Anant Chaturdashi Vrat - fast

This fast is related to the fourteenth day of Bhadrapada (August-September). Some women wear red garments to worship the endless god (Anant). Devotees keep fast on this day and eat food without salt. The people tie Anant (a sacred thread with fourteen knots) on their arms. Women tie on their left arm and men tie it on their right arm. They consider the sacred thread is Lord Vishnu and its incarnations, which give victory in life and emancipation from seven deadly sins (pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth).

Dharma the eldest of Pandavas asked Krishna to tell him of a fast (Vrat), which would grant him a kingdom along with prosperity for life. Krishna said that a Brahman named Sumantu married Diksha, the charming daughter of Bhrigu Rishi. Diksha died after giving birth to a daughter called Sheela.

Sumantu married another woman called Karkasha. She was irritable, quarrelsome, and troublesome. Sheela was very beautiful and got married to saint Kaudinya. Sumantu was not hospitable to Kaudinya (son-in-law). Kaudinya and Sheela left and started their journey to their home. On the way they found a large number of women in red garments, on the bank of a river, worshipping the endless god Anant, on the 14th day of Bhadrapad. The newly married Sheela also performed puja as told by these women. Due to the worship, she and her husband became rich and prosperous. One day her husband saw the fourteen knotted thread on her arm and got annoyed, snatched the thread, and threw it in the fire. Sheela saved a bit of the thread from the fire and put it in a pot full of milk. Kaudinya lost all his wealth due to the insult he gave to Anant (thread). Sheela told her husband that they were going through bad times because of the insult he had given to Anant. He repented and prayed unto the endless god Anant for forgiveness. He went to the forest to find Anant. He sat down under a mango tree full of vermin of all sorts. He asked the tree whether he had seen Lord Anant. The tree replied, Oh Brahman - I have not seen him. He went further and met (i) cow and her calf, (ii) two lakes full of lotuses, lilies, etc, (iii) donkey and an elephant, and asked all of them whether they had seen Lord Anant. All of them replied that they had not seen the Lord Anant. Kaudinya got very tired of his stupidity and prayed to God to guide him. At that moment Anant appeared before Kaudinya as an old Brahman and took him to a cave to have a glimpse of the Lord. He saw the Lord and asked forgiveness for breaking the sacred thread. The Lord told him to observe the Anant's fast for fourteen years to get rid of the sin of breaking the Anant (thread) and throwing it in the fire. He also explained that the mango tree under which you sat was a learned scholar of Vedas in his previous life, but he did not impart knowledge to his students. The vermins on the tree were his pupils. The cow was a land, which swallowed the seed and did not give crops to its farmer. Her calf was the justice who could not identify between real and false. The lakes were two sisters and they exchanged gifts between themselves but did not give anything in the donation. The donkey was anger and the elephant was egotistic. The old Brahman was Anant himself and the cave was the world.

The Lord disappeared and Kaudinya came to his home and observed fast for fourteen years and became prosperous and lived a happy life with his wife and children.