Satyanarayan Vrat Katha

Chapter 1. At Naimisharanya the sages asked Suta how people in the Kali age could find relief from suffering. Suta told them what Lord Vishnu had told Narada: whoever performs the Satyanarayan vrat with devotion, on Purnima or any day, with friends and family, and offers prasad made of wheat flour, ghee, milk, sugar and banana, is freed from sorrow and finds happiness in this life and liberation after it.

Chapter 2. A poor Brahmin of Kashi met the Lord in the form of an old Brahmin, who taught him the vrat. The Brahmin performed it and became prosperous. A woodcutter who saw the puja did the same and grew rich, and both kept the vrat all their lives.

Chapter 3. King Ulkamukh kept the vrat on the bank of the Bhadrashila river. A merchant, Sadhu, asked about it and vowed to perform it if he was blessed with a child. A daughter, Kalavati, was born, but he kept postponing the puja, even after her marriage. On a trading journey he and his son-in-law were falsely accused of theft and imprisoned by King Chandraketu. At home his wife Leelavati and Kalavati fell into poverty; Kalavati saw a Satyanarayan puja at a Brahmin's house and told her mother; Leelavati, remembering the broken vow, performed the vrat with her family, and the Lord, pleased, appeared to King Chandraketu in a dream and had the two men freed.

Chapter 4. On the way home, the Lord in the guise of a sannyasi asked what the boat carried. The merchant lied that it held only leaves and creepers, and the cargo turned into leaves. He begged forgiveness, the goods were restored, and he reached home. Kalavati, in her joy, ran to meet her husband without eating the prasad, and the boat sank before her eyes. When she returned and ate the prasad with respect, her husband's boat rose again.

Chapter 5. King Tungadhwaj saw cowherds performing the puja under a tree, but out of pride did not bow or take their prasad. He lost his sons and wealth. Realising his mistake, he returned, joined the cowherds in the puja and accepted the prasad, and all he had lost was restored. Suta ends by saying that whoever keeps this vrat or hears this katha with faith is freed from sorrow and gains their wishes.