The Dwadashi of Padmanabha, in the month of Ashwin.
- Falls on
- The Dwadashi of each lunar month, the twelfth tithi, the day the Ekadashi fast is broken What this is. Dwadashi is Vishnu's own tithi and the parana day. Each month's Dwadashi carries a different form or avatar of Vishnu, and the named days are that general observance with a specific form attached. The Padma Purana prescribes charity on Dwadashi, cows, food or clothing, and the Vishnu Dharmottara Purana prescribes fasting and worship. So the underlying practice is identical across all thirteen; only the form invoked changes. | Named Dwadashi | Form invoked |---|---| Matsya | The fish, who saved Manu and the Vedas from the deluge | Kurma | The tortoise, who bore Mandara during the churning | Varaha | The boar, who lifted the earth from the waters | Narasimha (also Govinda Dwadashi, in Phalguna, just before Holi) | The man-lion, who killed Hiranyakashipu at a threshold at twilight | Vamana | The dwarf, who measured the worlds in three paces, also linked to Onam and Mahabali's visit | Parashurama | The axe-bearer | Ramalakshmana | Rama and Lakshmana together; traditionally kept for the birth of a son | Kalki | The avatar yet to come; Shukla Dwadashi is the prophesied date of that birth | Vasudeva, Damodara, Padmanabha, Yogeshwara | Names of Vishnu from the twelve-name cycle used through the year | Bhishma | Not an avatar, commemorates Bhishma, who chose to die during Uttarayana
