Akshaya Tritiya

विष्णुप्रिये नमस्तुभ्यं नमस्तुभ्यं जगद्धिते । 

आर्तहन्त्रि नमस्तुभ्यं समृद्धिं कुरु मे सदा ॥

- श्रीलक्ष्मीस्तोत्रं अगस्त्यरचितम्

viṣṇupriye namastubhyaṃ namastubhyaṃ jagaddhite । 

ārtahantri namastubhyaṃ samṛddhiṃ kuru me sadā ॥

- śrīlakṣmīstotraṃ agastyaracitam

Meaning: O Dear to Vishnu, I bow to you, I bow to you, O benefitter of this World. Destroying my suffering, bestow prosperity on me always, I bow to you.

Significance of Akshaya Tritiya

Akshaya Tritiya is the third day of the waxing moon in the month of Vaishaka. Its auspiciousness arises from the belief that one year in the life of humans is equivalent to a day in the lives of celestial beings. So, the month Vaishaka is considered the morning of a celestial being’s day. This, combined with the waxing of the moon is a symbol of the rising energies that will last through the year.

According to the scriptures, the celestial specialty of Akshaya Tritiya makes it a particularly good day for four kinds of activities. They are:

• Yajanam (performance of auspicious activities like yagnas and homams), 
• Yaajanam (enabling the performance of auspicious activities by others), 
• Dhaanam (charity) and 
• Pratigraham (acquisition and accumulation of wealth of any sort).

Any of these four acts performed on Akshaya Tritiya will have sahasragunabalam, or 1,000 times the normal effect. In olden times, merchant communities accumulated wealth, moderately well off communities performed austerities and farmers planted their crops.

The day of Akshaya Tritiya is also considered the birthday of the Balarama avatar of Vishnu, and is celebrated as an agrarian festival in large parts of the country.

Vedic astrologers also consider Askshay Tritiya an auspicious day free from all malefic effects. As per Hindu Electional Astrology three lunar days, Yugadi, Akshaya Tritiya and Vijayadasami don’t need any Muhurta to start or perform any auspicious work as these three days are free from all malefic effects.

Important events that took place on Akshaya Tritiya

• Appearance of Lord Parasurama. 
• Appearance of Mother Ganga. 
• Sudama brought poha (beaten rice) for his friend Lord Krishna. 
• Treta yuga began on this day.
• Lord Krishna presented Draupadi with the akshaya patra. 
• Lord Ganesha began writing Mahabharat. 
• Puri rath building starts. 
• Beginning of chandan yatra (sun is directly above our head for 21 days and hence chandan yatra lasts that long).