The Katha of Brahmin Uttank and the Worms
King Sitasva walked to the dwelling of Brahma. He bowed his head and sat on the ground before him. The king folded his hands and asked if there was a vrat that could wash away the heavy sins a person gathers in their life. Brahma nodded. He said there was such a vrat, and he began to tell the katha of Rishi Panchami.
In the kingdom of Vidarbha, there lived a Brahmin named Uttank. He spent his days reading the scriptures and lived a quiet life. His wife, Sushila, ran their home with care and devotion. She kept the house clean and cooked the daily meals. They had a son named Suvibhushan and a daughter. The children grew up in a house filled with the sound of the Vedas. Uttank taught his son the texts, and Sushila taught her daughter the ways of the house. When the daughter reached the right age, Uttank went out to find a good family for her. He found a suitable match and arranged her marriage. The house was filled with joy as they prepared for the wedding. Guests came, food was cooked, and the daughter was married with all the proper rites.
The joy of the wedding did not last. A few days after the marriage, the daughter's husband fell ill and died. She was left a widow before her life had truly begun. Uttank and Sushila brought their grieving daughter back to their house in Vidarbha. The walls of their home felt heavy with sorrow. The daughter sat in the corner of the room and wept. Uttank could not bear to see her sadness in the city where she was meant to live a married life. He called his son Suvibhushan to him. Uttank gave the house, the land, and all the family duties to his son. He told Suvibhushan to take care of the household, and then Uttank walked away from Vidarbha.
Uttank took his wife Sushila and his widowed daughter to the banks of the river Ganga. They found a quiet spot near the water and built a small hermitage out of wood and leaves. They spent their days reading texts, doing japa, and teaching the students who came to learn from Uttank. The river brought them peace, and the days passed quietly.
One night, the daughter was asleep on her mat in the hermitage. The night was dark and silent. Suddenly, her body was covered in swarming worms. The worms crawled out of the earth and over her skin. They bit into her flesh. She woke up in terrible pain and cried out in the dark. Sushila heard the noise from the other room and ran to her daughter's side. When Sushila saw the worms covering her daughter, she grabbed her daughter's arms and pulled her up from the mat. She brushed the worms off her skin, but more kept coming.
Sushila ran to Uttank. She woke him and told him what was happening. She asked him why a girl who had always been good and pure was suffering such a horrific fate. She asked why her daughter had to lose her husband so early and now suffer the pain of worms biting her flesh.
Uttank walked to the daughter's room and saw the worms. He sat down on the floor, closed his eyes, and went into deep dhyana. He sat perfectly still. He looked back through the years and saw the shapes of his daughter's past lives. He saw her previous birth and the actions she had done. Uttank opened his eyes and looked at Sushila. He told her that in her last birth, their daughter was also a Brahmin woman. During that life, she did not keep the rules of the house. When her monthly days came, she did not step back from the daily work. She walked into the kitchen and touched the pots and plates while bleeding. She cooked the food and served it, ignoring the rules of purity.
Uttank told Sushila the rule written in the texts. He said that a woman on her first day is like a Chandali. On her second day, she is like a Brahmaghatini. On her third day, she is like a washerwoman. She is clean only when she washes her hair and bathes on the fourth day. Because she broke this rule, she carried a heavy weight of sin into her next life.
Uttank closed his eyes again and looked at her current life. He opened them and said he saw another mistake. He told Sushila that the daughter had watched other women keep the Rishi Panchami vrat. She had seen them sit for the puja and offer flowers to the sages, but she had turned away. She did not keep the vrat herself. Uttank said it was the weight of these two things that took her husband away and brought the worms to her skin.
Uttank called his daughter to sit before him. He told her she must keep the Rishi Panchami vrat to wash away the past. He instructed her to wait for the day of the vrat. When the day came, he told her to go to the river Ganga and bathe in the water. He told her to put on clean clothes and sit on the bank with a quiet mind. He told her to make the preparations for the puja and offer water, flowers, and food to the Saptarishis. He named them for her: Kashyap, Atri, Bharadwaj, Vishwamitra, Gautam, Jamadagni, and Vasishtha. He told her to do the puja of Arundhati beside them.
The daughter walked to the river and did exactly as her father instructed. She bathed, put on clean clothes, and sat on the bank. She did the puja of the Saptarishis and Arundhati with a steady mind. As soon as the vrat and the puja were complete, the worms fell from her skin. They dropped to the ground and crawled away. Her body was whole and clean again. The sages were pleased with her devotion and gave her a boon. They said that in her next life, she would have a long marriage and a home filled with peace.
The Katha of Sumitra, Jayshree, and the Poisoned Kheer
In the Satyuga, there was a city named Vidarbha, ruled by King Shyanjit. In this city lived a Brahmin farmer named Sumitra. He worked hard in his fields to grow food for his family. His wife was named Jayshree. She was known as a virtuous woman who took care of the house and helped her husband with the daily work.
One day during the rainy season, the fields were wet and there was much work to be done. Jayshree was working in the fields and managing the household chores. During this busy time, she got her monthly period. She knew she was bleeding and she knew the rules of the house, but there was too much work to do. She ignored the rules and continued to do her chores. She walked into the kitchen, touched the pots, handled the utensils, and cooked the meals. Sumitra came home from the fields hungry and tired. He sat down to eat. He did not know she was bleeding, or perhaps he knew and chose to say nothing, but he ate the food she prepared.
Years passed, and both husband and wife grew old and died. Because of the sin of ignoring the menstrual rules and touching the kitchen items, they were born again as animals. They were reborn in the house of their own son, Suchitra. Jayshree was reborn as a dog, and Sumitra was reborn as an ox. Because their only sin was the Ritu Dosha, the mistake made during the monthly days, they did not lose their minds. They retained the memories of their previous human lives. They knew they were Sumitra and Jayshree, but they could only bark and low.
Their son, Suchitra, was a righteous man. He welcomed guests to his home and lived a good life with his wife, Chandravati. They took care of the dog and the ox, not knowing they were Suchitra's parents.
When the time came for the Shraddh, the death anniversary of his father Sumitra, Suchitra organized a grand feast. He invited the Brahmins of the city to come and eat. Chandravati spent the morning in the kitchen. She cooked many dishes, frying food and preparing vegetables. She also made a large pot of sweet kheer. She left the pot of kheer on the stove to cool and stepped out of the kitchen to do some other work in the yard.
While Chandravati was outside, a snake slithered into the kitchen. It crawled up the side of the stove and hung over the pot of kheer. The snake opened its mouth and dropped its venom into the food.
The dog, who was Jayshree, was watching from a distance. She saw the snake slither in and she saw the venom fall into the food. She knew that if the Brahmins ate the poisoned kheer, they would die. She knew that her son Suchitra would bear the terrible sin of Brahmahatya, the killing of Brahmins. The dog wanted to save her son. She ran into the kitchen and put her mouth into the vessel of kheer. She ate a little of it, polluting the food so that it could not be served to the guests and would have to be thrown away.
At that moment, Chandravati walked back into the kitchen. She saw the dog with its mouth in the pot of kheer. Chandravati flew into a rage. She saw that the grand feast for the Brahmins had been defiled by a street dog. She grabbed a burning piece of wood from the stove and hit the dog. She beat the dog severely, striking her back and legs until the dog ran out of the kitchen whining in pain.
Chandravati threw all the contaminated food away. She scrubbed the pots and cleaned the dishes. She quickly cooked a fresh meal of rice and vegetables and fed the Brahmins when they arrived. The feast was completed, but the dog was given nothing to eat. She was left starving and hurting from the burns and blows.
That night, the house was dark and quiet. The hungry and injured dog limped to the shed where the ox was tied. She wept to the ox about her hunger. She told him how she tried to save their son from the sin of Brahmahatya, and how their daughter-in-law had beaten her with burning wood.
The ox, who was Sumitra, listened to her cries and replied with his own sorrow. He said that Suchitra had taken him to the fields that morning. Suchitra had made him plough the heavy, wet earth all day long. When the ox slowed down, Suchitra beat him with a stick. When they came back to the shed, Suchitra gave him no food and no water. The ox told the dog that the Shraddh feast was entirely fruitless, because the son had starved and beaten the very parents he was meant to honour.
Suchitra was awake in the house. He heard sounds coming from the shed and walked out into the dark. He stood quietly near the wall and listened. He heard the dog and the ox talking in the language of humans. He heard their stories and realized with horror that the animals were his own parents. He realized they were suffering as beasts because of their past karma, and he had beaten and starved them on the day of the Shraddh.
Overcome with grief, Suchitra ran into the house and brought out plates of food. He fed the dog and the ox with his own hands, crying and asking for their forgiveness. The next morning, Suchitra left his house and walked into the forest. He walked until he found a group of sages sitting under the trees. He bowed to them and asked what sins had caused his parents to be reborn as a dog and an ox. He asked how he could liberate them from their animal forms.
The sages listened to his story. They explained the past sins of Sumitra and Jayshree. They told Suchitra about the rules broken during the monthly days. The sages instructed Suchitra to go back to his home and observe the Rishi Panchami vrat with his wife. They told him to do the puja of the Saptarishis and then donate the phala of the vrat to his parents.
Suchitra returned home and told Chandravati what he had learned. Together, they kept the Rishi Panchami vrat with full devotion. They bathed, sat with a quiet mind, and offered water and flowers to the Saptarishis. When the puja was done, they poured water from their hands and gave the merit of the vrat to the dog and the ox. By the power of the transferred merit, Sumitra and Jayshree were freed from their animal forms. They left their bodies of the dog and the ox, and they attained salvation.
The Gujarati and Marathi Variant
In the telling read in some Gujarati and Marathi households, the son is named Suvrat or Bhrigu instead of Suchitra. When the parents are reborn as animals, the dog and the ox are tied in the courtyard right next to the sacred Tulsi plant. This places them in the centre of the family's daily prayers, showing how close they are to the home while still suffering in their animal forms.
Whoever listens to or reads this katha with a steady mind and keeps the Rishi Panchami vrat is freed from all sins. The mistakes made without knowing during the monthly days are washed away. She finds peace in her home, her husband lives a long life, and when her time ends, she goes to heaven.
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