Viśoka Dvādaśī Vrata

Viśoka Dvādaśī Vrata, simply known as Vishoka Dvadashi Vrata, Sanskrit: विशोक द्वादशी व्रत, Telugu: విశోక ద్వాదశి వ్రతం, Hindi: विशोक द्वादशी व्रत.

The Viśoka Dvādaśī Vrata is a three-day vrata of Āśvayuja: Daśamī, Ekādaśī and Dvādaśī. It is called the most excellent of all vratas. Bhagavān Vishṇu is worshipped with twenty-three names that cover his whole form, and Lakshmī is worshipped as well, as a sand image with ten names. The heart of the vrata is the night vigil (rātri-jāgaraṇa) with dance and song before Hari. It ends with the gift of a guḍa-dhenu (a cow and calf made of jaggery) and a bed. The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa gives it in Chapter 81.

How it was taught

Manu asked Bhagavān Matsya Nārāyaṇa for a vrata that removes śoka (sorrow), frees beings from saṃsāra and brings prosperity. Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa called the Viśoka Dvādaśī of the month of Āśvayuja “beloved of the world” (jagat-priya) and “secret to devas, dānavas and humans alike” (deva-dānava-mānava-guhya).

The three days

Daśamī: Take a light meal and begin the vrata niyamas (rules) in the proper way.

Ekādaśī: Keep a complete fast with no food (nirāhāra upavāsa). Face north or east and worship Keśava and Lakshmī by the kalpa-vidhi.

Dvādaśī morning: Bathe with sarvaushadhis (all herbs) and water mixed with pañcagavya. Wear white flowers and white cloth. Worship Bhagavān Vishṇu with blue lotuses (kaluva-pūlalu).

The twenty-three names of Vishṇu (aṅga pūjā)

Lakshmī pūjā

A pratimā (image) of Lakshmī is made from river sand. It is placed on a cēṭa (a flat basket) on a raised platform built inside a maṇḍapa. Ten names of Lakshmī are used:

Devī / Śānti / Lakshmī / Śrī / Pushṭi / Tushṭi / Vṛshṭi / Hṛshṭi / Viśokā / Duḥkha-nāśā

The platform is ringed by three prākāras (walls), each lower than the one inside it. These are the flowers named as most pleasing to Lakshmī in the twelve months: white, red and blue kaluva, karavīra, white flowers, pomegranate flowers, kuṅkuma-pūvu, mogali, pēṅkaṇamu, mallikai, sampēṅga, maṅkena, kaḍimi and mālatī.

Water soaked with darbha grass is drunk during the night vigil.

The night vigil

This is the most important part of the vrata. Through the whole Dvādaśī night, dance (nṛtya) and song (gīta) are offered before Hari with bhakti. The text calls this the heart of the vrata, “nṛttagītādi pūrvakamu”, and the means to all sampadas (riches) and mukti together. Those who cannot arrange long worship must at least have music and devotional singing.

At the third watch of the night, one to three brāhmaṇa couples are brought to the home of the yajamāna (the one keeping the vrata). They are honoured with clothes, garlands and akshatas. The next morning they receive the complete bed-dāna (śayana-dāna). The day is spent listening to the Purāṇas and itihāsas.

The guḍa-dhenu dāna

At the end, a guḍa-dhenu, a cow and calf of jaggery, is the main dāna. It is a carefully built symbolic cow.

How it is made:

• The cow is made of 4 bāruvas of jaggery, and the calf of 1 bāruva (other proportions are also given).
• The parts are made from symbolic materials:
• ears: pearl-shells (muktē-cippalā)
• legs: sugarcane stalks
• eyes: pearls
• tendons: white threads
• dewlap (gaṅgaḍōlu): white blanket cloth
• face and back: thin copper sheet
• tuft of the tail: white cāmara
• eyebrows: coral (pagaḍālu)
• teats and udder: butter (venna)
• stalk of the tail: silk thread
• milk vessel (poḍugu): a bronze vessel
• pupils of the eyes: indranīla gems
• horns: gold; hooves: silver; nose: sampēṅga flowers

The cow faces east and the calf faces north. Various fruits are placed before them. After pūjā with gandha, dhūpa, dīpa and naivedya, the guḍa-dhenu is given to a brāhmaṇa with this prayer:

“Lakshmī who lives in all beings, in all devatās, in all bodies; as Śaṅkara’s beloved Māninī, as Lakshmī on Vishṇu’s chest, as Svāhā in Agni, as Svādhā for the pitṛs, as the light in the sun, moon and stars: may that Lakshmī in the form of this dhenu take away my pāpa (sin) and give me śānti.”

The ten kinds of dhenu dāna

The guḍa-dhenu led the Matsya Purāṇa to list all ten dhenu-dānas. All of them take away all pāpa and equal many yajñas. They may be given on their own on the proper occasions (the ayanas, vishuvas, vyatīpāta and so on):

1. Guḍa-dhenu: the jaggery cow (the main one in Viśoka Dvādaśī)
2. Ghṛta-dhenu: the ghee cow
3. Tila-dhenu: the sesame cow
4. Jala-dhenu: the water cow
5. Rasa-dhenu: the sugarcane-juice cow
6. Dhānya-dhenu: the grain cow
7. Śarkarā-dhenu: the sugar cow
8. Lavaṇa-dhenu: the salt cow
9. Ratna-dhenu: the gemstone cow
10. Svarūpa-dhenu: a cow in the form of a real cow

Some mahārshis also include the suvarṇa, navanīta and taila dhenu-dānas. Liquid dhenu-dānas are set in clay pots, and solid things are heaped in piles. All are offered with āvāhana pūjā and the same mantra plan.

The phala

Those who keep this vrata with the night vigil of dance and song receive:

• in this life: long life, health (āyur-ārogya) and good fortune (saubhāgya)
• at the moment of death: by merely remembering (smṛti) this vrata, Vishṇu-loka at once
• twenty-seven thousand arbuda years of royal life without poverty or sharp sorrow
• a home in Vishṇu-loka

Those who read, hear, arrange or even witness this account live in Indra-loka, served by devas, for an unmeasured time.

Sources

• Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 81