Rama Ekadashi Vrat Katha

Yudhishthira asked Shri Krishna about the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight of Kartika. Krishna said that it is called Rama, that it destroys great sins, and told this story.

Long ago there was a king named Muchukunda, a great devotee of Lord Vishnu and a friend of Indra. In his kingdom everyone, even the animals, kept the Ekadashi fast. His daughter Chandrabhaga was married to Shobhana, the son of King Chandrasena. Shobhana was physically weak and could not bear hunger.

Once Shobhana came to stay with his in-laws just before this Ekadashi. On the day before, drums were beaten across the kingdom to announce that no one was to eat on Ekadashi. Chandrabhaga was worried, because she knew her husband could not go without food. Shobhana asked her what to do. She told him that in her father's kingdom no one ate on Ekadashi, and that if he wished to eat he would have to go elsewhere. Shobhana said that he would keep the fast, come what may.

He kept the fast, but by evening he was in great distress, and before the next sunrise he died. The king had his last rites performed, and Chandrabhaga, as her father wished, did not burn herself on his pyre but stayed in her father's house.

By the merit of the Rama Ekadashi fast, Shobhana was given a splendid kingdom on Mount Mandarachal, like a city of the gods. But because he had kept the fast without real faith, his kingdom was not stable. A Brahmin from Muchukunda's city named Somasharma, travelling on pilgrimage, saw him there. Shobhana told him that the kingdom could become lasting only by Chandrabhaga's merit, and asked him to tell her.

When Chandrabhaga heard this, she was overjoyed. With a sage's help she reached Mandarachal. She had kept every Ekadashi fast since the age of eight, and she gave all that merit to her husband. At once his kingdom became stable, and the two lived there happily together.

Shri Krishna said that whoever keeps this fast is freed from even the gravest sins.