Twelve Names on the Sūrya Lotus
Sūrya Padma Dvādaśa Nāma, “the twelve names on the lotus of Sūrya”
The Twelve Names on the Sūrya Lotus are the twelve names of Bhagavān Sūrya set, one on each petal, on a twelve-petalled lotus drawn in red sandal for the Ādityavāra Nakta vrata, the Sunday vow of one meal at night. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa gives them to Yudhishṭhira in the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa.
The setting
Yudhishṭhira asks for a vrata that destroys all pāpa, gives health and gives endless fruit. Śrī Kṛshṇa says that the Parabrahma, the Viśvātmā, stands in the world divided into three, as Sūrya, Agni and Candra: worshipping that Paramātmā, what can a person not obtain? So one keeps nakta on Sunday with undivided bhakti in Bhagavān Sūrya, and worships brāhmaṇas. In the evening one draws a twelve-petalled lotus in red sandal.
The twelve names
On the twelve petals, in order:
- Sūrya
- Divākara, maker of the day
- Vivasvān, the shining one
- Bhaga
- Varuṇa
- Mahendra
- Āditya, son of Aditi
- Śānta, the peaceful
- (a name damaged in the print)
- Yama
- Mārtaṇḍa
- Ravi
They are worshipped and offered arghya with sesame, red sandal, fruit and akshata, and then the visarjana is done. At night, remembering Bhagavān Bhāskara, one eats a meal without oil; on the Saturday before, one does not anoint with oil.
The udyāpana and the phala
After a year, a golden lotus is set in a copper vessel full of jaggery, with a two-armed golden image of Bhagavān Sūrya on it and a golden cow with her calf; these are worshipped and given to a learned brāhmaṇa. Women and men who complete this vrata through the year become free of disease, dhārmika, rich in wealth and grain, with sons and grandsons, and at the end reach Sūryaloka.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 115–116
The lotus of the Saṅkrānti vrata
In the same teaching Śrī Kṛshṇa gives an eight-petalled lotus for the Saṅkrānti vrata, drawn in sandal on the ground on the day of a saṅkrānti, with Sūrya invoked on it by these names: Sūrya on the pericarp; Āditya in the east; Saptārci, of seven flames, in the south-east; Ṛṅmaṇḍala, whose orb is the Ṛk verses, in the south; Savitā in the south-west; Varuṇa in the west; Saptasapti, of seven horses, in the north-west; Mārtaṇḍa in the north; and Vishṇu in the north-east.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 115–116
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 115–116