In the town of Atpat Nagar, there lived a very poor Brahmin. When the month of Bhadrapada arrived, people all over the town began bringing Gauri to their homes. Women celebrated on the streets, and the sounds of ringing bells filled the air. Seeing this, the Brahmin's children came home and pleaded with their mother to bring Gauri to their house too.
The mother told them they had nothing in the house. She said they needed puja items and ingredients to offer a bhog of ghavan-ghatle, but the pots were entirely empty. She told the children to go to their father and ask him to bring the things they needed from the market. She promised them that if he did, she would bring Gauri.
The children went to their father and asked him for the items. Hearing their demand, the Brahmin was overcome with sorrow. He thought about how he had children but could not give them even the simplest things they asked for. Knowing there was no cure for his poverty and that begging would bring nothing, he decided it was better to die.
He prayed to God and walked toward the edge of a local lake to drown himself. Halfway there, evening fell. He met an old married woman on the path. Hearing his footsteps, she asked who he was, and the Brahmin told her his whole tragic story.
The old woman consoled him. She told him that human life is not meant to be thrown away, and she asked him to take her to his home. The Brahmin agreed and brought her back with him.
When they arrived, the Brahmin's wife lit a diya and asked who the guest was. The Brahmin said she was an old grandmother. The wife went inside to scrape the bottom of her pots for some broken rice to make a meager gruel for the guest. She looked inside and found the pot completely overflowing with grain. She rushed to tell her husband. They cooked plenty of porridge, everyone ate to their fill, and they slept.
The next morning, the old woman called out to the Brahmin and asked him to arrange for her bath. She told him to make ghavan-ghatle for God that day, not to say no, and not to sing sad songs of poverty. The Brahmin woke his wife, told her to bathe the grandmother, and went out to beg for alms. He received plenty of food, including a large amount of jaggery. He brought it all home, his wife cooked a grand meal, and the children ate.
Later, the old woman told the Brahmin to make kheer for the next day's meal. The Brahmin asked where he would get milk. She told him to go and bury as many wooden pegs in the ground as he wanted cows and buffaloes, and to tie ropes to them. She said to call out the names of the cows and buffaloes at dusk, and they would come to fill his cowshed. The Brahmin did exactly as she said. When he called out, cows and buffaloes came running with their calves. He milked them and made a rich kheer the next day.
On the evening of the third day, the old woman told the Brahmin to see her off. The Brahmin panicked and said that by her grace he had received all this wealth, and if she left, it would all disappear. The old woman told him not to be afraid. She said that by her blessing he would lack nothing, and she revealed that she was Jyeshtha Gauri.
The Brahmin asked for a way to ensure the prosperity would stay. Gauri told him she would give him sand from the lake. She instructed him to sprinkle it all over his house, on his pots, in his safe, and in his cowshed so his wealth would never decrease. The Brahmin agreed and did a puja for her.
Gauri then explained her vrat to him. She said that every year in the month of Bhadrapada, he must go to the edge of the lake, bring two pebbles home, and wash them with warm water. He was to install them as Jyeshtha Gauri and Kanishtha Gauri and do their puja. On the second day, he must offer a bhog of ghavan. On the third day, he must offer a bhog of kheer-poli, fill the lap of married women, and feed them. In the evening, he was to offer haldi-kunku and see her off.
In Vidarbha, Marathwada, and parts of Western Maharashtra, a different story is told. A demon named Kolhasur or Narantak tormented the earth and imprisoned thousands of women. The women prayed to Gauri or Mahalakshmi to protect their husbands. The deity manifested on Bhadrapada Shukla Ashtami, fought a fierce battle, and slew the demon. Out of gratitude, the women brought her into their homes as a guest for three days to celebrate the victory and seek her blessing.
This story of sixty words is fulfilled in five words at the door of God, in the cowshed, and at the platform of the peepal tree.
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