This is the vrat katha of Vinayak Chaturthi, read and heard after Ganesh ji's puja on the Chaturthi of the bright half of every month. Whoever reads it sits before Ganesh ji, and the whole house sits with them and listens.
Once, Shiv ji and Parvati Maa were sitting on the bank of the river Narmada. The water ran past them and all around was quiet. To pass the time, Parvati Maa asked Bholenath to play a game of chaupar with Her. Shiv ji was ready to play, but a question stood before them: who would decide who had won and who had lost? There was no one there but the two of them.
So Shiv ji gathered a few straws that lay nearby and shaped a figure from them. Then He gave the figure life, and it became a boy. Shiv ji said to the boy, 'Child, We wish to play chaupar, but there is no one to say which of Us has won. When the game is over, you must tell Us who lost and who won.'
Then the game of chaupar began. It was played three times, and all three times Parvati Maa won. When the game was over, the boy was asked to give his judgement. And the boy named Mahadev the winner.
Hearing this, Parvati Maa was very angry. In Her anger She cursed the boy: he would be lame, and would lie in the mud. The boy folded his hands and begged Her forgiveness. 'Mother,' he said, 'it happened through my ignorance. I did not say it out of any ill will.'
Seeing the boy ask forgiveness, Parvati Maa's heart softened. She said, 'Nag kanyas, the daughters of the serpents, will come to this place to offer puja to Ganesh ji. Keep Ganesh ji's vrat as they tell you. By keeping it, you will reach Me.' Saying this, Parvati Maa went with Shiv ji to Mount Kailash.
Exactly a year later, the nag kanyas came to that same place to offer puja to Ganesh ji. The boy asked them the way of Ganesh ji's vrat. Having learnt it from them, he kept Ganesh ji's vrat for twenty-one days without a break. Seeing his faith, Ganesh ji was pleased. He appeared before the boy and said, 'Ask for whatever you wish.'
The boy said, 'O Vinayak! Give me the strength to walk on my own feet to Mount Kailash, to my mother and father, and let them be glad to see it.' Ganesh ji gave the boy that boon, and vanished.
Then the boy walked on his own feet to Mount Kailash, and told Mahadev the whole story of how he had come there. Now, ever since the day of the chaupar, Parvati Maa had turned away from Shiv ji. To win Her back, Shiv ji too kept Ganesh ji's vrat for twenty-one days, just as the boy had told Him. By the power of the vrat, the displeasure Parvati Maa had held against Bholenath came to an end.
Then Shiv ji told Parvati Maa the way of this vrat. Hearing it, a longing rose in Parvati Maa's heart to see Her son Kartikeya. She too kept Ganesh ji's vrat for twenty-one days, and offered puja to Ganesh ji with durva, flowers and ladoos. On the twenty-first day of the vrat, Kartikeya Himself came to meet His mother.
From that day, this vrat of Shri Ganesh Chaturthi has been held to be the vrat that fulfils the heart's wish. As Ganesh ji fulfilled the wish of that boy, of Shiv ji and of Parvati Maa, so may He fulfil the wish of everyone who keeps this vrat, and of everyone who tells and hears this katha. Ganpati Bappa ki jai.
[object Object]
