The full moon — the day of fullness, when the mind’s own planet is complete. It is the customary day for the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata, for charity, for honouring the guru and for a bath in sacred waters; each month’s full moon carries its own festival.
Nārada, grieved by the sufferings of people in the Kali age, asked Viṣṇu for a simple remedy, and the Lord taught him the worship of Satya-Nārāyaṇa — Truth itself as God. The kathā’s five chapters tell of a poor brāhmaṇa of Kāśī, a woodcutter, the merchant Sādhu and his daughter Kalāvatī, and King Tuṅgadhvaja: each prospered by keeping the vow and honouring its prasāda, and each stumbled on forgetting a promise made to the Lord — for truthfulness is the vow’s real offering.
🔥Pūjā and havan
In the evening: a kalaśa and an image or picture of Viṣṇu under a canopy of plantain stems; offerings of tulasī, fruit and the prasāda of roasted wheat flour, sugar, ghee, milk and banana (sapāda-bhakṣya); the five-chapter kathā is read aloud and the prasāda shared with all. Arghya is offered to the risen moon.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमो नारायणाय ॥
oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Nārāyaṇa, the refuge of all beings.
Benefit: The eight-syllable mantra — the Upaniṣad says one who recites it attains full life, prosperity and the abode of Viṣṇu.
Nārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda)
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to the blessed Lord Vāsudeva.
Benefit: The dvādaśākṣara — by this mantra the child Dhruva saw the Lord within six months; recited for devotion, protection and liberation.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.8.54 — the twelve-syllable mantra Nārada gives to Dhruva
The fourth of the dark fortnight, Gaṇeśa’s monthly vow: saṅkaṣṭa-hara, “the remover of hardships”. The fast is kept until the moon rises. When it falls on a Tuesday it is Aṅgārakī, the most prized of all.
📜The story from the scriptures
Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā-khaṇḍa; Mudgala Purāṇa
The Gaṇeśa Purāṇa tells that Aṅgāraka (Mars), son of the Earth and the sage Bharadvāja, worshipped Gaṇeśa with long austerity; the Lord appeared to him on a dark fourth that fell on a Tuesday and granted that the day bear his name, and that whoever keeps the vow on it have every obstacle removed. Each month’s Caturthī has its own form of Gaṇeśa and its own story, told at moonrise.
🌙The vrata
A day-long fast, fruit and roots permitted; at moonrise Gaṇeśa is worshipped, arghya is given to the Moon, the kathā is heard and the fast is broken.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Twenty-one dūrvā blades, red flowers, modaka or sesame laḍḍū; the Saṅkaṣṭa-nāśana Gaṇeśa-stotra from the Nārada Purāṇa and the Atharvaśīrṣa are recited.
ॐMantras and japa 1
ॐ गं गणपतये नमः ॥
oṃ gaṃ gaṇapataye namaḥ ||
Meaning: Salutation to Gaṇapati, lord of the hosts.
Benefit: Recited before every beginning — removes obstacles and grants success, learning and a steady intellect.
The eleventh tithi of each fortnight, dearest of all days to Viṣṇu. Eleven stands for the ten senses and the mind; on this day they are turned from food toward the Lord. The Padma Purāṇa gives each of the year’s Ekādaśīs its own name, story and fruit.
📜The story from the scriptures
Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 38 — the birth of Ekādaśī
In the Kṛta age the asura Mura drove the gods from heaven. Viṣṇu fought him for a thousand divine years and then withdrew to rest in the cave Hemavatī at Badarikāśrama. Mura followed, meaning to slay the sleeping Lord — when from Viṣṇu’s own body sprang a radiant maiden, armed, who met the asura in battle and reduced him to ashes with a sound. Waking, the Lord asked who had done this; she answered that she was born of him, on the eleventh day. Pleased, he named her Ekādaśī and granted her wish: that whoever fasts on her day be freed from wrong and come to his abode.
🌙The vrata
A light single meal on Daśamī; on Ekādaśī a full fast, or fruit and milk, with all grains and beans set aside; a night vigil with the names of Hari; and pāraṇa on Dvādaśī morning after sunrise, within the Dvādaśī, after feeding another.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Viṣṇu is worshipped with tulasī leaves, sandal, flowers, lamp and fruit; the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma, the Gītā and the Ekādaśī-māhātmya of the day are read; lamps are lit before the tulasī at dusk.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to the blessed Lord Vāsudeva.
Benefit: The dvādaśākṣara — by this mantra the child Dhruva saw the Lord within six months; recited for devotion, protection and liberation.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.8.54 — the twelve-syllable mantra Nārada gives to Dhruva
ॐ नमो नारायणाय ॥
oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Nārāyaṇa, the refuge of all beings.
Benefit: The eight-syllable mantra — the Upaniṣad says one who recites it attains full life, prosperity and the abode of Viṣṇu.
The thirteenth tithi at twilight — the hour and a half around sunset when Śiva, having drunk the poison of the churned ocean, danced between the horns of Nandī for the joy of the gods. Worship in this window is held to please him swiftly; a Monday (Soma) or Saturday (Śani) Pradoṣa is prized most.
When the hālāhala poison rose from the churned ocean and scorched the worlds, the gods fled to Kailāsa. Śiva, in compassion, gathered the poison in his palm and drank it; Pārvatī pressed his throat, and it stayed there, turning it blue — Nīlakaṇṭha. The Skanda Purāṇa tells that on the thirteenth, at dusk, he danced in gladness while the gods stood round in worship, and relates how a destitute widow’s son and an orphaned prince, taught the Pradoṣa vow by the sage Śāṇḍilya, regained a kingdom by it.
🌙The vrata
A fast from sunrise, broken after the twilight worship; kept on both thirteenths of the month.
🔥Pūjā and havan
In the pradoṣa window: abhiṣeka of the liṅga with milk and water, bilva leaves, lamp and incense; Nandī is worshipped first and the liṅga viewed between his horns; the pradakṣiṇā is done in the half-circle Soma-sūtra manner; the Śiva-pradoṣa-stotra and Rudram are recited.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॥
oṃ namaḥ śivāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Śiva, the auspicious one.
Benefit: The five-syllable mantra at the heart of the Yajurveda — purifies the five elements of the body and steadies the mind in Śiva.
Meaning: We worship the three-eyed Lord, fragrant, the nourisher of all; as a ripe gourd is freed from its stalk, may he free us from death, not from immortality.
Benefit: The great death-conquering mantra — japa of 108 for health, long life, recovery from illness and fearlessness.
The monthly night of Śiva, the fourteenth of the dark half, when the waning moon — the mind — is almost still. Those who keep all twelve through the year complete the vow on Mahā Śivarātri.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Evening or midnight worship of the liṅga with water, milk and bilva; a fast through the day; japa of the pañcākṣarī.
ॐMantras and japa 1
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॥
oṃ namaḥ śivāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Śiva, the auspicious one.
Benefit: The five-syllable mantra at the heart of the Yajurveda — purifies the five elements of the body and steadies the mind in Śiva.
The new moon, when Sun and Moon dwell together — the day that belongs to the ancestors. Offerings of water and sesame made today reach them directly, and their blessing is sought for the family’s welfare. A new moon on a Monday (Somavatī) is especially sacred for married women, who circle the pīpal tree 108 times; on a Saturday (Śanaiścarī) Śani is propitiated with sesame oil; on a Tuesday (Bhaumavatī) debts are said to be cleared by ancestral rites.
📜The story from the scriptures
Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana-parva 87–92; Matsya Purāṇa 14 (Acchodā and the Pitṛs)
The Matsya Purāṇa tells of Acchodā, mind-born daughter of the Pitṛs, who through a moment’s wavering fell from heaven. The Pitṛs, in compassion, told her that the day of her fall would be named Amāvasyā, dear to them above all days, and that whatever is offered to the ancestors on it would be imperishable. Bhīṣma teaches Yudhiṣṭhira that of all tithis the new moon is foremost for the śrāddha.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Tarpaṇa with water and black sesame facing south; feeding of crows, cows and the needy; a lamp of sesame oil under the pīpal at dusk; on Somavatī, circumambulation of the pīpal with thread, and a vow of silence at the bath.
The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.
📜The story from the scriptures
Devī Māhātmya (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa 81–93)
King Suratha, driven from his kingdom, and the merchant Samādhi, cast out by his family, met in the hermitage of the sage Medhas and asked why the heart clings to what has wounded it. The sage answered with the three deeds of the Goddess: how as Mahāmāyā she woke Viṣṇu to slay Madhu and Kaiṭabha; how, born of the gathered radiance of all the gods and armed by each of them, she fought the buffalo-demon Mahiṣāsura for nine days and slew him on the tenth; and how as Kauśikī, with Kālī and the Mātṛkās, she destroyed Śumbha, Niśumbha, Caṇḍa, Muṇḍa and Raktabīja, whose every drop of blood bred a new demon. King and merchant worshipped her on a riverbank for three years; to the one she gave back his kingdom, to the other the knowledge that frees.
🪔Regional traditions and folklore
Bengal, Assam and Odisha celebrate Durgā Pūjā as the daughter’s homecoming, with paṇḍāls, dhāk drums and sindūra-khelā. Gujarat dances garbā and ḍāṇḍiyā around a lamp in a pierced clay pot. Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Karnataka arrange golu — stepped displays of dolls — and Mysuru holds its royal Dasarā. North India stages the Rāma-līlā; Himachal’s Kullu Dasarā begins when the others end; Telangana builds Batukamma towers of flowers.
🌙The vrata
Fasting for nine days, or on the first and last; one meal of fruit, milk and non-grain foods. Barley sown on the first day is watched as an omen of the year’s harvest. The fast closes with kanyā-pūjana on the eighth or ninth day.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Ghaṭa-sthāpana on the first morning: a kalaśa of water, mango leaves and coconut on a bed of sown barley, with an unbroken lamp (akhaṇḍa-jyoti). The Devī Māhātmya’s seven hundred verses are read daily with Kavaca, Argalā and Kīlaka; the Caṇḍī-homa, with each verse an oblation, is performed on Aṣṭamī or Navamī. Nine little girls are worshipped as the Goddess, their feet washed, and fed pūrī, canā and halvā.
Meaning: O auspiciousness of all that is auspicious, O consort of Śiva, accomplisher of every aim, refuge, three-eyed Gaurī, Nārāyaṇī — salutation to you.
Benefit: The best-loved verse of the Caṇḍī — recited for auspiciousness in the home, the fulfilment of rightful wishes and the Mother’s protection.
Devī Māhātmya 11.10 (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa) — the gods’ hymn to Nārāyaṇī
या देवी सर्वभूतेषु शक्तिरूपेण संस्थिता ।
नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः ॥
The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.
The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.
The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.
The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.
The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.
The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.
The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.
Durgāṣṭamī
✦Significance
Mahāṣṭamī, the great eighth — the height of the nine nights. On this day Cāmuṇḍā sprang from the brow of the Goddess to destroy Caṇḍa and Muṇḍa, and the Sandhi-pūjā at the junction of the eighth and ninth tithis marks that very moment.
📜The story from the scriptures
Devī Māhātmya 7
When the asura generals Caṇḍa and Muṇḍa advanced with their army to seize her, the face of Ambikā grew dark as ink with anger, and from her forehead leapt Kālī — sword and noose in hand, garlanded with skulls, gaunt and terrible, filling the quarters with her roar. She devoured the host, elephants and chariots together, seized Caṇḍa by the hair and struck off his head, and felled Muṇḍa after him. Carrying the two heads to the Goddess she was told: “Because you have brought me Caṇḍa and Muṇḍa, you shall be famed in the world as Cāmuṇḍā.”
🪔Regional traditions and folklore
In Bengal 108 lotuses and 108 lamps are offered in the forty-eight minutes of Sandhi-pūjā, and a young girl is worshipped as Kumārī — a rite Svāmī Vivekānanda made famous at Belur Maṭh. In the south it is Durgāṣṭamī and the eve of Āyudha-pūjā; in North India kanyā-pūjana is kept today or tomorrow.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Worship of the Goddess’s weapons and her sixty-four yoginīs; the Aṣṭamī fast; offering of red hibiscus, coconut and pumpkin; recitation of the middle episode of the Caṇḍī; homa with the navārṇa mantra.
ॐMantras and japa 2
या देवी सर्वभूतेषु शक्तिरूपेण संस्थिता ।
नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः ॥
Meaning: O auspiciousness of all that is auspicious, O consort of Śiva, accomplisher of every aim, refuge, three-eyed Gaurī, Nārāyaṇī — salutation to you.
Benefit: The best-loved verse of the Caṇḍī — recited for auspiciousness in the home, the fulfilment of rightful wishes and the Mother’s protection.
Devī Māhātmya 11.10 (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa) — the gods’ hymn to Nārāyaṇī
The nine nights of the Goddess in autumn — three for Durgā who destroys, three for Lakṣmī who nourishes, three for Sarasvatī who illumines; or, in the northern reckoning, one for each of the Nava-Durgās from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī. The Goddess herself promises in the Devī Māhātmya that those who hear her glory in the great autumn worship will be freed from every trouble and blessed with wealth, grain and children.
Vijayā Daśamī (Dasarā)
✦Significance
The tenth of victory — of Rāma over Rāvaṇa, of Durgā over Mahiṣāsura, of the Pāṇḍavas’ return to arms. The whole day is a self-standing muhūrta for beginning study, a craft, a journey or an enterprise, and the afternoon Vijaya-muhūrta is held to make every undertaking succeed.
📜The story from the scriptures
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha-kāṇḍa 105–108; Mahābhārata, Virāṭa-parva 5 and 41
On the battlefield of Laṅkā the sage Agastya came to the weary Rāma and taught him the Āditya-hṛdaya, the hymn to the Sun that brings victory. Rāma, thrice purified, recited it, took up the Brahmā-weapon given by Agastya, and loosed it at Rāvaṇa’s heart; the ten-headed king fell, and the gods rained flowers. The Mahābhārata remembers the same tithi: the Pāṇḍavas, entering their year of disguise, hid their weapons in a śamī tree outside Virāṭa’s city; when the year ended Arjuna took down the Gāṇḍīva from the śamī and alone routed the Kaurava host that had come to steal the cattle.
🪔Regional traditions and folklore
Across North India effigies of Rāvaṇa, Kumbhakarṇa and Meghanāda are burnt at sunset to close the Rāma-līlā. In Maharashtra leaves of the āpṭā tree are exchanged as “gold”, recalling Kautsa, for whom Kubera rained gold on a śamī tree at Raghu’s prayer. Mysuru’s Jambū Savārī carries Cāmuṇḍeśvarī on a golden howdah; Bengal bids Durgā farewell with sindūra-khelā and immersion; Kerala and Karnataka begin children’s letters with Vidyārambham; tools, vehicles and books are worshipped in Āyudha-pūjā.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Aparājitā-pūjā in the afternoon, facing north-east; Śamī-pūjā with the prayer that the śamī which held Arjuna’s bow may remove obstacles; sīmollaṅghana — ceremonially crossing the village boundary; worship of weapons, instruments and account books. The Āditya-hṛdaya and the Rāma-rakṣā are recited.
Meaning: O auspiciousness of all that is auspicious, O consort of Śiva, accomplisher of every aim, refuge, three-eyed Gaurī, Nārāyaṇī — salutation to you.
Benefit: The best-loved verse of the Caṇḍī — recited for auspiciousness in the home, the fulfilment of rightful wishes and the Mother’s protection.
Devī Māhātmya 11.10 (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa) — the gods’ hymn to Nārāyaṇī
The eleventh tithi of each fortnight, dearest of all days to Viṣṇu. Eleven stands for the ten senses and the mind; on this day they are turned from food toward the Lord. The Padma Purāṇa gives each of the year’s Ekādaśīs its own name, story and fruit.
📜The story from the scriptures
Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 38 — the birth of Ekādaśī
In the Kṛta age the asura Mura drove the gods from heaven. Viṣṇu fought him for a thousand divine years and then withdrew to rest in the cave Hemavatī at Badarikāśrama. Mura followed, meaning to slay the sleeping Lord — when from Viṣṇu’s own body sprang a radiant maiden, armed, who met the asura in battle and reduced him to ashes with a sound. Waking, the Lord asked who had done this; she answered that she was born of him, on the eleventh day. Pleased, he named her Ekādaśī and granted her wish: that whoever fasts on her day be freed from wrong and come to his abode.
🌙The vrata
A light single meal on Daśamī; on Ekādaśī a full fast, or fruit and milk, with all grains and beans set aside; a night vigil with the names of Hari; and pāraṇa on Dvādaśī morning after sunrise, within the Dvādaśī, after feeding another.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Viṣṇu is worshipped with tulasī leaves, sandal, flowers, lamp and fruit; the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma, the Gītā and the Ekādaśī-māhātmya of the day are read; lamps are lit before the tulasī at dusk.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to the blessed Lord Vāsudeva.
Benefit: The dvādaśākṣara — by this mantra the child Dhruva saw the Lord within six months; recited for devotion, protection and liberation.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.8.54 — the twelve-syllable mantra Nārada gives to Dhruva
ॐ नमो नारायणाय ॥
oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Nārāyaṇa, the refuge of all beings.
Benefit: The eight-syllable mantra — the Upaniṣad says one who recites it attains full life, prosperity and the abode of Viṣṇu.
The thirteenth tithi at twilight — the hour and a half around sunset when Śiva, having drunk the poison of the churned ocean, danced between the horns of Nandī for the joy of the gods. Worship in this window is held to please him swiftly; a Monday (Soma) or Saturday (Śani) Pradoṣa is prized most.
When the hālāhala poison rose from the churned ocean and scorched the worlds, the gods fled to Kailāsa. Śiva, in compassion, gathered the poison in his palm and drank it; Pārvatī pressed his throat, and it stayed there, turning it blue — Nīlakaṇṭha. The Skanda Purāṇa tells that on the thirteenth, at dusk, he danced in gladness while the gods stood round in worship, and relates how a destitute widow’s son and an orphaned prince, taught the Pradoṣa vow by the sage Śāṇḍilya, regained a kingdom by it.
🌙The vrata
A fast from sunrise, broken after the twilight worship; kept on both thirteenths of the month.
🔥Pūjā and havan
In the pradoṣa window: abhiṣeka of the liṅga with milk and water, bilva leaves, lamp and incense; Nandī is worshipped first and the liṅga viewed between his horns; the pradakṣiṇā is done in the half-circle Soma-sūtra manner; the Śiva-pradoṣa-stotra and Rudram are recited.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॥
oṃ namaḥ śivāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Śiva, the auspicious one.
Benefit: The five-syllable mantra at the heart of the Yajurveda — purifies the five elements of the body and steadies the mind in Śiva.
Meaning: We worship the three-eyed Lord, fragrant, the nourisher of all; as a ripe gourd is freed from its stalk, may he free us from death, not from immortality.
Benefit: The great death-conquering mantra — japa of 108 for health, long life, recovery from illness and fearlessness.
The brightest full moon of the year, when the Moon is said to shine with all sixteen of his kalās and to drip nectar. It is the night of Kṛṣṇa’s Mahā-rāsa, and the night Lakṣmī walks the earth asking “ko jāgarti?” — “who is awake?” — and blesses the wakeful.
📜The story from the scriptures
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.29–33
Seeing the autumn nights fragrant with jasmine and the full moon reddening the east like kumkum on the face of Lakṣmī, Kṛṣṇa took up his flute. At its sound the gopīs of Vraja left whatever they were doing — milk on the fire, meals half-served — and ran to the forest. He tested them, asking them to go home; they answered that they had left everything for his feet. Then on the bank of the Yamunā he danced the rāsa, multiplying himself so that each gopī felt him at her side alone, and that one night, the Bhāgavata says, was stretched to the length of a night of Brahmā.
🪔Regional traditions and folklore
Bowls of sweet rice-milk (khīr) are left under the open sky to soak up moonlight and shared at dawn as medicine for body and mind. Bengal, Odisha and Assam keep Kojāgarī Lakṣmī Pūjā tonight; Odisha’s girls keep Kumāra Pūrṇimā for a handsome husband; Gujarat dances Śarad Pūnam garbā; in Mithilā newly-weds receive Kojāgarā gifts of makhānā and betel. The tribal harvest festivals of central India fall on the same moon.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Evening worship of Lakṣmī and the Moon with white flowers, white sweets, puffed rice and coconut water; arghya of milk to the risen moon; a night vigil with dice, song and the names of Hari. Āyurvedic physicians prepare special medicines under this moon.
The full moon — the day of fullness, when the mind’s own planet is complete. It is the customary day for the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata, for charity, for honouring the guru and for a bath in sacred waters; each month’s full moon carries its own festival.
Nārada, grieved by the sufferings of people in the Kali age, asked Viṣṇu for a simple remedy, and the Lord taught him the worship of Satya-Nārāyaṇa — Truth itself as God. The kathā’s five chapters tell of a poor brāhmaṇa of Kāśī, a woodcutter, the merchant Sādhu and his daughter Kalāvatī, and King Tuṅgadhvaja: each prospered by keeping the vow and honouring its prasāda, and each stumbled on forgetting a promise made to the Lord — for truthfulness is the vow’s real offering.
🔥Pūjā and havan
In the evening: a kalaśa and an image or picture of Viṣṇu under a canopy of plantain stems; offerings of tulasī, fruit and the prasāda of roasted wheat flour, sugar, ghee, milk and banana (sapāda-bhakṣya); the five-chapter kathā is read aloud and the prasāda shared with all. Arghya is offered to the risen moon.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमो नारायणाय ॥
oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Nārāyaṇa, the refuge of all beings.
Benefit: The eight-syllable mantra — the Upaniṣad says one who recites it attains full life, prosperity and the abode of Viṣṇu.
Nārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda)
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to the blessed Lord Vāsudeva.
Benefit: The dvādaśākṣara — by this mantra the child Dhruva saw the Lord within six months; recited for devotion, protection and liberation.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.8.54 — the twelve-syllable mantra Nārada gives to Dhruva
📖Scriptural references 1
Skanda Purāṇa, Revā-khaṇḍa (Satyanārāyaṇa-kathā)
Reference shelf
◐The twenty-six Ekādaśīs 26
The year of twenty-four Ekādaśīs — outer ring bright fortnight, inner ring dark; the centre holds the two of the intercalary month
The Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa, adhyāyas 38–63, tells the glory of each Ekādaśī as Śrī Kṛṣṇa told it to Yudhiṣṭhira. The cards give the amānta month; the Purāṇa speaks in the pūrṇimānta reckoning of North India, which writes each dark fortnight under the following month’s name — so a verse may say “Pauṣa” where the card says Mārgaśīrṣa. The day is the same. Each card opens onto its chapter in the Library.
On the Dvādaśī the pavitrāropaṇa — the offering of the sacred thread — to Vāsudeva is taught, with threads of gold, silver, copper, linen, silk and lotus-fibre.
English rendering by Horā — the edition on file carries a Hindi commentary only.
In the chapter: King Mahījit and the sage Lomaśa; the pavitrāropaṇa follows on the Dvādaśī
देवता निर्जिताः सर्वाः स्वर्गभ्रष्टाः कृताः प्रभो ।
अत्युग्रेण हि दैत्येन मुरनाम्ना महौजसा ।
इंद्रस्य वचनं श्रुत्वा विष्णुर्वचनमब्रवीत् ॥ 65 ॥
All the gods have been defeated and cast out of heaven, O Lord, by the exceedingly fierce and mighty daitya named Mura. Hearing Indra’s words, Viṣṇu spoke.
English rendering by Horā — the edition on file carries a Hindi commentary only.
In the chapter: the daitya Mura of Candrāvatī, who drives the gods from heaven — the chapter of Ekādaśī’s own origin
… for so many thousand years he is honoured in heaven. Bathing with sesame, rubbing the body with sesame, offering sesame into the fire, sesame in water —
English rendering by Horā — the edition on file carries a Hindi commentary only.
Nārada asked the lotus-seated Brahmā: “The one in the dark fortnight of Phālguna, Vijayā by name — tell me her merit, O best of the twice-born, by your grace.”
English rendering by Horā — the edition on file carries a Hindi commentary only.
In the chapter: Rāma at the ocean and the sage Dālbhya
अमा वा यदि वा पूर्णा संपूर्णा जायते तदा ।
भूत्वा वै नाडिकाषष्ठिर्जायते प्रतिपद्दिने ।
अश्वमेधायुतैस्तुल्या सा भवेत्पक्षवर्द्धिनी ॥ 2 ॥
When the Amāvāsyā or the Pūrṇimā runs complete — a full sixty nāḍikās — and continues into the Pratipad day, that is Pakṣavardhinī, equal to ten thousand horse-sacrifices.
English rendering by Horā — the edition on file carries a Hindi commentary only.
3
Jayā and Vijayā — named by the star
A bright Ekādaśī under Punarvasu is Jayā; a bright Dvādaśī under Śravaṇa is Vijayā. The chapter goes on to Jayantī and Pāpanāśinī in the same way.
On the Dvādaśī the pavitrāropaṇa — the offering of the sacred thread — to Vāsudeva is taught, with threads of gold, silver, copper, linen, silk and lotus-fibre.
English rendering by Horā — the edition on file carries a Hindi commentary only.
What the text asks of the day
Read together, the chapters ask for the same few things: the fast on the Ekādaśī (waterless, on Nirjalā); worship of Viṣṇu under the name the chapter gives — Dāmodara, Hṛṣīkeśa, Padmanābha; an offering that suits the day — fruits on Saphalā, sesame on Ṣaṭtilā, tulasī on Kāmikā; the vigil through the night with song and hymn; and worship again on the Dvādaśī before the fast is broken. The japa of the day is the dvādaśākṣarī, oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, with the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma.
🌘Eclipses (grahaṇa)
Varāhamihira gives both accounts side by side. First the story: the severed head that tasted the nectar and became a graha. Then the science: the Moon enters the earth’s shadow, and at a solar eclipse the Moon covers the Sun — “Rāhu is not the cause”. And then why the rite continues: by Brahmā’s boon Rāhu has a share of the oblation offered at an eclipse.
Some say that this head, though severed from the demon (asura) on account of a taste of the nectar of immortality, was not abandoned by the vital breaths, and thus attained the status of a planet (graha).
The truth is: in its own eclipse, the Moon enters the earth’s shadow; in the Sun’s eclipse, the Moon obscures the Sun. Hence the eclipse begins, for the Moon, from the hindward part, and for the Sun, not from the forward part.
Thus has the true cause of an eclipse been stated by the teachers of divine sight (the astronomer-sages); and it has been said that Rahu is not the true, physical cause in this -- such is the real purport of the science.