Yam Brahma Varunendrarudramarutah stunvanti devyai: stvai Rvedai: sa·padakramapanishadairgayanti or samaga:Mindful tadgaten mansa pashyanti or yogino Yasyantam na vidu: surasuragana devaya tasmai namah..

Ever since I can remember these verses were recited at home from Paush Shuklapurnima to Magh Shuklapurnima. One of the family recites and everyone else with flowers in their hands, salutations, sit quietly. Sometimes there was a bit of conflict over who would read the story. But those days were fun. Even if they did not read any other book during the healthy reading days, parents did not say anything. Another thing, after the start of Sriswasthani vratakatha, dishes like puva and sel were also prepared at home for the Naivedya. What else do you need to be happy? 

Healthy story reading-listening was an annual regularity in our house and also in the neighborhood. The atmosphere of Swasthani was such that every day the verses recited at the beginning and end of the story were memorized by the members of the house. My illiterate mother, grandmothers were even more ahead of it. They were familiar with most parts of the book. In this way, it was established as a festival that should not be missed in our home-neighborhood. For some reason, if there was no health recitation at home for some reason, he would start to get nervous. 

With age, experience and study, questions began to arise about various aspects and contexts of fasting and stories. No matter how many questions are in mind, they are not asked, no matter how many questions are asked, they remain unanswered. 

Is healthy family story?

I mentioned above, at home one person used to read and the rest used to listen. In the book it is also mentioned that this is a family story - worshiping Sri Swasthani and listening to the story. If there is no one to listen to the story, tell it yourself, listen to yourself. It is possible to tell your bed, Uinta Dhanu. 

However, reading some episodes of popular health stories, it doesn't seem like that, at least in our society. For example: After the death of Sati Devi, sages see Mahadev walking around like a madman. Saying that their husbands are weak and unable to give satisfaction in sexual intercourse, the sage wives follow Mahadev. Imagine: You are reading or listening to a story with your family (mother-father, uncle-aunt, brother-sister, brother-in-law or children etc.). How would it feel to read/hear a scenario where a bunch of sexually insatiable women are after someone's sex? Also, if a child in the audience asks 'what do you mean', what will be your answer? 

is just like that happened to me and I also went through it. 

In Tripuradah anecdote, while describing the beauty of Tripura, it is written- '.....Tripur is filled with such indescribable beauties who are like urns with crescent-shaped wounds in the circle of peyodhar due to men's nails, whose eyes are full of alcohol, who smile with shame, who have red eyes...' I was reading

. The thirteen-year-old son who is listening says - 'How difficult, I don't understand anything.' 

'Girls with urn-shaped breasts cut into crescents by men's nails...' I cannot say this in simple words. And, I say – the father who described the magnificence of Tripura. Tripura was very beautiful.

and Pyodhar mean? And utung, kuch k what? – asks the son. 

Pyodhar and Kuch mean a girl's breast and Utung means a man's breast - I say.

The son starts laughing. 

Why are you laughing? Should I laugh when I hear 'breast'?- I laugh. I guess what kind of things started to come to the mind of the son who has just entered the teenage years. 

But, the son starts laughing with his father saying 'Hindi film three-idiot'. 

Oh! I am worried about how to explain the above sentence from the health story to my son. He compares it to the Swasthani episode, recalling the dialogues of the speech spoiled by the hero (?) of the Hindi film 3-Idiots. 

Mind-blowing characters - episodes are scattered, sometimes manageable - I get confused. 

Another episode, after the marriage of Mahadev-Parvati, they indulge in sex in such a way that he forgets the world, perhaps forgets his responsibilities. Other gods are worried about how to protect the universe without Mahadev. Agni is given the responsibility to bring out Mahadev who has forgotten his responsibility. And Agni goes to break the solitude of Mahadev-Parvati. 

Mahadev is angry with Agni who came to break his solitude. And it is mentioned that he gave semen to Agni, Agni ate that semen and then became the womb of Agni (Purusha), later Agni consumed him and the fire was lit there and sage wives became pregnant while heating the fire. When it comes to this, I remember an incident almost thirty years ago. It was Sange's day. All the members of our house and grandfather's house were gathering and reciting stories. The case just mentioned came up. I loudly said, 'What has Mahadev given? What is semen? I asked questions like why there was a fire. 

At that time, I remember mothers, grandmothers' faces reddened with shame and being scolded as 'childishly stubborn'. 

Seven/eight-year-old me asked those things without understanding. 

There are other such episodes in the story. What do you think is the popular healthy family story? 

Does healthy fasting story give moral education? 

Then morality is not relative. I don't think that healthy stories contribute to the creation of 'moral character' that is said and believed in our society. Some relatives and friends who disagree with my writing and extroverted character accuse me of being 'depraved' by not reading or understanding Eastern scriptures. Some people who say so also give the example of Chandravati from the Swasthani story. 

Besides, the story of Chandravati is not the only story in Swasthani story. Dakshaprajapati refuses to marry his daughter Sati Devi to Mahadev. However, Vishnu tricked Sati Devi into marrying Mahadev. What moral does this episode teach? Similarly, there is no difference in terms of character whether it is Jalandhar who disguises himself as Mahadev with the desire to have intercourse with Parvati or 'Lord Vishnu' who deceives his wife Vrinda and has sex with her. What morality can be learned from this? 

The story is one-sided even when seen by ordinary eyes. Jalandhar is killed as punishment for having sex with a woman. However, the curse (?) received by Vishnu after his union with Vrinda further enhances his divinity. He gets the opportunity to expand on weeds, grass, trees and even rocks. 

The method adopted by Mahadev to protect Indra, who was afraid of the charity of Goma's parents, seems disgusting like the current politics of Nepal. How do you think the behavior of Mahadev, who is jealous of Shivbhatta Brahmin and Sati who has accomplished his deeds, married their girl daughter Goma to seventy-year-old Shivsharma in return, left her pregnant and caused many kinds of suffering and Parvati, the witness of all this? 

That is why, poet Lekhnath Paudyal writes in the moral parable poem, "Whatever the elder does is done unanimously, not Shankar's naked magnanimous disguise is condemned." 

A story written by a man for men

It seems that Srisvasthani Vratkatha is written for women. Parvati fasts, she gets the Mahadev husband she wants. Goma fasts, recites stories, her lost son comes, later enjoys pleasure. Chandravati, who is in the abyss of sorrow, is rescued by the Goddess herself, neglected by Swasthani Parameshwari. Due to the effect of the fast performed by the Naginis, the estranged serpents are reunited. Although it is called Srisvasthani Devi, the story of this goddess is not told. The existence of Niranjan, the formless goddess, does not figure much in the story. But wherever Mahadev, Vishnu dominates. 

writing is also not gender balanced. Mahadev shows love towards Goma that too by consulting Parvati. Jalandhar shows his love for Parvati by consulting Vrinda. Imagine, what would have happened if Parvati had expressed her desire to have sex with another man? What happened when Vrinda bowed down and had intercourse with Vishnu? On the other hand, sages (so the story goes) who become pregnant by burning fire are doomed to be cursed. 

Sometimes the mood of the author of the story seems crazy. For example: Sati Devi's beauty at her birth is described. Kasti Kanya is a beauty with eyes like a thousand suns and thighs like a pillar. What would be in the mind of the writer who describes the newborn girl in this way? Or what would be the attitude of the writer who envisages Shivsharma to marry a seven-year-old girl? 

Through the story, the male writer says, 'A woman does not have to do any pilgrimage, fasting, charity or religion as long as she is a man. For the female race, all pilgrimages, fasts, donations, and religion belong to her husband. If a woman looks at her husband angrily, she becomes a crocodile, if she cheats on her husband, she becomes a crocodile, if she does not obey the man's word, she becomes a sinner, and if she hides from her husband, she becomes a dog.'

positive aspects of health stories

Some episodes of stories are instructive. Topics ranging from the origin of the universe are informative. The subjects of valor and splendor acquired by years of penance have taught them to work hard and not to be afraid of suffering. Even the family sent their daughter to school because there was no one to study healthily at home 

I remember. I know that many girls have become literate even if it is for the pretext of reading healthily. There are also some funny episodes in the story. 

I am writing as the peak of 'Valentine's Day' is about to begin - about Sriswasthani Vratkatha. This is the original love story of that time. It is said that if you observe a healthy fast, you will get the husband you want, and the separated husband and wife and family members will be reunited. Similarly, in the story  Mahadev, presented in

, seems to be a dedicated and polygamous character. Sati Devi, who could not bear the insults towards her husband, committed self-immolation, and Mahadev wandered around carrying Sati Devi's dead body! This loving couple looks dreamy sometimes.  Mahadev gets married to Parvati after

. The description of Mahadev-Parvati indulging in love in various forms makes this couple look like the hero-heroine of a romantic movie today or the 'teenagers' who walk to the park after 'college bunk'. 

Likewise, how innocent the sage wives who follow Mahadev after seeing the sex due to their insatiable libido, the angry sages, and Mahadev who is cursed to be oblivious and cursed by all this. However, in some episodes of the story, Mahadev seems very cruel and ruthless. I have mentioned these cases above. 

And finally, despite the various contradictions mentioned in the story, Swasthani Vrat seems to be more extended. At least the throngs of pilgrims who flock to Salinadi bear this out. It is said that some of the popular episodes in the Swasthani story have been added repeatedly in the last two hundred years. Changes over time are also natural. So, let's change the story according to time and eliminate the gender differences and demonic behavior of the gods in it, let's make the love stories a little wider. To do this, import