Rishi Panchami Vrat Katha

Rishi Panchami is observed on the Panchami (fifth day) of the waxing moon in Bhadrapad. Traditionally, it is mainly women who fast on this day. After bathing they worship the Saptarishi, the seven sages Kashyap, Atri, Bharadwaj, Vishwamitra, Gautam, Jamadagni and Vasishtha, along with Mata Arundhati. In many places, grain from ploughed land is not eaten that day; people take simple fruit or grain that grows without ploughing.

Devotees see this vrat as a day to ask forgiveness for faults made knowingly or unknowingly, and to thank the sages through whom the Vedas, knowledge and the tradition of dharma came to us. Its popular katha is said to come from the Bhavishya Puran.

In the land of Vidarbha lived a Brahmin named Uttank with his wife Sushila. They had a daughter who was widowed soon after marriage and came back to her parents' home. One day she fell into great suffering and her body was struck by illness. Her parents were heartbroken.

Uttank meditated and came to know that in her previous life their daughter had neglected certain religious rules, and had even disrespected the Rishi Panchami vrat when she saw others keeping it. He said that keeping this vrat with sincere repentance purifies the mind and one's life.

The daughter kept the Rishi Panchami vrat with full faith and worshipped the seven sages. The katha says that after this her suffering ended and her mind found peace. Since then the vrat has been kept as a day to admit one's mistakes and to remember the sages.