Ārdrānanda Tṛtīyā Vrata

Ārdrānanda Tṛtīyā Vrata, simply known as Ardrananda Tritiya Vrata, Sanskrit: आर्द्रानन्द तृतीया व्रत, Telugu: ఆర్ద్రానంద తృతీయ వ్రతం, Hindi: आर्द्रानंद तृतीया व्रत.

The Ārdrānanda Tṛtīyā Vrata is a twelve-month vrata (a vow with fasting and worship) in which Pārvatī and Parameśvara Śiva are worshipped together. It begins on a Śukla Tṛtīyā, the third tithi of the bright fortnight, that falls in an Āshāḍha month or under the nakshatra Rohiṇī, Maghā or Āmūla. Matsya Purāṇa, Chapter 64, gives it.

Devī and Bhagavān Śiva are worshipped by fifteen paired names, with white flowers and white clothes. Auspicious floor designs (muggullu) are drawn before them. The number of dust-particles in those designs counts the years the devotee enjoys in Śivaloka. At the end, a mūrti of Umā and Maheśvara on a bed is given as dāna. The phala is a stay in Śambhu-loka without suffering.

How it was taught

Parameśvara Śiva taught this pāpa-nāśana vrata (a vrata that destroys pāpa) to Pārvatī as the Ārdrānandakara Tṛtīyā Vrata. Ārdrā is Bhagavān Śiva’s nakshatra.

Timing and bathing

The vrata begins on a Śukla Tṛtīyā in one of these ways:

• in Āshāḍha dvaya, either of the two Āshāḍha months;
• on any day of the Śukla Tṛtīyā that has the nakshatra Rohiṇī, Maghā or Āmūla.

On that day the yajamāna (the one keeping the vrata) bathes in fragrant water purified with darbha. He or she wears a white cloth, white flowers and white saugandhika anointments.

The fifteen paired names

Bhavānī and Mahādeva are worshipped together on a great seat. Each pūjā-mantra calls on both at once. Each pair is given to one limb.

After the pūjā, the devotee draws muggullu (rangoli designs) of padmas, kaluvas, śaṅkhas, cakras, camaras and aṅkuśas in front of the mūrtis. The count of dust-particles in these designs measures the years of enjoyment in Śivaloka.

Then a brāhmaṇa is given four vessels of ghee, a gift of food and drink, gold, and a karakam (a vessel) filled with four cups of śaktu (pāla) and four cups of tila.

The foods of the fast, month by month

From Mārgaśīrsha to Kārtika, twelve months follow one after another, and each has a different food of the fast. The food is taken to break the fast on the day of the vrata, in the Śukla or the Kṛshṇa paksha, whichever is kept.

1. Gandha-jala (fragrant water)
2. Pushpa-jala (flower water)
3. Candana-kuṅkuma-jala (sandal and saffron water)
4. Go-kshīra (cow milk)
5. Madhu (honey)
6. Ghṛta (ghee)
7. Go-śṛṅga-jala (water held in cow-horns)
8. Pushpa-jala (flower water, the second kind)
9. Nūvula-pōḍi-jala (black sesame-powder water)
10. Vaṭa-vēḷḷa-jala (vaṭa-root water)
11. Yavala-pōḍi-jala (yava-flour water)
12. Nūvula-jala (sesame water)

The dāna at the end

At the end of twelve months the devotee gives the following to a brāhmaṇa couple, saying the mantra “Gaurī me prīyatāṃ”:

• lavaṇa (salt), kuṅkuma-flower and candana;
• a netra-paṭa (an eye-cover cloth);
• a gold lotus flower;
• sugarcane;
• fruits;
• a mūrti of Umā and Maheśvara on a bed with all its things.

The phala

Those who keep this Ārdrānandakara Tṛtīyā Vrata with upavāsa (fasting) gain dhana (wealth), āyus (long life), ārogya (health), santāna (children) and paramānanda (the highest bliss) in this life. In the next they reach Śambhu-loka, free from all śoka (grief).

Those who keep it twice in each paksha, on the Śukla and Kṛshṇa saptamī, reach Rudrāṇī-loka, from which there is no return. They also enjoy thirty thousand years in Indra-loka, worshipped by gandharvas.

Women who keep it, whether suvāsinī (married), kanyā (maiden) or vidhavā (widow), receive the full grace of Devī Pārvatī and the phala that is stated.

Sources

• Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 64