Kaisika Dvadasi (Sauramana) 2021

Kaisika Dvadasi (கைசிக துவாதசி) is kept in the Tamil month of Karthigai, when the Sun is in Vrischika, on the Shukla Dvadashi that follows Kaisika Ekadasi. It takes its name from Kaisika, the raga sung by Nampaduvan, a devotee of humble birth who sang every night before Lord Nambi at Thirukkurungudi.

The Kaisika Mahatmyam, told by Lord Varaha to Bhudevi in the Varaha Purana, recounts how Nampaduvan, stopped on his way to the temple by a Brahmarakshasa, kept his word to return and be eaten after singing, and freed the Brahmarakshasa with the merit of his song.

At Srirangam: on the evening of Kaisika Ekadasi, Lord Namperumal is brought from the sanctum to the Arjuna Mandapam, where he is adorned one by one with 365 vastrams, one for each day of the year. Devotees say the offering makes up for any lapse in the Lord's daily clothing through the year, and keeps him warm in the cool of Karthigai. Late in the night, the descendants of Sri Parasara Bhattar read the Kaisika Puranam before the Lord, with Bhattar's commentary, as they have done for centuries. The night of music and listening closes at the Dvadashi dawn.

At Thirukkurungudi, where the story happened, it is enacted through the night as the Kaisika Natakam, and in Sri Vaishnava temples everywhere the Kaisika Puranam is read on the Dvadashi morning.

Kaisika Dvadasi celebrates devotion through music, and the truth of one's word, as dearer to the Lord than birth or learning.