Pradosh Vrat Katha

Traditionally the Pradosh vrat is kept on the trayodashi tithi. After fasting through the day, Shiv is worshipped in the pradosh kaal, the time around sunset, with water, milk, bel leaves, incense and a lamp. Then the katha is heard. It is also named after the weekday it falls on, such as Som Pradosh or Shani Pradosh.

In a city lived a poor Brahmin widow with her small son. She lived by begging for alms. One day on her way home she found a wounded, crying boy by the river. He was Dharmagupt, prince of Vidarbha. Enemies had killed his father and taken the kingdom, and his mother too was gone. The widow brought him home and raised him like her own son.

Some days later she took both boys to the ashram of the sage Shandilya. The sage told her the prince's story and advised her to keep the Pradosh vrat. The widow and both boys began to keep the Pradosh vrat with devotion. Slowly the boys grew up.

One day the two young men were walking in the forest. There they saw some Gandharva maidens. One of them, Anshumati, daughter of the Gandharva king, was drawn to Prince Dharmagupt, and the two liked each other. Some time later the Gandharva king, inspired by Shiv as the katha says, gave his daughter in marriage to Dharmagupt.

With the Gandharvas' help, Dharmagupt won back Vidarbha and ruled with dharma. He never forgot the widow. He honoured her as his mother and kept her son beside him as his own brother.