बुधवार व्रत कथा (प्रत्येक बुधवार) · Budhvar Vrat Katha (Every Wednesday)

The Wednesday vow is kept for peace in domestic life and overall well-being, and is considered especially effective for pacifying the inauspicious effects of the planet Budh (Mercury). On this day, the observer should take only a single meal, and use green things — green vegetables, green clothing, and the like. In the evening, one should worship Bhagwan Shankar with incense, a lamp, and bael leaves, and then hear the story of this vow; once the katha has begun, one should not get up and leave midway, but should stay until the aarti is performed and prasad is received.

A man set out on a Wednesday to bring his wife home from her parents' house, even though everyone had told him it was not proper to begin a journey on that day. Along the way, when his wife grew thirsty, he seated her in the shade of a tree and went off to fetch water. When he returned, he found another man, identical to himself in every way, sitting beside his wife and claiming to be her real husband. The two accused each other of lying and fell into a bitter dispute, and the matter was eventually brought before the king's soldiers. Even the wife could not tell them apart, for the two were completely alike in form, dress, and voice.

Helpless, the real husband silently prayed to God, and at once a divine voice declared that this was all the doing of Budh Dev, and that the man had been given this punishment for violating the custom of not traveling on a Wednesday. Hearing this, the man realized his mistake, folded his hands, and begged Budh Dev's forgiveness, resolving to observe this vow faithfully from then on. Pleased by his sincere prayer, Budh Dev dissolved the illusion, and the false form vanished on the spot. The husband and wife returned home safely, and from that day observed the Wednesday vow with devotion every year. Whoever hears this story, or keeps this vow, has all the obstacles of their life removed by Budh Dev's grace.