Women all over North India are celebrating Karva Chauth today. They are fasting and praying for the long life of their husbands but not so in the Surir town of Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh.
There is a general belief in this town with a population of 12,000 or so that observing a fast will in fact shorten the lives of their husbands. They believe in a 300-year-old curse when a man was killed for cattle theft on the day his wife observed the fast.
Local lore has it that the woman became a sati and jumped into her husband’s pyre. She let out a curse that anybody who observes a fast on this day will lose their husband. Ever since then, the women in this town have never thought of celebrating Karva Chauth.
According to another story, soon after the woman jumped into the fire, hundreds of men whose wives observed Karwa Chauth died on the same day.’
What is more, even those who have a regular fast on this day, do not keep it, simply because it is Karva Chauth.
The women of the village offer prayers at the “Sati” temple for the long lives of their husbands on Karva Chauth. Besides, every man in the village takes the blessing of “Sati mata” before participating in wedding rituals.
