Devshayani Ekadashi

The Devshayani Ekadashi katha is traditionally associated with King Mandhata. His kingdom suffered a long and severe drought, and despite the king's efforts the cause of the crisis remained unresolved. Seeking guidance, Mandhata approached sages and was advised to undertake the Ashadha Shukla Ekadashi vrata with his people in devotion to Vishnu. The observance is said to have been followed by the return of rain and relief to the kingdom. Devshayani Ekadashi also has a wider seasonal meaning: it marks the beginning of Chaturmas, the four-month sacred period during which Vishnu is poetically said to enter Yoga Nidra on the cosmic serpent Shesha. Many communities therefore reduce major ceremonial beginnings during this period and place greater emphasis on vrata, pilgrimage restraint, study, bhajan and personal discipline. The day combines the Mandhata story's theme of collective responsibility with the symbolic beginning of a quieter season of spiritual practice.

Vishnu is said to sleep from here until Prabodhini four months later, and chaturmas begins - no weddings, no housewarmings, no journeys begun if they can be helped. The pause is agricultural underneath: it is the monsoon, and the roads were not passable.

The fast is the ordinary ekadashi fast, and what makes the day is what starts after it. Many take a vow for the four months on this morning - giving up a food, or a habit, or taking on a daily reading - and keep it until Prabodhini.

Ashadhi Ekadashi in Maharashtra, and the end of the Pandharpur wari - hundreds of thousands walk for a fortnight carrying the padukas of Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram to arrive on this day. Gujarat keeps it as the opening of chaturmas without the pilgrimage.