The Skanda Purana
by G. V. Tagare | 1950 | 2,545,880 words
This page describes Twenty-four Varieties of Shaligrama which is chapter 244 of the English translation of the Skanda Purana, the largest of the eighteen Mahapuranas, preserving the ancient Indian society and Hindu traditions in an encyclopedic format, detailling on topics such as dharma (virtous lifestyle), cosmogony (creation of the universe), mythology (itihasa), genealogy (vamsha) etc.
Chapter 244 - Twenty-four Varieties of Śāligrāma
[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]
Note: The names of Śāligrāmas in vv. 3-8 are the same as uttered after Ācamana at the beginning of Sandhyā.
Paijavana said:
1. O Ascetic, describe to me these different types in detail. My thirst is not adequately quenched even by drinking the nectar-like utterance of yours.
Gālava said:
2. Listen to the different types in detail as mentioned in the Purāṇas. I shall extol them to you. On listening to them a man shall certainly be liberated from all sins.
3. The first is Keśava to be worshipped. The second one is Madhusūdana. Saṅkarṣaṇa is the third. Then Dāmodara is remembered.
4. The fifth one has the name Vāsudeva. The sixth one has the appellation Pradyumna. Viṣṇu is mentioned as the seventh. The eighth one is indeed Mādhava.
5. Anantamūrti is the ninth one. The tenth is Puruṣottama. Thereafter is Adhokṣaja. The twelfth one is Janārdana.
6. The thirteenth one is Govinda. The fourteenth is Trivikrama. Śrīdhara is the fifteenth, Hṛṣīkeśa is the sixteenth.
7. Nṛsiṃha is the seventeenth. Thereafter is Viśvayoni. Vāmana is cited thereafter. Then Nārāyaṇa is remembered.
8. Then Puṇḍarīkākṣa is mentioned. Upendra is thereafter. Hari is the twenty-third and Kṛṣṇa is cited as the last one.
9. O one born of a Śūdra, the different types of Śāligrāma have been named by me to you, O highly affluent one, the different Mūrtis (Godly forms) are also mentioned. These are they themselves.
10. The Mūrtis shall also have the names of the Tithis (Lunar days) called Ekādaśī. They are always worshipped and these twenty-four Mūrtis are worshipped in the course of a year.
11. The incarnations of the Lord are twenty-four in number. The months are those beginning with Mārgaśīrṣa. Halves of the months are termed Pakṣas.
12. Worshipping them always along with the Adhīśas (presiding deities), one shall become a devotee. The foursome having twenty-four appellations have been cited.
13-14. These foursome grant the Puruṣārthas viz virtue, love, wealth and salvation to men. A man who devoutly listens to it and reads it with concentration is favoured by Hari, the protector of all created living beings.