जीवित्पुत्रिका व्रत कथा (जितिया)
संतान की दीर्घायु हेतु माता का व्रत — जीमूतवाहन की कथा
जीवित्पुत्रिका व्रत — जिसे प्रायः जितिया या जिउतिया कहते हैं — माताओं द्वारा अपनी संतान, विशेषकर पुत्रों, की दीर्घायु, आरोग्य व समृद्धि के लिए रखा जाने वाला कठोर निर्जल व्रत है। यह आश्विन मास के कृष्ण पक्ष की अष्टमी को आता है और बिहार, झारखंड, पूर्वी उत्तर प्रदेश व नेपाल में सर्वाधिक प्रिय है। इसके अधिष्ठाता हैं त्याग के मूर्तरूप उदार राजकुमार जीमूतवाहन। यह कथा पूजा में सुनाई जाती है।
जीमूतवाहन का बलिदान
Jimutavahana was the compassionate prince of the Gandharvas, who had given up his own kingdom to serve others. Travelling once by the sea, he came upon a grief-stricken old Naga (serpent) mother weeping bitterly. She told him that the great eagle Garuda, enemy of the serpents, demanded one Naga each day to devour, and that today it was the turn of her only son, Shankhachuda.
Moved beyond words by her sorrow, Jimutavahana resolved to offer his own life in place of the Naga youth. He lay upon the red cloth on the rock of sacrifice where the victim was left. When Garuda swooped down and seized him and began to carry him off, Jimutavahana bore the agony without a cry, his only thought the saving of another's life.
गरुड़ की कृपा और वरदान
As Garuda tore at him, Jimutavahana remained serene and even joyful that another's life was spared. Astonished that his victim felt no fear and no anger, Garuda set him down and asked who he was. Learning that this was a prince who had freely offered his own life to save a stranger, Garuda was overcome with remorse for his cruelty.
Garuda vowed never again to devour the Nagas, and by his grace — and the prayers of the gods — Jimutavahana was restored whole, and all the Nagas who had been killed over the years were brought back to life. For this supreme compassion and self-sacrifice, Jimutavahana is worshipped in the Jivitputrika vrat, and mothers pray that, like him, their children may be blessed with long life and noble virtue.
चील और सियारिन
There is also told the story of two friends — a female eagle (cheel) and a female jackal (siyarin) — who resolved to keep the Jivitputrika vrat together. The eagle kept the fast with full faith and discipline. But the jackal, unable to bear the hunger, secretly ate during the fast, breaking the vow. In time, all the jackal's offspring died one after another, while the eagle's young lived long and flourished.
In a later birth the two were born as sisters in the same household. The one who had been the jackal saw her children die again and again, while the children of the other (who had been the faithful eagle) thrived. Learning at last that her sorrow came from having broken the Jivitputrika vrat, she kept it thereafter with complete devotion and was blessed with living children. Thus mothers keep the Jitiya fast strictly — without food or water — never breaking it before its time, for the long life of their children. 'Jai Jimutavahana.'
व्रत का फल
जीवित्पुत्रिका (जितिया) व्रत माताएँ अपनी संतान — विशेषकर पुत्रों — की दीर्घायु, आरोग्य, सफलता व समृद्धि के लिए रखती हैं। निर्जल रहकर सच्ची श्रद्धा से रखा गया यह व्रत जीमूतवाहन के समान रक्षा व श्रेष्ठ गुण, तथा जीवित व समृद्ध संतान (जीवित्पुत्रिका) का आशीर्वाद देने वाला माना जाता है।
इस पूजा के मंत्र व आरती
सामान्य प्रश्न
When is the Jivitputrika (Jitiya) vrat observed?
On the Ashtami (eighth day) of the Krishna Paksha of the month of Ashwin — usually in September or October, a week after Pitru Paksha begins. It is a three-day observance (Nahay-Khay, the nirjala fast day, and Paran) most popular in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern UP and Nepal.
Why do mothers keep the Jitiya fast?
Mothers keep the strict waterless Jivitputrika fast for the long life, health and prosperity of their children, especially sons — praying to the self-sacrificing prince Jimutavahana that their children be blessed with long life and virtue, as the katha describes.
How is the Jitiya vrat kept?
It is a nirjala (without food or water) fast lasting about 24 hours. The first day is Nahay-Khay (bathing and a sattvic meal), the second is the strict fast with the worship of Jimutavahana and recitation of the katha, and the third is Paran, the breaking of the fast.