Every Ekadashi has its own katha, and so do Somvar, Pradosh, Karva Chauth and many other vrats. Families usually read them from a small booklet. When nobody is free to read, or an elder's eyesight makes reading hard, or a daughter-in-law abroad wants to hear the katha her mother-in-law reads, an audio helps. Ready-made recordings exist for some of these, but not for every Ekadashi, and not in the words of your family's book.
AudPod, the narration tool on Autunes, reads the katha you paste exactly as written, over soft devotional music.
Two ways to use it
- Your family's katha, word for word: choose "My script" and paste the text from your book. Nothing is changed. This is the right choice when the exact words matter.
- A simple version for children: choose "From an idea" and ask for the story behind the vrat, told simply. This is a retelling, useful for explaining why the family keeps the vrat, not a substitute for the katha.
Step by step
- Open AudPod.
- Choose "My script" and paste the katha in Devanagari. Leave a blank line between paragraphs, and after each section, so the narrator pauses.
- Choose Hindi and a Male or Female narrator.
- Choose Devotional (sitar, tanpura, soft tabla), Peaceful flute, Calm or No music.
- Choose the length. AudPod shows the character count and roughly how many minutes your text will take. 3 or 5 minutes works on any plan; Pro goes to 10 minutes and Creator to 20.
- Press create. A 3-minute AudPod takes about 4 to 5 minutes to make.
Sample ideas for "From an idea"
- "Why we keep the Ekadashi vrat, the story told simply for children aged 8 to 12, 3 minutes."
- "The story of Veeravati told for Karva Chauth, in gentle Hindi, 5 minutes."
- "The meaning of the Somvar vrat for Shiv ji, a short katha for young women keeping it for the first time."
Care points
Tellings of the same vrat katha differ between regions and books. If you use "From an idea", treat the result as a retelling and check it with an elder. Do not paste mantras expecting an authentic recitation; the narrator speaks text, it does not chant. Whether hearing a recording fulfils the katha part of a vrat is for your family or pandit to say.
Making one AudPod per vrat means you build a small library over a year. On Pro, 200 AudPod-only credits a month covers 20 five-minute kathas.
Related
For aartis and bhajans in your own words, see the devotional song generator. For longer kathas, see Hindi katha audio.