Lalitā Tṛtīyā Vrata

Lalitā Tṛtīyā Vrata · lalitā-tṛtīyā-vrata, “the vow of Lalitā’s third lunar day”

The Lalitā Tṛtīyā Vrata is a vrata for women, kept for twelve months from the śukla tṛtīyā (third lunar day of the bright half) of Māgha. Each month Devī Pārvatī is worshipped by one of twelve names, and the vratinī takes one prāśana (sacred sip or taste) for that month. It gives saubhāgya (good fortune in marriage), wealth, happiness, sons, beauty, long life and ārogya (health), and svarga.

Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa tells it to King Yudhishṭhira in the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa, Chapter 21, as an ancient account: Devī Umā asked Bhagavān Sadāśiva on Kailāsa for a vrata for the sake of the women of the world, and he taught her this rule. At the end a Veda-reciting brāhmaṇa and his wife are honoured as Bhagavān Śiva and Devī Pārvatī. The woman who keeps it goes with her husband to a divine loka for ten thousand years.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 21

Umā’s question at Kailāsa

Yudhishṭhira asked Śrī Kṛshṇa to describe the vratas kept through the twelve months. Śrī Kṛshṇa answered with an ancient account.

Once Bhagavān Śrī Sadāśiva sat on Mount Kailāsa, honoured by devatās, gandharvas, yakshas, kinnaras, siddhas, tapasvins, nāgas and others. Bhagavatī Umā humbly prayed to him: “Mahārāja, please tell me of the excellent tṛtīyā vrata by which a woman gains saubhāgya, wealth, happiness, sons, beauty, Lakshmī, long life and ārogya, and also svarga.”

Bhagavān Śiva laughed and said: “Priye, what thing in the three worlds is hard for you to obtain, that you ask about a vrata to gain it?”

Devī Pārvatī said: “Mahārāja, your word is true. By your grace all good things of the three worlds are easy for me. But in the world many women do my ārādhanā with bhakti and take my refuge, for their many desires and for the removal of what is inauspicious. So tell me a vrata by which they may gain their wish with ease.”

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 21

The vidhi

Bhagavān Śiva then gave the rule.

1. A woman who desires the vrata, restrained, rises in the morning on Māgha śukla tṛtīyā, finishes her nitya karma and takes the niyama of the vrata.
2. At noon she bathes in pure water mixed with bilva and āmalaka, and wears clean clothes.
3. With gandha, flowers, dīpa, camphor, kuṅkuma and many naivedyas she does the pūjā, with bhakti, of Devī Pārvatī, who is full of vātsalya (a mother’s love) for devotees.
4. Meditating on her by the name Īśānī, she places water, akshata and gold in a copper pot, and with a saṅkalpa for saubhāgya and the like gives that pot in dāna to a brāhmaṇa.
5. The brāhmaṇa performs abhisheka of the vratinī with the water from that pot.
6. She sips kuśodaka (kuśa water), and at night, meditating on Bhagavatī Umā Devī, spreads a bed of kuśa on the ground and sleeps.
7. Next morning she rises, bathes, does the pūjā of the Bhagavatī by rule, feeds brāhmaṇas as her means allow, and eats in silence.

She keeps the vrata so for twelve months, does the pūjā of the Bhagavatī with śraddhā, and gives dāna to brāhmaṇas every month.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 21

The twelve names and prāśanas

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 21

The close of the vrata

At the end she invites a brāhmaṇa who recites the Veda, with his wife. Holding in mind that they are Bhagavān Śiva and Devī Pārvatī, she does their pūjā with gandha, flowers and the like, feeds them with bhakti, and satisfies them with ornaments, grain, dakshiṇā and the like. She gives the brāhmaṇa two white cloths and the brāhmaṇī two red cloths.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 21

The phala

The woman who keeps this vrata with bhakti goes with her husband to a divine loka and enjoys excellent bhogas for ten thousand years. Coming again to the human world, the two are husband and wife again, and gain ārogya, wealth, children and all good things. The husband of the woman who keeps this vrata stays ever devoted to her and holds her dearer than his life. In another birth the vratinī becomes a queen and enjoys the happiness of a kingdom.

The list of vratas at the close of the Uttara Parva names it again as the Lalitā Tṛtīyā.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 21, 208

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 21, 208