Guruvar (Brihaspativar) Vrat Katha

Traditionally the Thursday fast is linked with the colour yellow. Devotees wear yellow, worship the banana tree and Lord Vishnu, offer chana dal, jaggery and turmeric, hear the katha, and eat one yellow meal without salt. Many avoid washing hair or clothes on this day.

Long ago there was a king who loved giving charity and kept the Thursday fast. But his queen disliked all this giving. One Thursday, while the king was away hunting, Brihaspati Dev came to the palace disguised as a sadhu asking for alms. The queen said, 'Maharaj, I am tired of this charity. Tell me a way for all this wealth to go, so there is nothing left to give.'

The sadhu explained that wealth is meant for good deeds. But the queen would not listen. So the sadhu said, 'If that is what you want, then on Thursdays plaster the house, wash your hair and clothes, and do such things that go against this day's rules.' The queen did exactly that. Within three Thursdays all the kingdom's wealth was gone, and there was not even food at home. The king went to a far land looking for work.

The queen and her maid began to go hungry. The queen sent the maid to her rich sister's house. It was Thursday and the sister was listening to the katha, so she did not reply in the middle of it. The maid came back disappointed. When the katha was over, the sister came herself and explained. Then she taught the queen the right way to keep the Thursday vrat: worshipping the banana tree, offering chana dal and jaggery, and hearing the katha.

The queen understood her mistake and began to keep the vrat with devotion. Slowly food and happiness returned to the home. The fuller katha tells how the king too faced hardships abroad and kept the vrat at a sadhu's advice. At last the king came home. The queen no longer shrank from giving, and together they ruled with dharma.