Satyanarayan Katha — Chapter 3

This chapter too is heard in the same way, while fasting and after the puja of Satyanarayan Bhagwan. Suta ji went on: long ago there was a truthful king named Ulkamukh. One day he and his queen were keeping the Satyanarayan vrat on the bank of the Bhadrashila river. Just then a merchant named Sadhu stopped there with his boat.

The merchant asked the king what vrat this was. The king said it was the vrat of Satyanarayan. The merchant had no children. He promised, 'If a child is born in my home, I too will keep this vrat.' Back home he told his wife Leelavati. In time a beautiful daughter was born to them, and she was named Kalavati.

Leelavati reminded her husband of his promise. He said, 'We will do it at our daughter's wedding.' The daughter grew up and was married to a worthy young merchant, but the father still forgot the vrat. The katha says that because this vow was broken, trouble came upon him. He went with his son-in-law to trade in Ratnasarpur, the city of King Chandraketu.

There some thieves stole the king's wealth and, to escape the soldiers, threw it down near the merchant and his son-in-law and ran. The soldiers took both of them for thieves. The king put them in prison and seized all their wealth. Back home, their house was robbed, and Leelavati and Kalavati fell into poverty.

One day the hungry Kalavati saw a Satyanarayan katha in someone's home and came back with prasad. She told her mother. Leelavati remembered the promise. Mother and daughter kept the vrat with devotion and asked the Lord's forgiveness. That night the Lord told King Chandraketu in a dream that the two were innocent. In the morning the king freed them, honoured them, and returned their wealth doubled.