Purnima Vrat Katha

Traditionally on Purnima people bathe, give charity, worship Lord Vishnu or Satyanarayan, and fast. Many fast through the day, offer arghya to the moon at night, and then eat. Keeping the vrat fully, by its rules, right to the end, is seen as its very heart.

In a city a moneylender had two daughters. Both kept the Purnima fast. The elder kept it fully, by the rules, eating only after offering arghya to the moon. The younger kept it half-heartedly: she would eat something after a short while and not complete the rules.

Time passed and both were married. The elder sister had healthy children. But the younger sister's babies did not survive after birth. In her grief she asked learned pandits the reason. They said, 'You kept the Purnima vrat incompletely. Now keep it fully, by the rules.' The younger sister admitted her mistake and began keeping the vrat properly, with her whole heart.

She had a son, but he too lay lifeless after a short time. The younger sister laid the baby on a low wooden seat, covered him with a cloth, and called her elder sister to sit on that seat. As the elder sister began to sit, the hem of her skirt touched the baby, and he began to cry. The startled elder sister said, 'Did you want to bring blame on me? If I had sat down, he would have died!'

With tears in her eyes the younger sister said, 'Didi, he had already left us. Through your punya he has been given life. You kept the vrat with your whole heart, and I only half.' Then she told everyone in the city that the Purnima vrat should be kept fully, with its rules and with devotion. From then on people kept it with full feeling.