Jaya Ekadashi

The traditional Jaya Ekadashi katha tells of Malyavan, a celestial musician, and Pushpavati, an apsara in Indra’s court. During a performance their attention turned toward each other, disturbing the discipline of the royal assembly. Indra, angered by their lapse, cursed them to become pishachas and live in hardship in the Himalayan region. In that painful state they happened to pass an Ekadashi without proper food and remained awake through the night. The observance, though not initially planned as a formal vrata, purified them according to the story. On Dwadashi the curse ended and they regained their celestial forms. When they returned, Indra learned that the power of Jaya Ekadashi had freed them. The katha therefore presents Ekadashi as a day on which restraint, wakefulness and remembrance of Vishnu can help a person rise above impulsiveness and the consequences of past mistakes.

Said to release from the condition of a ghost or a spirit - the story attached is of a celestial singer who lost his place and got it back by this fast. Kept in Magh sud.

Maha's bright fortnight. Kept for release from a curse, and in the katha the curse is on two singers who were careless at a court and were made demons for it.