Thirteen Names of Dharmarāja
Dharmarāja Trayodaśa Nāma, “the thirteen names of Dharmarāja”
The Thirteen Names of Dharmarāja are the names of Yama that the giver says with śraddhā on the Trayodaśī, the thirteenth lunar day, in the Tithi-dāna. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa gives them to Mahārāja Yudhishṭhira in the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa.
The setting
Śrī Kṛshṇa tells the vidhāna of Tithi-dāna, the gifts for each tithi, which cut off pāpa of body, speech and mind. For Trayodaśī the giver has thirteen worthy brāhmaṇas bathe, dresses them in fine cloth, adorns them with gandha and flowers, worships them, feeds them excellent food and gives gold as dakshiṇā, saying “धर्मो मे प्रीयताम्” (dharmo me prīyatām, “may Dharma be pleased with me”). Then with śraddhā he says these thirteen names of Dharmarāja, bows, and does visarjana.
The thirteen names
- Dharmarāja, king of dharma
- Kāla, time
- Citragupta
- Daṇḍī, the bearer of the rod
- Mṛtyu, death
- Kshayarūpa, of the form of decay
- Antaka, the ender
- Yama
- Pretanātha, master of the pretas
- Raudra, the fierce
- Vaivasvata, son of Vivasvān
- Mahishastha, seated on the buffalo
- Deva
The phala
One who worships Yamarāja by this vidhi is rid of all diseases and has no suffering on the path of Yama. After long dwelling in Pitṛloka he is born in the mortal world, happy, with sons.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 193
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 193