Karthika Puranam · Day 5 of 30
Karthika Puranam Day 5
Chapter 5 — The glory of Vana Bhojanam
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Saturday, November 14, 2026
Shukla Paksha Panchami · శుద్ధ పంచమి
Chapter 5 — the story
Vasishtha opens with Karthika practices: reading the Gita in a temple, and Vana Bhojanam — worshipping a Shaligrama under a fruit-laden usiri (amla) tree, eating and feeding Brahmins in its shade, and hearing the Purana there.
As an example he tells of Shivasharma, son of Devasharma on the banks of the Kaveri, who scoffed when his father urged him to keep the Karthika bath and lamp, and was cursed to live as a mouse in a tree hollow. One Karthika day Sage Vishwamitra sat under that tree reading the Karthika Puranam to his disciples. A hunter who came to rob them stayed to listen; the mouse heard it too, and both were freed.
What this chapter teaches
Mocking a devotion carries a price, but simply hearing the Purana — even by chance — redeems.
How to read the Karthika Puranam
- Read or listen to one chapter each day of Karthika Masam, usually in the evening after lighting the deepam.
- Many families read together after the pre-dawn Karthika snanam or at the Tulasi kota.
- These are short summaries; for the full text, read a printed Karthika Puranam or listen to a pravachanam.