Twelve Names of the Malla Dvādaśī
Malla Dvādaśī Dvādaśa Nāma, “the twelve names of the wrestlers’ twelfth day”
The twelve names of the Malla Dvādaśī are the names under which Bhagavān Vishṇu is worshipped, one each month, in the Malla Dvādaśī vrata, from Keśava to Dāmodara. Śrī Kṛshṇa gives them to Mahārāja Yudhishṭhira in the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa.
The origin of the vrata
Śrī Kṛshṇa tells of himself that when he was eight years old he sat on a throne under a banyan tree in Bhāṇḍaura-vana on the bank of the Yamunā. Great mallas (wrestlers), Surabhadra, Maṇḍalīka, Yogavardhana, Yakshendrabhadra and others, and gopīs, Gopālī, Dhanyā, Viśākhā, Dhyānanishṭhikā, Anugandhā, Sudhagā and others, worshipped him there with curd, milk, fruit and flowers. Three hundred and sixty mallas held a wrestling contest and a great festival for his delight, with food, gifts of cows and the honouring of brāhmaṇas. From that day the Malla Dvādaśī came into practice, and because the mallas began it, it bears their name.
The twelve names
The vrata begins on the bright dvādaśī of Mārgaśīrsha and runs to the bright dvādaśī of Kārtika. Each month, in order, the pūjā is done with gandha, flowers, dhūpa, lamps, song, instruments and dance under these names:
At each pūjā the devotee says kṛshṇo me prīyatām, “may Kṛshṇa be pleased with me”.
The phala
Śrī Kṛshṇa says this dvādaśī vrata is very dear to him. The gopas who kept it received cows, buffaloes and farmland in abundance. Whoever keeps it gains, by Śrī Kṛshṇa’s grace, health, strength, prosperity and the eternal Vishṇuloka.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 73–74
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 73–74