Dear Colleagues,

It is with great pleasure that my co-translator (Dr. Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz) and I share with you the publication of the first scholarly English translation of the The Swasthani Vrata Katha. We are even more pleased to share that it is now and henceforth available in its entirety (for FREE) through Oxford Academic Open Access. The print version will be available in February 2026. Here is the book abstract:

The Swasthani Vrata Katha is the most widely read, recited, and listened to Hindu devotional text, especially of local indigenous origin, among Hindu laity in Nepal. Nepali Hindus dedicate themselves to Swasthani, a local goddess, by reciting the Swasthani from cover to cover every year during the winter month of Magh (January–February), which started on 3 January this year. It is a collection of widely circulating Hindu myths about gods, demons, and divine dalliances that forefront Shiva, Sati, and Parvati but it is also a local folk story about women's real, everyday hardships and the rewards of attending to one's dharma and devotion to the goddess Swasthani. In Nepal, the Swasthani parallels the entrenched social, cultural, and religious importance of the Ramayana and Mahabharata elsewhere in the Hindu world and similarly provides a pervasive local vocabulary through the familiar trials and triumphs of Goma as a girl child, young wife, mother, and widow and those of her daughter-in-law Chandravati and their son/husband Navaraj. This is the first full-length English translation of the Swasthani from the original Nepali. Just as Parvati made Swasthani and her story known beyond the realm of the gods to the human realm, so too does this translation make them known beyond Nepal to a broad English-speaking audience.

For the little-known history of the Swasthani's textual and narrative development, please check out Part 1. For a translation of the Nepali Vrata Katha, check out Part 2. For the translation of the original Sanskrit verses and ritual instructions, check out Part 3. For original illustrations from early 20th-century Swasthani books, check out Part 4. There is much more material.

For colleagues planning their syllabi for courses on Hinduism, South Asian literature, or women and gender in South Asia, I invite you to explore these topics through a regional lens and examine the textual and ritual practices of the Swasthani.

I would like to extend my warmest wishes for a very happy New Year!

 

All the best,

Alaka

__________________________

Dr Alaka Atreya Chudal
Senior Lecturer
University of Vienna
Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies
Address: Spitalgasse 2, Courtyard 2, Entrance 2.1
1090 Vienna, Austria

PI: The Voice of the Voiceless, FWF Austrian Science Fund (Vienna, AT)

The Swasthani Vrata Katha: A Secret Vow to the Goddess (OUP, available online now and in print in February 2026)