Somaśarman and the Nakshatra Purusha Vrata

Chapters 53 and 54 of the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa hold two linked teachings. The first is the account of Somaśarman, a brāhmaṇa who became a preta (a ghost) and was set free by the merchant Sudharmā through proper śrāddha rites. The second is the Nakshatra Purusha Vrata, in which the twenty-seven nakshatras (lunar mansions) are matched to the limbs of Bhagavān Vishṇu’s body. The text says that worship through this vrata (sacred vow) restores beauty, health and good fortune. King Purūravas won back his beauty through it.

Somaśarman as a preta

Somaśarman was a brāhmaṇa who had died without his descendants doing the proper funeral and śrāddha rites for him. So his spirit stayed bound to the earth as a preta. He could not go on to the next world. He wandered in hunger and distress, as happens to those whose rites have been neglected.

The Purāṇa describes his state in strong words. The preta suffers greatly. He cannot eat, cannot rest and cannot move on. His state shows how much the rites matter, which bind the living to the dead from one generation to the next. (Chapter 53)

The merchant Sudharmā

Sudharmā was a merchant (vaṇika). In the course of his travels he met the preta of Somaśarman. The meeting was frightening, for the preta appeared before him. But Sudharmā did not run away. He spoke to the spirit with kindness and asked about his state and what could be done to help him.

Somaśarman told him his trouble: his descendants had not done the śrāddha rites, and he was trapped as a preta. He told Sudharmā what must be done to free him. (Chapter 53)

Freed through śrāddha

Sudharmā saw to it that the proper funeral rites and śrāddha were done. By this, Somaśarman was freed from his preta state and was able to go on his way to the realm that was right for him. The account stresses the duty of the living towards the dead. It also shows the power of kindness in a stranger who takes up a duty that the blood relatives had left undone. (Chapter 53)

Purūravas and the Nakshatra Purusha Vrata

In Chapters 53 and 54 the account turns to King Purūravas, who had lost his bodily beauty because of some earlier event. In his distress he was told to keep the Nakshatra Purusha Vrata. In this vrata Bhagavān Vishṇu is worshipped through all twenty-seven nakshatras, and each nakshatra is matched with one limb of his divine body. Purūravas kept the vrata faithfully, and his beauty came back. (Chapter 53)

The Nakshatra Purusha Vrata

Chapter 54 gives the full teaching of the Nakshatra Purusha Vrata. The twenty-seven nakshatras, from Aśvinī to Revatī, are each matched with one part of the cosmic body of Bhagavān Vishṇu. They run from his feet, ankles, calves, knees and thighs, and so upward through the torso, chest, arms, shoulders, neck, head and crown. Worship on the day of each nakshatra is offered to Bhagavān Vishṇu in that matching form. It asks for the blessing that belongs to that part of the body. The whole vrata is thus worship of the Viśvarūpa (the universal form) through the cycle of the lunar mansions.

The vrata is given as:

• A cure for loss of beauty and for bodily illness
• A way to win the blessings of all twenty-seven nakshatras at once
• A form of worship of Bhagavān Vishṇu that takes in the whole visible sky

(Chapter 54)

Sources

• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 53
• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 54