Devalok
Festival story · 2 tellings · East India

Who is awake? Kojagari night and the brahmin of Magadha

On the full moon of Ashwin Lakshmi goes round the earth asking who is awake, and stays where the lamp is lit. Bengal and Mithila keep the vigil; the vrata katha tells of Valit of Magadha, who left his quarrelsome house and won a fortune at dice with three naga maidens keeping the same night.

Who is in it

Texts: Skanda Purana

The story, beat by beat

  1. On the full moon of Ashwin, after the rains, the sky is clear and the moon is said to pour nectar; Lakshmi comes down to see who is awake and blesses the houses where someone is.
  2. In Bengal the deities are dressed in white, a day's fast ends under the moon, the Lakshmi Panchali is read: Narada tells Lakshmi of famine and ruin on earth, and she answers that the house falls where the lamp is not lit and the floor is not swept.
  3. In the Panchali a merchant's son who mocked the vow sails and loses his ship, mast and cargo, and fire takes the house.
  4. In Mithila the night is kept for a newly married groom: his bride's family sends makhana, sweets and paan, elders bless him, he plays pachisi with his brother-in-law, and the makhana left in the moonlight is fed to him.
  5. The north leaves kheer under the moon; Odisha's maidens keep Kumara Purnima; Nepal closes Dashain.
  6. The katha: Valit, a poor, learned brahmin of Magadha, has a wife, Chandini, who crosses him in everything; at his father's shraddha she throws the offerings into a cesspool.
  7. He leaves home for the forest and finds three naga maidens keeping the Kojagari vigil; they ask him to play dice.
  8. He plays, and by Lakshmi's grace wins gold and wealth; he goes home rich, and Chandini welcomes him.

vigil moon household dice

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Encyclopedia

The night tradition of Bengal and Mithila (Kojagari, Kojagra, the Lakshmi Panchali)

East India · Bengal, Mithila, Assam, Odisha, Nepal All traditions 🪔 Kojagari Lakshmi Puja (Sharad Purnima, Kojagra)

The full moon of Ashwin is Kojagari, the night of the one who is awake. The belief is that Lakshmi comes down that night, goes from house to house to see who is awake, and blesses only those who are; so Bengal and Mithila, Assam and Tripura keep the vigil, with the deities dressed in white and a day's fast broken under the moon. Bengal reads the Lakshmi Panchali, in which Narada comes to the goddess and tells her of famine and ruin on earth, and she answers that the houses fall where the lamp is not lit at dusk, the floor not swept, the children not fed, and where there is quarrelling; and it tells of a merchant's son who mocked the vow, sailed, and lost his ship, mast and cargo to her anger, and of fire taking the house. Mithila keeps Kojagra for a newly married groom: the bride's family sends a basket of fruit, sweets, makhana, batasha and paan; five elders bless him; he plays pachisi with his brother-in-law with dice from the bride's house; makhana porridge left in the moonlight is fed to him for long life; Lakshmi as Annapurna is believed to enter the house that night, and the custom is said to go back to Janaka keeping it for Rama and Sita. In the north kheer is left under the moon, which pours nectar into it; Maharashtra keeps masala milk; Gujarat dances garba; Odisha's girls keep Kumara Purnima; Nepal ends Dashain with the night. Indra and Airavata are worshipped too, and the night is said to be the one on which Lakshmi rose from the ocean.

Wikipedia: Sharada Purnima; Wikipedia: Kojagari Lakshmi Puja; Wikipedia: Kojagra (Mithila); Setu: An alokhhi's translation of Lakshmi Panchali, tr. Averi Saha (2020); Drik Panchang: Kojagara Puja

Popular retelling

The vrata katha of Valit of Magadha

East India · Magadha; told in Bengal, Bihar and the north All traditions 🪔 Kojagari Lakshmi Puja (Sharad Purnima, Kojagra)

The vrata books say the sage Valakhilya taught this to his pupils. In Magadha lived a brahmin named Valit, learned and devout and very poor, with a wife, Chandini, who opposed him in everything. When his father's shraddha came he would have let it go; she insisted on the rite, and then, when he asked her to put the offerings in the river, she threw them into a cesspool. Disgusted, he left the house and went into the forest. There, on the night of the Ashwin full moon, he came on three naga maidens keeping the Kojagari vigil, and they asked him to sit and play dice with them. He played, and by Lakshmi's grace he won gold and wealth beyond counting. He went home rich, and Chandini welcomed him gladly, and they lived in plenty from then on. The vrata books add that the Skanda Purana calls this the best of fasts, and that Lakshmi is pleased on the night by coconut water and the game of chausar.

What is different here:

A story with a named man and a quarrelsome house, where the festival telling has only the goddess's round; dice, not a lamp; the Skanda Purana claimed.

Hindupad: Kojagari Lakshmi puja katha (Valit of Magadha); Drik Panchang: Kojagara Puja

Sources: Wikipedia: Sharada Purnima; Wikipedia: Kojagari Lakshmi Puja; Wikipedia: Kojagra (Mithila); Setu: An alokhhi's translation of Lakshmi Panchali, tr. Averi Saha (2020); Drik Panchang: Kojagara Puja; Hindupad: Kojagari Lakshmi puja katha (Valit of Magadha)

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