Śravaṇa Dvādaśī Vrata

Śravaṇa Dvādaśī Vrata, “the vow of the twelfth day with Śravaṇa”

The Śravaṇa Dvādaśī Vrata is a vrata (sacred vow) kept on the dvādaśī (twelfth tithi) of the śukla paksha (bright fortnight) of Bhādrapada, when that day is joined with Budha (Wednesday) and the Śravaṇa nakshatra. The Vāmana Purāṇa, in Chapter 53, says that it bears great fruit, greatly increases puṇya (merit) and brings endless happiness. It is taught there within an account that Pulastya Maharshi tells Nārada: the preta Somaśarmā tells the merchant Sudharma of the vrata’s fruit, and Sudharma, keeping it birth after birth, rises at last to be born as Purūravas.

The Agni Purāṇa (Chapter 189) gives the full vidhi of the vrata, told by Agni Deva. The keeper fasts on the dvādaśī and worships a golden mūrti of Bhagavān Vāmana set on a kalaśa of water: Vāmana in two white garments, with the umbrella, the sandals, the daṇḍa, the śaṅkha and the cakra. He bathes the mūrti in pañcāmṛta, offers arghya, does 108 homas with the mantra vāmanāya namaḥ, worships each limb with a name of Bhagavān Vishṇu, keeps vigil through the night, bathes at a confluence of rivers at dawn, offers the pushpāñjali to Govinda, gives the materials of the pūjā to a brāhmaṇa as Vāmana himself, and breaks the fast on the trayodaśī. The Agni Purāṇa (Chapter 115) also tells of a king of pretas who lived on the fruit of one gift made on Śravaṇa Dvādaśī.

When it is kept

The day is the Bhādrapada śukla dvādaśī. When it falls on a Wednesday and the Moon is in the nakshatra Śravaṇa, the vrata is kept. “If you observe this Dvādaśī vrata of Bhādrapada śukla, joined with Budha and Śravaṇa nakshatra,” the preta told Sudharma, “endless happiness will come to you.”

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 53

The account told with it

At the beginning of the Tretā yuga, the merchant Sudharma of Śākala in the Madra country was robbed in a desert on his way to Surāshṭra. Wandering, he came to a lone śamī tree and there met a lord of pretas (departed beings), carried by another preta and surrounded by hundreds of pretas, eaters of piṇḍas, their bodies dried up. A pot of curd-rice and a pot of clear water appeared from nowhere, and the preta-leader fed Sudharma, then his retinue, then himself, and the pots vanished.

The preta-leader told him who he was. In Śākala he had been the brāhmaṇa Somaśarmā, a great miser who never gave to brāhmaṇas. Once, in the month of Bhādrapada, the parva of Dvādaśī came. He went with his neighbour, the Vishṇu-bhakta vaiśya Somaśrava, to bathe at the confluence of the Irāvatī and the Naḍvalā, observed the Ekādaśī fast, and gave a pure, learned brāhmaṇa a new water pot covered with a cloth, an umbrella, a pair of sandals and a pot of sweet curd-rice. It was the only dāna (gift) of his seventy years. As a preta he now ate that very food: the two pots came to him every day at midday and stayed inexhaustible until he had eaten; the umbrella had become the śamī tree that gave him shade; the sandals had become the pretas who carried him. “I have told you of my miserliness,” he said, “and of the great fruit of the Śravaṇa Dvādaśī vrata. It greatly increases puṇya.”

He asked Sudharma to offer piṇḍa for him at Gayā, and taught him the vrata. Then the pretas carried Sudharma across the desert to the Śūrasena country. Sudharma prospered again, offered piṇḍa at Gayāśira for the pretas by name and gotra, and at once they left the preta state and went to Brahmaloka.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 53

The phala

Sudharma returned to his city, kept the Śravaṇa Dvādaśī vrata, and died. He enjoyed bhogas (enjoyments) in Gandharva loka for a long time; was born a man in Śākala, kept the vrata without fail and gave up his body; enjoyed every bhoga in Yaksha loka; was born a king’s son, fought to free cows and died victorious; was honoured by the devas in Indra loka; and when his puṇya was spent, was born a brāhmaṇa in Śākala, ugly in form, whom his young wife despised. On the bank of the Irāvatī he worshipped Vishṇu Deva and, with the Nakshatra Purusha vrata, gained a beautiful form as a vara. In that birth too, by the vāsanās (impressions) of former births, he kept performing the Śravaṇa Dvādaśī vratas, and by the grace of Bhagavān Vishṇu the ugly dvija became of a form like Manmatha. After death he was born as Purūravas.

Pulastya Maharshi says of the whole account that it removes pāpa (sin).

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 53

Per Agni Purāṇa

Agni Deva says: “Now I shall tell the Śravaṇa Dvādaśī vrata, kept in the śukla paksha of Bhādrapada.”

When it is kept

• This dvādaśī is best when it is joined with the Śravaṇa nakshatra. Fasting on it gives great fruit.
• On Śravaṇa Dvādaśī a bath at the meeting of rivers (nadī-saṅgama) gives special fruit.
• Gifts and other acts done on a dvādaśī that has both Wednesday (Budhavāra) and the Śravaṇa nakshatra give great fruit.
• The trayodaśī is otherwise forbidden for breaking a fast, but the pāraṇa (the breaking of the fast) of this vrata is done on the trayodaśī.

(Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 189)

The vidhi

1. Saṅkalpa (the resolve): “Fasting on the dvādaśī, I shall worship the golden mūrti of Vāmana set on a kalaśa filled with water, and I shall do the pāraṇa of the vrata on the trayodaśī.”
2. Āvāhana (the invocation): “I invoke upon the kalaśa Vāmana, who wears two white garments, carries an umbrella (chatra) and sandals (pādukā), and holds the śaṅkha and the cakra.”
3. Snāna (the bath): “I bathe Vishṇu, adorned with the umbrella and the daṇḍa (staff), with pañcāmṛta and with pure water. Namaskāra to Vāmana.”
4. Arghya: “O Deveśa, worshipped by those worthy of arghya and by all others, I offer you arghya. Give me bhoga, moksha, offspring, fame, the highest prosperity and all the rest.”
5. With the mantra vāmanāya namaḥ the keeper offers gandha (fragrance), and with the same mantra he does 108 homas (offerings into the fire).

The worship of each limb

Then comes the sarvāṅga-pūjā, the worship of each limb of the mūrti, each with its own mantra:

The vigil and the dāna

1. Then he offers Vāmana naivedya cooked in ghee and a vessel full of curd and water.
2. He keeps jāgaraṇa (vigil) through the night, and at dawn bathes at the saṅgama (the meeting of rivers).
3. He worships again with gandha, flowers and the rest, and offers the pushpāñjali (an offering of flowers in the joined palms) with this prayer: “O Govinda, whose names are Budha and Śravaṇa, namaskāra, namaskāra to you. Remove all my pāpas and give me every happiness. O Devadeveśvara, O Janārdana, be ever gracious through this pushpāñjali that I give.”
4. He gives the materials of the pūjā to a brāhmaṇa, saying: “Vāmana is the giver of buddhi. Vāmana is the giver. He who is in these things is Vāmana. Vāmana receives this; Vāmana gives it. Vāmana is in all things. Namaskāra to Vishṇu in the form of Vāmana.”
5. Then he feeds the brāhmaṇas, and afterwards eats himself.

(Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 189)

The king of pretas

In the glory of Gayā, Agni Deva tells of a king of pretas (departed beings) who suffered greatly with the pretas around him. One day, seeking release, he said to a merchant: “We did only one act of puṇya, and we are now enjoying its fruit. Once, at the Śravaṇa Dvādaśī yoga, we gave the dāna of a pot (kumbha) with food and water. Every day at midday that food and water comes to us to keep us alive. Take wealth from us, go to Gayā and offer piṇḍa for us.” The merchant took the wealth and offered piṇḍa at Gayā, and the king of pretas was freed and reached Vishṇuloka. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 115)

Sources

• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 53
• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 115, 189