Devshayani Ekadashi Vrat Katha

Yudhishthira asked Shri Krishna about the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of Ashadha. Krishna said that it is called Devshayani, or Padma, and told the story that Brahma once told Narada.

In the Satya yuga there was a great king of the Solar dynasty named Mandhata. He was truthful and just, and his people were happy and prosperous. But once, because of some fault in the kingdom, no rain fell for three years. The crops failed, there was famine, and worship and sacrifices stopped. The people came to the king in distress.

Mandhata could not understand what sin had brought this upon his people. To find the cause and the cure, he set out into the forest with some of his men. Wandering, he reached the ashram of the sage Angira, a son of Brahma. The king bowed and told him of his kingdom's suffering, and asked how the rains could return.

The sage told him to keep, with all his people, the fast of the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of Ashadha, called Padma Ekadashi, and said that by its merit the rains would surely come.

The king returned home and kept the fast with his family and all his subjects. By its power heavy rain fell, the land became green again and the kingdom was filled with grain and joy.

Krishna told Yudhishthira that on this Ekadashi Lord Vishnu lies down to sleep on the serpent Shesha in the ocean of milk, and wakes four months later on the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of Kartika. These four months are Chaturmas, a time for vows, fasting and prayer. Whoever keeps this fast with devotion is freed from sin and receives the Lord's grace.