Karva Chauth by a progressive Indian Woman

Today is my second Karva Chauth. For those who don’t know what Karva Chauth is - It is a fast kept by married Indian women for the long life of their husbands.  

My day started at 4:30 am when I offered prayers and ate “Sargi” from mom-in-law. Around 7am, I was in the train for work. Spending whole day at work and working tirelessly, I was at home from work by 7pm. I did Karva Chauth rituals and waited for the moon. By 11pm, I ended my fast and prayed for the long life of my husband and strong bond of our marriage.

Some of you may be thinking that a progressive Indian woman should not believe in such rituals as nobody is going to get extra years of life by keeping his wife hungry or an educated woman should not believe in praying moon where some of us have already been to in a spacecraft. We should not simply follow a tradition just because it is old.

I am keeping Karva Chauth not because my mom or mom-in-law forced me into this but because I want to experience it. I want to be a part of the celebration associated with it when the whole family enjoys the feast at night. I want to adorn myself with the best jewelry I possess on this day (even though for a shorter time, as I spent 12 hours in commuting and work) which I normally don’t get to do most often. I want to put on the best dress I have. In short, I am keeping it because I want to.

I consider myself a progressive woman and I do abolish some rituals sometimes which I do not believe in. I follow all the rituals which I believe would not harm anyone while performing them. On the other hand, I also strongly believe that all of our rituals and traditions link to some scientific reasons. For example, Fasting relates to Ayurveda and ancient medical science according to which fasting helps in retaining the emotional balance of the body as well as its mechanisms are cleansed. So, all the progressive 21st century people, you must be going to Yoga classes and therefore, you must believe in Ayurveda.

I don’t know if my fasting will make my husband’s life expectancy longer or not, one thing I am sure about is that I learnt self-discipline by keeping  Karva Chauth and my body gets rid of the toxins  when all the digestive organs are at rest. Thanks to Ayurveda !