Sheetla Ashtami (Basoda) Vrat Katha

Sheetla Ashtami falls on the Ashtami (eighth day) of the waning moon in Chaitra, about eight days after Holi. In many places the puja is done on Saptami instead. Traditionally, food is cooked the day before, and no stove is lit at home on the puja day. The goddess is offered cool dishes such as puas, curd and rice, and the family eats the same. That is why it is called Basoda.

Sheetla Mata is shown riding a donkey, holding a broom, a pot of water and a winnowing fan. Devotees see her as the mother who brings coolness and protects the family in the hot season. Her well-known folk katha goes like this.

Once Sheetla Mata came to a village in the form of an old woman, to see who remembered her. As she walked down a lane, someone threw boiling rice water out of a window. It fell on her, her skin blistered and burned. She went from house to house asking for help, but no one cared.

At last a potter's wife saw her. She seated her respectfully, poured cool water over her head and said, 'Mother, I have rabri and curd made last night. Please eat this.' The cool food brought the old woman relief. Then she revealed her true form. The potter's wife was amazed, for her home was so small she had no proper seat to offer the goddess.

The katha says that a fire broke out in the village that night, but the potter's home was spared. When the villagers asked, she told them everything. They realised their mistake. From then on, in that village and far beyond, people began offering cool food on Sheetla Ashtami and leaving the stove unlit that day.