Story of Solah Somwar Vrat (Solah Somwar Vrat Katha)
Once Lord Bholenath and Goddess Parvati came to the mortal world with the desire to roam around. While roaming around the mortal world, Goddess Parvati and Lord Shankar reached a city named Amaravati in Vidarbha country. Which was very beautiful, here they saw that the scene of Amaravati city Amarpuri was full of all kinds of pleasures. In that city, there was also a very beautiful temple of Lord Bholenath built by the king. Lord Bholenath and Goddess Parvati started living in that temple.
One day Goddess Parvati said to the Lord, O Lord, today we and you both will play Chausar dice. Shankar ji accepted the words of Goddess Parvati and started playing Chausar. At the same time, the priest of the temple, Brahmin, had come to worship in the temple. Seeing the Brahmin, the mother asked a question, tell me the priest, who will win and who will lose in this game. The Brahmin said without thinking that only Lord Shiva will win. After some time, the game ended and Mother Parvati won.
Mother Parvati got angry at the Brahmin for lying and cursed him to become leper. Even after a lot of persuasion by Lord Shankar, the mother did not listen. And both of them left from there. After some time, that Brahmin priest started getting leprosy and gradually his whole body got leprosy. In such a situation, he started feeling very troubled and sad. Many days passed like this, then one day the Apsaras of Devlok came to the same temple to worship Lord Shiva. Seeing the pain of that priest, the Apsaras asked the reason for his illness with great compassion.
Then the priest told all his past events to those Apsaras without any hesitation. Hearing this, the Apsaras said, O Brahmin, do not be sad, Lord Shiva will remove all your troubles. But you will have to do the best sixteen fasts of Shodash Monday with full rituals and devotion. And on the seventeenth Monday, make a quarter seer of pure wheat flour roti, after that make churma by mixing ghee and jaggery and offer it to Lord Shiva and distribute the rest of the Prasad among the devotees present in the temple. By doing this, all your wishes will be fulfilled.
Saying this, the Apsaras went to Devlok. The Brahmin also started observing the Shodash Monday fast as per the rules, in this way, with the grace of Lord Shiva, the Brahmin priest slowly started getting free from leprosy. After some time, Lord Shankar and Mother Parvati again visited the same temple. Then the mother asked the Brahmin the reason for getting free from the disease, then the Brahmin told the mother in detail about the fast of sixteen Mondays. After listening to the Brahmin, Goddess Parvati was very pleased and asked the priest about the method of observing the sixteen Monday fast.
From that day onwards, Goddess Parvati also started observing the sixteen Monday fast and observed sixteen fasts continuously. In this way, her wishes were fulfilled. Her angry son Swami Kartikeya himself became obedient to his mother. Then one day Kartikeya wanted to know the secret of his change of mind and he came to his mother and said that what did you do that my mind got attracted towards you.
Then Goddess Parvati narrated the story of sixteen Mondays to him. Then Kartikeya said to his mother that I will also observe this fast. Because my dear friend Brahmin has gone abroad with a sad heart. We have a great desire to meet him. Then Kartikeya also observed the sixteen Monday fasts with full rituals and his wish was also fulfilled. He found his dear friend. Then his friend asked Kartikeya the secret of this sudden meeting. So they said – "O friend! We had observed the fasts of sixteen Mondays with the desire to meet you.
Now that Brahmin friend had a great desire to get married and he also started observing the fasts of sixteen Mondays with full rituals. One day he went abroad for some work, and the king there had organized a swayamvar for his daughter. That king had put a condition for the marriage of the princess. That I will marry my daughter to the prince around whose neck the fully decorated elephant will put a garland.
By the grace of Lord Shiva, the Brahmin was also sitting on one side to see that swayamvar. At the same time, the female elephant came there and put the garland around the neck of that Brahmin. In this way, according to the promise of the king, he married his daughter to that Brahmin with great pomp and show with full rituals and gave him a lot of money and satisfied him with respect. And both of them started living happily.
One day the princess asked her husband, "O my beloved, what good deed have you done that the female elephant garlanded you leaving all the other princes behind." Then the Brahmin said, "O my beloved! I had observed the fast of sixteen Mondays as told by my friend Kartikeya. Due to which I have got a beautiful wife like you." The princess was very surprised to hear the glory of this fast. And she also started observing the fast of sixteen Mondays to get a son. And she got the wish of a son from Lord Bholenath. By the grace of Lord Shiva, after some time, a very beautiful, well behaved, religious and learned son was born from her womb.
That Brahmin and his wife both were very happy to get that son, and started bringing him up well. When that boy grew up and became sensible, then one day he asked his mother, "Mother, what good deed have you done that you got a son like me?" After listening to her son, the princess told him the story and rules of the sixteen Monday fasts she had observed.
Hearing that this fast fulfils all wishes, the boy desired to become the king.
That very day, to please Lord Shiva, the boy started observing the sixteen Monday fasts with full rules. One day, the messenger of the king of another country came and chose him for his princess. He brought him with him and the king married his princess to him. Gradually, the king grew old and it became difficult for him to manage the royal affairs. He crowned his son-in-law as the king and declared him the king. In this way, the Brahmin son continued observing this fast even after becoming the king.
When the seventeenth Monday fast came, he asked his queen to come to the temple of Lord Bholenath ji with all the materials. But the queen did not go to the temple and sent her servants with the materials for the worship. The king worshipped Lord Shiva with full rituals. When he was about to leave from there, he heard a voice from the sky, and it said, O king, throw your queen out of the palace. Otherwise she will destroy you completely. Hearing this voice, the king was surprised and he immediately called a meeting of the ministers. And narrated his story.
All the ministers etc. were very surprised and sad. Because the king is plotting to throw out the girl with whom he has got the kingdom. How can this be possible? Finally the king threw his queen out of the palace. The queen, with a sad heart, cursing her fate, went out of her kingdom. Without slippers and wearing torn clothes, hungry and thirsty, she slowly walked to a city. In that city, an old woman used to go to sell her spun yarn every day.
Seeing the pitiable condition of the queen, the old woman said, come with me and sell my yarn. I am old and do not know the meaning. Hearing this, the queen took the bundle of yarn from the old woman's head and put it on her own head. Suddenly a storm came and all the yarn of the old woman flew away in the air, the poor old woman regretted a lot and told the queen to stay away from her. Now the queen went to the house of an oilman and started asking for work, when suddenly all the pots of that oilman broke due to the wrath of Lord Shiva. Seeing such a condition, the oilman threw the queen out of his house.
In this way, the queen went to the bank of a river feeling very sad and saw that the river suddenly dried up. After that the queen went to a forest, there she saw a lake and she climbed down the steps of the lake to drink water. And as she extended her hands to drink water, she saw that the water of the lake became dirty with innumerable insects, like blue lotus. The queen quenched her thirst by drinking the water of that lake, blaming her fate. She lay down to rest under the cool shade of a tree and saw that all the leaves of that tree had fallen.
In such a situation, the leaves of the tree under which the queen would go would fall automatically. Seeing such a condition of the forest, lake and trees, the cowherds grazing the cows told everything to their master. As per the order of the master, the cowherds caught the queen and brought her to the master. Seeing the glow on the face and the beauty of the queen's body, the master knew that she was a helpless noble lady who had fallen prey to the fate. Thinking so, the master said to the queen, "O daughter, I will keep you like my daughter. You stay in my ashram, and I will not let you face any kind of trouble."
Hearing such words of the master, the queen got some patience and started living in the ashram. When the queen cooked food in the ashram, worms would fall in her food and when she would bring water, it would also be full of worms.
Now even the priest became very sad and asked the queen that daughter, which god is angry with you, due to which you are in such a condition. On hearing the words of the priest, the queen told him the whole story of not going to worship Lord Shiva with her husband.
On hearing the queen's words, the priest told her to do the story of sixteen Monday fasts with full rituals to get rid of this anger. On hearing the words of the priest, she started observing fast on every Monday with full rituals. When the queen completed all the sixteen fasts and when she observed the fast on the seventeenth Monday and was worshipping Lord Shiva like everyday, then due to the influence of Lord Shiva, the thought of his queen came to the king's mind. And he thought that a lot of time has passed since my queen left, I don't know where she must be wandering. I should find her.
Thinking this, the king sent his soldiers in all directions in search of his queen. The soldiers reached Gusai ji's ashram while searching for their queen. The soldiers found their queen there and asked the priest to send their queen with them. But Gusai ji refused and the soldiers returned quietly. The king was told everything and then the king himself came to Gusai ji's ashram to take the queen and praying to the priest said, Maharaj! The goddess who lives in your ashram is my wife, I had abandoned her due to the anger of Lord Shiva.
Now Lord Shiva's anger has subsided. That is why I have come to take her. If you permit, I can take her. Gusai ji considered the king's words to be true and allowed the queen to go with the king. After getting the permission of Gusai ji, the queen left for her kingdom with her husband. On receiving the news of the queen's arrival, the residents of the kingdom started playing various types of musical instruments, decorated the city in various ways with festoons and festoons at the city gates. Auspicious songs started being sung in every house in the city, the Pandits welcomed the queen by reciting various Vedic mantras. In this way, the queen re-entered her capital.
The king gave various types of gifts to the Brahmins in the joy of his queen's arrival.Satisfied by giving alms. Gave money and grains to the beggars, and opened Sadavrat at many places in the entire city. Where the hungry and poor got food. In this way, the king and queen, by the grace of Lord Bholenathji, enjoyed all kinds of pleasures and kept narrating the story of the sixteen Monday fast. In the end, enjoying many types of pleasures, they came to Shivpuri.
That is why it is said that whoever will do the sixteen Monday fast with full rituals by devotion to Lord Bholenath ji through mind, words and deeds. He will enjoy all the pleasures of this mortal world and finally attain Shivpuri at the feet of God and by doing this fast, everyone's wishes are also fulfilled.
After listening to the story, sing the Aarti of Lord Shiva 'Om Jai Shiv Omkara'.
