Twelve Month-Names of Bhagavān Vishṇu
Dvādaśa Māsa Nāma, “the twelve month-names”
The twelve month-names of Bhagavān Vishṇu are his names as master of the devatās, recited in order through the twelve months from Mārgaśīrsha. One who recites them is lifted out of durgati (an evil fate). Śrī Kṛshṇa gives them to King Yudhishṭhira in the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa, within the Manoratha Pūrṇimā vrata.
The setting
Śrī Kṛshṇa tells of the Manoratha Pūrṇimā, kept from the full moon of Phālguna for a whole year, by which all the devotee’s wishes are fulfilled. On each full moon the devotee worships Bhagavān Janārdana with Lakshmī, remembers him at every moment, avoids speech with those who reject the Veda, and at night offers arghya to Candra, contemplating Nārāyaṇa and Lakshmī in the moon. The year is kept in three pāraṇās of four months, with Janārdana and Lakshmī, Śrīdhara with Śrī, and Keśava with Bhūti, and each month the devotee gives a brāhmaṇa a water pot, sandals, an umbrella, gold, cloth and food.
The twelve names
One who recites the names of Bhagavān Vishṇu in the twelve months from Mārgaśīrsha, in order, is lifted out of durgati:
- Keśava
- Nārāyaṇa
- Mādhava
- Govinda
- Vishṇu
- Madhusūdana
- Trivikrama
- Vāmana
- Śrīdhara or Hṛshīkeśa
- Rāma
- Padmanābha or Dāmodara
- Devadeveśa, lord of the lords of the devas
The phala
One who cannot give each month makes, at the end of the year, a golden disc of the moon, worships it and gives it to a brāhmaṇa. For many births the devotee does not suffer separation from what is dear, all his wishes are fulfilled, and, remembering Nārāyaṇa, he reaches a divine loka.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 104
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 104