Kadalī Vrata

Kadalī Vrata · kadalī vrata, “the vow of the kadalī tree”

Bhānumatī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Bhānumatī. Rambhā Vrata has other meanings too: see all meanings of Rambhā Vrata.

The Kadalī Vrata, also called the Rambhā Vrata, is kept on the caturdaśī (fourteenth lunar day) of the bright fortnight of Bhādrapada. The kadalī (banana) tree is worshipped as Kadalī Devī, who gives all desires. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa tells it to Yudhishṭhira in the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa (Chapters 91–92), reporting what Devala Muni taught when the devarshis asked him in the sabhā of Brahmā. All the devatās, gandharvas and apsarās kept this vrata and offered arghya with respect to the kadalī tree, and ten great women kept it, each in her own place, among them Gaurī on Kailāsa, Lakshmī in Śvetadvīpa and Sītā Devī in Ayodhyā. A woman who keeps it gains saubhāgya (the good fortune of a wife), sons and grandsons, wealth, long life and fame.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 91–92

When it is kept

The vrata falls on Bhādrapada śukla caturdaśī, the same day as the Pālī Vrata, which comes just before it in the same chapters. A man or a woman may keep it.

The vidhi

On this caturdaśī the one who keeps the vrata does pūjā of the kadalī tree with these upacāras (offerings):

• many kinds of fruit
• sprouted grains
• the seven grains
• dīpa (lamp)
• sandalwood
• curds
• dūrvā grass
• akshata (unbroken rice)
• cloth
• cooked food
• nutmeg, cardamom, clove and the like

Then arghya is offered with this mantra:

चित्या त्वं कन्दलदलैः कदली कामदायिनि।
शरीरारोग्यलावण्यं देहि देवि नमोऽस्तु ते॥
cityā tvaṃ kandaladalaiḥ kadalī kāmadāyini |
śarīrārogyalāvaṇyaṃ dehi devi namo’stu te ||

Kadalī Devī, by the wind of your leaves you spread knowledge and awareness, and you give all desires. Be gracious and give my body form, loveliness and health. Salutations to you.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 92

After this, the one who keeps the vrata eats fruit and the like, ripened of itself.

The phala

In the family of the man or woman who keeps this vrata with bhakti, no daughter is born who is durbhagā (unfortunate), daridrā (poor), vandhyā (barren), pāpinī (given to pāpa), vyabhicāriṇī or kulaṭā (unchaste), punarbhū (remarried), dushṭā (wicked) or opposed to her husband.

A woman who keeps this vrata obtains saubhāgya, sons and grandsons, wealth, long life and fame, and lives happily with her husband for a hundred years.

Those who kept the vrata

Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa names those who kept the Rambhā Vrata, each in her place:

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 91–92

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 91–92