श्री सोलह सोमवार व्रत कथा

Once, Lord Shiva and the goddess Parvati came down to the mortal world to wander through it, and in their wandering they came to the city of Amravati. There they came upon a beautiful temple of Shiva, and they chose to rest a while within it.

To pass the time, Shiva and Parvati sat down to a game of chausar — a game of dice. They wished for someone to call the play, and the priest of the temple came by; Parvati asked him who would win the game. Without weighing his words, the priest said that Shiva would win.

But when the game was played, it was Parvati who won, and won every round. Angered that the priest had spoken falsely, Parvati cursed him — that he should be afflicted with leprosy. So the priest fell sick, and his body was wasted by the disease.

Some while later a band of apsaras — celestial maidens — came to the temple, and seeing the priest in his suffering they asked him how he had come to such a state. He told them all that had passed. The apsaras took pity on him and taught him a remedy: that he should keep the vrat of sixteen Mondays in honour of Lord Shiva, and on the seventeenth Monday complete it duly; then Shiva would be pleased and his affliction would leave him.

The priest kept the vrat of the sixteen Mondays exactly as he had been taught. Lord Shiva was pleased with him, and his leprosy was wholly cured — and he became sounder and fairer of body than he had been before.

After a time Shiva and Parvati came again to that temple, and Parvati was astonished to see the priest she had cursed now whole and well. She asked him how it had come to pass, and he told her of the vrat of the sixteen Mondays. Then Parvati herself resolved to keep that vrat — for she was parted from her son and longed for him; and by the merit of the vrat her son Kartikeya, who had gone away from her, came back to her side.

Kartikeya marvelled that his mother had drawn him home, and asked her how. She told him of the vrat of the sixteen Mondays. Kartikeya in his turn kept the vrat, for he wished to be reunited with a dear Brahmin friend from whom he had long been parted — and through the vrat the two friends met once more.

The Brahmin friend, hearing from Kartikeya how the meeting had been brought about, kept the vrat of the sixteen Mondays himself, for he desired a good wife. In those days a certain king had resolved to give his daughter in marriage to whomever a garlanded elephant should choose; and when the Brahmin came there, the elephant set its garland upon him. So he was wed to the princess.

The princess asked her husband by what grace she had been won, and he told her of the vrat of the sixteen Mondays. Wishing for a son, the princess kept the vrat — and in time she bore a wise and able son.

When the son was grown he too kept the vrat of the sixteen Mondays, desiring a kingdom of his own; and by its merit he came to be made a king. But on a seventeenth Monday, when the udyapan of the vrat was to be kept, his queen would not go with him to the worship of Shiva. At this a voice from the sky commanded the king to put his queen away from him; and obeying it, he sent her from the palace, and she fell into great misfortune and want.

In her wandering and distress the queen was counselled by a wise man to keep the vrat of the sixteen Mondays of Lord Shiva. She kept it with faith and devotion; her fortune was restored, and she was reunited with the king. Thereafter the king and queen kept the vrat together all their lives and ruled in happiness; and at the end of their days they attained the abode of Lord Shiva. Whoever keeps the vrat of the sixteen Mondays with faith and devotion, and completes it with its udyapan, has every desire fulfilled by the grace of Lord Shiva.