Skandapurana 2.2.44

Jaimini said:

Here I shall relate to you the supreme annual observance,

on the full-moon day in the month of Phālguna, the first day of the year.

The twelve forms of the beginningless God Hari,

celebrated by the names beginning with Viṣṇu, one should worship month by month.

Each one of these forms throughout the twelve months

one should worship every day with flowers and likewise with twelve kinds of fruits:

the aśoka, mallikā, pāṭala, kadaṃba,

karavīra, jāti flower, mālatī, hundred-petalled lotus,

blue lotus, vāsaṃtī, kuṃda, and punnāga.

These flowers one should joyfully offer in order to Hari.

Pomegranate, coconut, mango, jackfruit,

date, palmyra fruit, and prācīnāmalaka,

wood-apple, orange, areca nut, carambola,

and nutmeg: these fruits indeed one should offer in order.

Having offered foods to be chewed, eaten, sucked, and licked, and sweet delicacies,

and attendances beginning with a seat, and having praised the Guru of the universe:

“O All-Pervading One, Lord of the Universe, master of what has been, what is to be, and what is!

Save me, O lotus-eyed one, O Viṣṇu, from the ocean of worldly existence!

Of old, in the dreadful waters of the single ocean without support,

you slew Madhu for the protection of the universe; O Slayer of Madhu, protect me!

You who strode the three strides and, having slain the great host of Daityas,

protected the three worlds—O Trivikrama, homage to you!

Having assumed the dwarf form containing the Ṛg, Yajur, and Sāma Vedas within,

having enchanted [all] with your wondrous form, homage to that master of illusion!

To him who constantly bears Śrī upon his chest and gives fortune

to his devotees—homage to that Śrīdhara!

The presiding ruler of all the senses, the eternal sovereign,

the sole cause of joy for devotees—O Hṛṣīkeśa, homage to you!

From whose navel-lotus this universe of moving and unmoving beings arose,

the eternal seat of the Creator—O Padmanābha, homage to you!

By whom this moving and unmoving universe is bound with the three qualities,

yet who was bound with a rope by a cowherdess—O Dāmodara, homage to you!

You who slew the demon Keśin who devastated the three worlds,

the ruler of all joys—protect me, O Lord Keśava!

The Creator who created all beings, the primordial cause of the worlds,

of inconceivable majesty, O Viṣṇu—O Nārāyaṇa, homage to you!

By whose beginningless māyā this universe is deluded,

homage, homage to Mādhava, the embodiment of all righteousness!

You are accessible by knowledge to the wise, the giver of a refuge to the shelterless;

O Govinda, may my observance be made complete through your grace!”

Every month, at the end of the worship, with joined palms using these mantras,

one should pray with supreme devotion to Janārdana until the worship is concluded.

Having thus spent a year in the observance known as the Mūrtipañjara,

one should perform the concluding rite of consecration for the attainment of the full fruit.

Twelve images of Viṣṇu fashioned of gold,

made according to one's means, are to be placed on twelve pitchers,

which are covered with vessels of mango wood, directly on them, individually,

wrapped in white cloths, containing fragrant water and sprouts,

in the eight directions and the four directions, on a sarvatobhadra maṇḍala.

Those pitchers should be set up, and the images worshipped upon them,

with the twelve-syllable mantra, with individual offerings,

and first a ceremonial bath of all with the five nectars, O twice-born ones,

accompanied by songs, instrumental music, dances, and so forth, as well as worship of brahmins,

with twelve pairs of garments, and likewise pairs of parasols and sandals,

with fans, water pitchers, and beds with pedestals,

with perfumes, garlands, good betel leaves, and likewise finger-rings and earrings.

Lamps fueled with ghee should be lit, twelve by twelve in order.

Having spent the night in this manner, in the morning the fire ritual [is performed]—

three hundred [oblations] of firewood, ghee, and sacred cooked food for each deity,

and then a thousand and eight with sesame seeds accompanied by the vyāhṛtis.

At the end of the fire oblation, having partaken of the remnants, one should give the preceptor's sacrificial fee:

twelve brown cows adorned with ornaments should be given.

Then one should feed one hundred and forty-four brahmins.

That host of deities, together with the pots, the canopy, and the chowries,

along with all the offerings, he should present to the preceptor.

Having performed this king of observances, one obtains all desires.

The twelve festivals of Viṣṇu that are renowned, beginning with the Guṇḍicā—

the religious merit born from witnessing them is attained through this observance.

The state of Indra, universal sovereignty, and the status of an emperor,

and the eight supernatural powers he attains by the grace of the God of gods.

This most sacred observance was performed by Nārada;

having performed it for twelve years, the sage became liberated while living.

And other Vaiṣṇavas who performed it many times in the past— / there is no observance higher than this that produces delight in the Lord.

It leads to righteousness, fame, longevity, brahminhood, and the increase of one's lineage.

You too, self-restrained, should perform this supreme observance.

Thus ends the forty-fourth chapter, titled 'Description of the Jyeṣṭhapañcaka Observance', in the Praise of Puruṣottamakṣetra, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.