Adhyaya 84

Chapter 84 prescribes the great Damanaka festival in the month of Caitra, centered on the bright-fortnight Dvādaśī, with preparatory worship and vigil on the Ekādaśī night. Though framed as a Vaiṣṇava observance, it also enjoins the installation and directional worship of Kāma (Kandarpa/Madana) with Rati, using a sarvatobhadra maṇḍala, mantra-nyāsa in the quarters, and 108 repetitions of the Kāma-gāyatrī. Thereafter devotees worship Keśava/Jagannātha and Janārdana with Lakṣmī, keep watch through the night, and offer damana sprigs and blossoms. The rite concludes with music and dance, water-rituals, gifts to the guru, and communal feasting. Śiva teaches Pārvatī that worship of Jagannātha includes worship of Śiva, and that even the mere sight of this festival purifies grave sins. The chapter ends by praising family prosperity, immense merit (equal to the gift of “a thousand cows”), and liberation attained through springtime floral devotion.