Figure in the Hindu festival stories
Veeravati
The queen of the Karva Chauth legend
In short
Veeravati is the queen of the best-known Karva Chauth legend: a devoted young wife and the only sister of seven brothers, who is tricked by them into breaking her first Karva Chauth fast early. Her husband dies as a result, and her renewed devotion later restores him to life.
Reviewed by the Godify team · Last updated
Veeravati’s story and role
Veeravati appears in the traditional Karva Chauth Vrat Katha, the story recited by women who keep the day-long fast for their husbands' long life. In the widely-told folk account, she is a beloved queen, the youngest child and only sister of seven affectionate brothers. Newly married, she returns to her parents' home to observe her first Karva Chauth, fasting from dawn without food or water until she can sight the moon and break the fast.
As the day wears on, Veeravati grows faint with hunger and thirst. Her brothers, unable to watch their sister suffer, contrive a false moonrise so she will eat. In the versions most often told, one brother climbs a pipal (or vat) tree and holds up a lamp behind a sieve, or a mirror or fire is placed so that from a distance it looks like the risen moon glowing through the branches. Believing the fast is complete, Veeravati offers her prayers and eats, only to be struck at once by news that her husband has died. In many tellings, Shiva and Parvati appear to her and reveal that she was deceived by her brothers and that her fast was broken before its time.
Grief-stricken, Veeravati refuses to accept his death and keeps a rigorous vigil. When Karva Chauth comes again, she observes it with complete faith and exact ritual, and her unbroken devotion wins her husband back to life. Because her story turns on a fast broken too soon and then kept perfectly, it is retold each year as the reason women wait to see the true moon before eating, and as an emblem of a wife's steadfast faith.
What Veeravati represents
Veeravati symbolises unwavering marital devotion and the power of a fast kept in full faith. Her tale also carries a gentle warning about shortcuts taken out of love that undo a sacred vow.
Festivals with Veeravati
Related figures
More figures
About Veeravati
Who was Queen Veeravati?
Veeravati is the heroine of the most popular Karva Chauth legend: a devoted young queen and the only sister of seven brothers, whose first fast is broken early by their trickery, costing her husband his life until her renewed devotion revives him.
How did her brothers trick her into breaking the fast?
Loving her too much to watch her go hungry, her brothers faked the moonrise. In the common tellings, one climbed a tree and held a lamp behind a sieve, or set up a mirror or fire, so a false glow looked like the moon and Veeravati ate before the real moon had risen.
What happened to her husband?
Because she broke the fast before its proper time, her husband died. In many versions Shiva and Parvati appear to tell her she was deceived. Refusing to give him up, she kept the fast again with perfect faith and he was restored to life.
Is the Veeravati story found in scripture?
It is a folk legend passed down in the Karva Chauth Vrat Katha rather than a fixed episode of classical scripture. Details differ from telling to telling, which is why it is best described as a widely-told traditional account.
Why is her story told at Karva Chauth?
It explains the central rule of the fast, that a wife waits to sight the true moon before eating, and it holds Veeravati up as a model of the faith and devotion the fast is meant to express.
Bring Veeravati’s story to your own heart
Talk to Bhagavan about what this figure and their story mean for you — free, private, any hour.
Talk to Bhagavan