Mārgaśīrsha Māhātmya

Mārgaśīrsha Māhātmya, simply known as Margashirsha Mahatmya, Sanskrit: मार्गशीर्ष माहात्म्य, Telugu: మార్గశీర్ష మాహాత్మ్యం, Hindi: मार्गशीर्ष माहात्म्य.

The Mārgaśīrsha Māhātmya, also called the Mārgaśīrsha Māsa Māhātmya, is a 17-chapter section of the Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa (the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa). It gives the glory of the month of Mārgaśīrsha. It is told as a dialogue between Bhagavān Vishṇu, who is Kṛshṇa, and Brahmā at Śvetadvīpa.

It opens with Bhagavān Vishṇu’s declaration that Mārgaśīrsha is his most beloved month: the month by which the gopīs of Gokula won his very self. It then sets out, step by step, the full procedure of pūjā for this month: the daily holy bath, the marking of the Ūrdhvapuṇḍra, the pūjā of the Pāñcajanya conch, the pañcāmṛta-snāna (bath with five nectars), the ranking of flowers, the supremacy of Tulasī, the rules for naivedya (food offered to Bhagavān Vishṇu), the Dāmodara mantra and the closing rites. After that come the narrative of Vīrabāhu, king of Kāmpilya, and the Akhaṇḍa Ekādaśī Vrata; the teaching on the jāgaraṇa (night vigil) of the Dvādaśī night; the Matsya festival; and the supreme power of the name of Kṛshṇa. It closes with a Mathurā Māhātmya.

Chapter by chapter

Chapter 1: The greatness of the month of Mārgaśīrsha

Brahmā comes to Bhagavān Vishṇu at Śvetadvīpa and asks about the greatness of Mārgaśīrsha. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa himself had declared it the highest of the months in the Bhagavad Gītā. Bhagavān Vishṇu reveals that in this month he is won more easily than through yajñas (fire rituals), Vedic study, pilgrimage to tīrthas (holy places), renunciation or yoga.

He gives the ranking of the months by their puṇya (merit):

• the month of Māgha gives the puṇya of eight months;
• Vaiśākha gives a hundred times the puṇya of Māgha;
• the month of Tulā (Libra) gives a thousand times as much;
• the month of Vṛścika (Scorpio) gives a crore times as much;
• Mārgaśīrsha is greater than them all.

He tells of the gopīs of Gokula. Every morning of Mārgaśīrsha they took the holy bath, did pūjā and ate only havishyānna (simple sacred food). He rewarded them with his own self.

Chapter 2: Applying the Ūrdhvapuṇḍra

The Ūrdhvapuṇḍra is the upright mark that Vaishṇavas wear, as the Tripuṇḍra is worn by others. The procedure begins as the night ends. The devotee does ācamana (sipping water for purity), recites the Vishṇu Sahasranāma, goes out for the morning duties, rubs clay from the root of the Tulasī all over the body, and bathes while calling on the Gaṅgā by her 12 names.

Then the Ūrdhvapuṇḍra is applied:

• 12 marks for brāhmaṇas: on the forehead, belly, chest, the hump of the neck, the arms, the ears, the back, the right side, the lower spine and the head;
• 4 marks for kshatriyas;
• 2 marks for vaiśyas;
• 1 mark for śūdras and for women.

The 12 names of Vishṇu, from Keśava to Dāmodara, are placed by nyāsa (placing by touch) on the 12 places of the body. Four colours of tilaka are given: dark for peace, red for winning others over, yellow for prosperity and white for moksha (freedom from rebirth). The Pāñcarātra teaching says the puṇḍra must have a gap in the middle. That gap is the abode of Bhagavān Vishṇu together with Lakshmī.

Chapter 3: Marking the body with the conch, the discus and other signs

The puṇḍra is made from three materials: clay from the root of the Tulasī, Gopīcandana (from Dvārakā) and Haricandana. Gopīcandana is praised above all. It makes holy rites a crore times more powerful; Bhagavān Vishṇu lives wherever it is applied; and Yama has no power over one who wears it.

The body should also be marked with the signs of Vishṇu’s avatāras (the fish, the tortoise) and of his weapons (the conch, the discus, the iron club and the lotus). Each weapon-mark is equal to the puṇya of a particular tīrtha or yajña. A Sudarśana Cakra made of metal, with 12 spokes, 6 angles and 3 folds, should be worn as an amulet. Famous devotees who wore these marks are Prahlāda, Vibhīshaṇa, Bali, Dhruva, Śuka, Māndhātṛ, Ambarīsha and Mārkaṇḍeya.

Chapter 4: The pūjā of the conch Pāñcajanya

Garlands of Tulasī and garlands of Dhātrī fruit are taught first: the puṇya of every leaf (equal to ten aśvamedha yajñas, the horse ritual), their protection from evil, and that they cannot be left out.

Then the setting for pūjā is given: the arrangement of the altar; four vessels, for arghya, pādya, ācamanīya and madhuparka, each with its set contents; nyāsa on the hands and limbs; and the pūjā of Pāñcajanya with three mantras. The mantras salute the conch’s birth from the ocean, its power over the asuras and its supremacy in all the worlds.

Chapter 5: The fruit of the pūjā of the conch, and the pañcāmṛta-snāna

The puṇya of bathing Bhagavān Vishṇu with the pañcāmṛta rises step by step:

1. milk: a hundred aśvamedha yajñas for each drop;
2. curds: ten times milk;
3. ghee: ten times curds;
4. honey: ten times ghee;
5. sugar: greater still;
6. scented flower-water: above all of them.

In Mārgaśīrsha in particular, a bath of milk gives an earthly kingdom full of elephants and horses, and one who bathes Bhagavān Vishṇu with the Pāñcajanya conch saves his family. Bathing him with the milk of a tawny cow equals the gift of a hundred tawny cows. Bathing him with water from a conch is very great, because all the tīrthas are present in the conch. The text gives the puṇya of different numbers of conchfuls:

• 8 conchfuls make a man distinguished;
• 108 conchfuls give the puṇya of a gold coin for each conchful;
• 1,008 conchfuls give the rank of a gaṇa (attendant of Bhagavān Vishṇu) until the pralaya (dissolution).

Chapter 6: The power of offering bells and sandal paste

The ghaṇṭā (bell) is one with all musical instruments and all the devas. Ringing it at pūjā gives a home in the world of Bhagavān Vishṇu for hundreds of crores of years. Bells marked with Garuḍa or the Sudarśana have special puṇya.

Of sandal paste and Tulasī twigs, Tulasī is supreme. Musk, aguru (agallochum), saffron and camphor are all acceptable, but nothing equals Tulasī twigs and sandal paste offered together.

The dhūpa (incense) is made of 10 ingredients: the Jāti flower, cardamom, gum-resin, Harītakī, sandalwood, Śāla resin, jaggery, Saila, Acchada and Nakha.

Chapter 7: The Jāti flower above all, and the ranking of flowers

Bhagavān Vishṇu names the flowers he loves. Then he gives the full ranking of 28 flowers by their puṇya, in rising order, of which these 21 are recorded:

Jāti is the highest of all flowers. A garland of a thousand Jāti flowers gives a home in the city of Bhagavān Vishṇu for thousands of crores of kalpas.

Chapter 8: The greatness of Tulasī; incense and lamps

Tulasī is greater than the Bilva, the Śamī, the Jāti, the lotus and even the Kaustubha gem. A single Tulasī leaf is worth more than jewels and flowers of gold. One who does pūjā with Tulasī shoots is not born again. A shoot of the dark Tulasī (Kṛshṇa-Tulasī) is the highest offering.

The procedure for incense is given in detail. Then the puṇya of lamps: a single lamp with many wicks, filled with ghee, gives a crore kalpas in svarga (heaven); a lamp of camphor gives entry into Bhagavān Vishṇu himself; and the nīrājana (waving of lights) alone makes complete a pūjā that has fallen short.

Chapter 9: The procedure for naivedya

The full naivedya for Mārgaśīrsha is served on a plate of gold or silver, or on a plate of Palāśa leaves. It holds:

• milk pudding;
• crystal-white mudga (green gram);
• pickles and side dishes set out in three rows;
• grapes and mango;
• kaṭhikās (spiced broth);
• maṇḍakas (round cakes);
• pūrikās and apūpas;
• nine kinds of vaṭakas in nine marinades;
• phenikās and polikās;
• modakas of many shapes;
• rich pickles of more than 25 fruits, soaked in mustard oil for three years.

For those who cannot afford the full naivedya, the least offering is one laḍḍu, one pūrī, two phenās, three kokarasas, sixteen maṇḍakas and eight vaṭakas. This alone saves one from naraka (hell).

Chapter 10: The closing rites, the Dāmodara mantra and pādodaka

After the naivedya come ācamana, betel leaves, sandal paste, nīrājana with camphor, the showing of a mirror, and prostrations with the ashṭāṅga praṇāma (bowing with eight limbs touching the ground). Then comes japa of the Dāmodara mantra, 3,000 times a day until 350,000 repetitions are complete, followed by the udyāpana (concluding rite).

The Pañcastava, the five hymns always dear to Bhagavān Vishṇu, are:

1. the Vishṇu Sahasranāma;
2. the Bhīshma Stavarāja;
3. the Gajendra Moksha;
4. the Anusmṛti;
5. the Bhagavad Gītā.

The pādodaka (water that has washed the feet of the Śālagrāma) has supreme power. It is greater than thousands of pañcagavyas. A single drop of it ensures that one is not born again, and at the time of death it purifies even the most fallen.

Chapter 11: The account of Vīrabāhu, and the dharma of Ekādaśī

Vīrabāhu was king of Kāmpilya. He was truthful, a knower of Brahman and devoted to Bhagavān Vishṇu, and his queen was the chaste Kāntimatī. The ṛshi Bhāradvāja visited him, and the king honoured him with perfect hospitality. Then Vīrabāhu asked about his own past births.

Bhāradvāja revealed that Vīrabāhu had once been a śūdra in Maharashtra. He was full of pāpa (sin), cast out by his kinsmen, and lived in the forest. But he showed kindness to a lost brāhmaṇa named Devaśarma. He offered him fruits and water and showed true surrender to Janārdana. Devaśarma asked the śūdra his varṇa, and he answered honestly. The śūdra and his wife served the brāhmaṇa with complete devotion.

The chapter sets Ekādaśī above all. A Dvādaśī that is not overlapped by Daśamī is the greatest tithi (lunar day), and one Ekādaśī Vrata is greater than thousands of Śiva-vratas.

Chapter 12: The Akhaṇḍa Ekādaśī Vrata

Devaśarma reveals the śūdra’s birth before that. He had been a brāhmaṇa at Avantī. He kept the Dvādaśī vow on a day overlapped by Daśamī. This grave error cancelled all his puṇya and sent him to the narakas, and from there he was born as a śūdra. But his daughter’s son in Vidarbha had kept the Akhaṇḍa Ekādaśī Vrata correctly and had passed its puṇya on to his grandfather. That puṇya, together with the hospitality shown to Devaśarma, saved the śūdra. Vishvaksena, who is Vishṇu himself, appeared on Garuḍa and took the śūdra and his wife to svarga.

The procedure of the Akhaṇḍa Ekādaśī Vrata:

1. on Daśamī, a single evening meal (naktabhojana);
2. on Ekādaśī, a fast with 10 restrictions;
3. on Dvādaśī, a single meal with its 12 restrictions;
4. the vrata is kept for a whole year;
5. the udyāpana, with 12 brāhmaṇas and an ācārya (officiating teacher), a maṇḍala, a pot, a gold mūrti of Lakshmī-Nārāyaṇa, the Pāñcajanya mantra, a homa (fire offering) with 101 Palāśa twigs, caru (cooked offering), and the feeding of brāhmaṇas.

Chapter 13: The jāgaraṇa on the Ekādaśī night

The jāgaraṇa has 26 characteristics, of which these are recorded:

• singing and instrumental music;
• dance;
• recitation of the Purāṇas;
• incense;
• lamps;
• naivedya;
• offerings of flowers;
• scents;
• fruits;
• faith;
• gifts in charity;
• control of the senses;
• truthfulness;
• no sleep;
• joy;
• pūjā;
• wonderful shows;
• enthusiasm;
• keeping away from pāpa;
• keeping away from idleness;
• pradakshiṇa (walking around Bhagavān Vishṇu in reverence);
• prostrations;
• nīrājana;
• ārātrika (waving of lamps) at the end of every yāma (a three-hour watch of the night).

Its puṇya is a crore times that of a thousand aśvamedha yajñas and a hundred vājapeya yajñas. The jāgaraṇa saves generations in the families of one’s father, mother and wife. Without the jāgaraṇa on the Ekādaśī night, even a śrāddha at Gayā cannot save the ancestors.

Chapter 14: The Matsya festival on Mārgaśīrsha Śukla Dvādaśī

1. On Daśamī: pūjā with havya rice, and five steps walked towards Bhagavān Vishṇu.
2. On Ekādaśī: a fast.
3. On the morning of Dvādaśī: a holy bath with the clay mantra that calls on the earth.
4. Pūjā of Nārāyaṇa with 12 names, placed on 12 parts of the body and weapons.
5. Four pots are filled with water and adorned with white unguents, sandal paste, flower garlands, mango leaves and copper vessels holding a gold piece. They stand for the four oceans.
6. In the centre, on a pedestal, a golden fish (an image of the Matsya avatāra) is installed in a vessel of gold, silver, copper or wood.
7. Pūjā is done, and the jāgaraṇa is kept before the fish.
8. At dawn the pots are given to four Vedic scholars: a Ṛgvedin in the east, a Sāmavedin in the south, a Yajurvedin in the west and an Atharvan in the north. The golden fish is given to the ācārya.

Chapter 15: Keśava, the presiding devatā of Mārgaśīrsha, and the supremacy of Kṛshṇa-nāma

The presiding devatā of Mārgaśīrsha is Keśava, with Kīrti. A brāhmaṇa couple should be honoured as Keśava and Kīrti with clothes, ornaments and cows. The three highest gifts are land, a cow and learning.

Then Bhagavān Vishṇu declares the supreme secret: the name “Kṛshṇa”, spoken without a break, is his greatest vow. Even fraud or pretence in saying “Kṛshṇa” does not take away its benefit. People of great pāpa who say “Kṛshṇa” at death are freed from Yama. The two syllables HA and RI, spoken even once, set a person on the path to moksha. No amount of pāpa can match the burning power of Kṛshṇa-nāma (the name of Kṛshṇa).

Chapter 16: The greatness of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata; who may receive the Dāmodara mantra

A form of the child Kṛshṇa is given for meditation: dark as sapphire, a small child, his locks glossy like molasses, his face a lotus, his eyes blue lotuses, his chest soiled with dust, his limbs golden, with tinkling bells at the hips, butter in his left hand and milk pudding in his right.

The Dāmodara mantra: the text gives 17 faults that bar a disciple from it, among them idleness, impurity, pretence, lust, jealousy and a wrong way of earning a living. The fit teacher is impartial and calm, free of anger, devoted to the rites and festivals of Vishṇu, an ocean of mercy and expert in all branches of learning.

The puṇya of the Bhāgavata: reading it gives the puṇya of a tawny cow for every syllable; hearing half a verse gives that of a thousand cows; reading one verse daily gives the puṇya of all 18 Purāṇas. Wherever the Bhāgavata is kept, all the tīrthas, rivers, yajñas and sacred mountains are present.

Chapter 17: The greatness of Mathurā; Mārgaśīrsha Pūrṇimā

Mathurā is greater than all tīrthas, as the city of Kṛshṇa’s birth and of his childhood play. Mārgaśīrsha at Mathurā gives more puṇya than 1,000 years at Prayāga, the Tīrtharāja (king of tīrthas). All creatures that die at Mathurā reach sārūpya moksha (a form like that of Bhagavān Vishṇu): worms, insects, trees that fall from its banks, the blind, the deaf and those who die in accidents.

The four kinds of moksha, sālokya, sārūpya, sāmīpya and sāyujya, can all be reached through birth at Mathurā, the sacred-thread ceremony at Mathurā, keeping vratas at Mathurā, or gifts in charity at Mathurā. The full-moon day (Pūrṇimā) of Mārgaśīrsha is the most auspicious day at Mathurā: every rite done on it gives everlasting puṇya.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Mārgaśīrsha Māsa Māhātmya, chapters 1–17