Legend of Sankata Chaturthi

Once   Indra was returning  from sage Bhrushundi’s ashram..While passing over the kingdom  of  king Shursen  Indra found that his vimaan(plane) had stopped working and it landed in Shursen’s kingdom. He found that this happened because one person(who has done many sins in his life) saw his vimaan  in the sky. With his sinful look the plane landed on the ground. This news spread like a fire in the city. All the efforts to restart the plane were failed. Indra told the secret to restart the plane to King .He said that yesterday was the Chaturthi tithi and if a any person who kept fast yesterday gave his virtue then the plane would start. King ordered his soldiers to search for such person who kept fast on chaturthi date. But there he found no one in the city. At the same time the soldiers of the king noticed that the attendant of Lord Ganesha was taking away the dead body of a woman who died on that day. With surprise soldiers asked the attendant of Lord Ganesha  that the lady was a sinner and why they are taking her to Ganesh Lok.  He replied that yesterday the woman remained hungry through out the (though unintentionally) and ate very late night. So accidently she kept the fast of Chaturthi tithi.But she died today. So she was going to Ganesh Lokam due to her virtues acquired on chaturthi tithi.

All of a sudden strong wind started to blew which reached from the dead body of the woman till  the vimaan of Indra and the vimaan had started. So the wind became virtuous even with the touch of that woman.

Such is an importanceof sankata chaturthi which is dedicated to Lord Ganesha who is the ruler deity of Chaturthi tithi.

Sankata Chaturthi

 In the month of Magh as per lunar calendar, the 4th tithi(date) of the dark half(Krishna paksha) is celebrated as “Sankata Chauth”. The ruler deity of the chaturthi(fourth) date is Lord Ganesha. So, Sankata Chauth festival is very auspicious to worship Lord Ganesha. This fast is for removal of obstacles in the life. Its importance was told by Lord Krishna to Yudhisthir.

Procedure

1)Wake up before sunrise and after bathing “sankalp” has to be done in front of Lord Ganesha’s idol.

2) Observe nirjala fast(without water) from the sunrise till the appearance of moon in the evening,  , If the health doesnot permit then fruits and milk can be consumed. But no cereals has to be taken.

3)  Pooja of Lord Ganesha has to be performed by offering 21 Durvas(a kind of grass).

4) As a prasadam, Laddu has to be offered.

5) Offer water to the moon(argya) 3 times.If moon is not visible then its image can be drawn on the outer wall.

On this day Lord Ganesha blessed planet Mars(mangal). So if the horoscope has some malefic influence of Mars called Mangal dosham, then this day is the best day in a year to get rid of that ill effect by worshiping Lord Ganesha