe it. Indian diaspora women in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and the Gulf region observe Karva Chauth virtually together through video calls, and many cities now host community Karva Chauth gatherings with collective storytelling and moonrise ceremonies.