Padmini Ekadashi

Padmini Ekadashi occurs only in Adhika Masa and its traditional katha explains why this rare Ekadashi is given special importance. King Kritavirya and Queen Padmini longed for a child who could continue the royal line. After austerities brought no result, Padmini sought guidance from the revered Anasuya. She was taught how to observe the Ekadashi of the extra month with fasting, worship of Vishnu and a night vigil. Pleased with the queen’s devotion, Vishnu offered a boon, and the royal couple asked for an extraordinary son. Their son was Kartavirya Arjuna, remembered in legend as a ruler of exceptional power who was even able to overcome Ravana before Ravana’s later rise. The katha presents Padmini’s patience and disciplined devotion as more important than royal wealth, and the vrata as an opportunity for concentrated worship during the additional lunar month.

An ekadashi that only exists in an adhika masa, the leap lunar month - so it comes round roughly every three years and not at all in between. The sud one of the pair.

The bright fortnight of an adhika month, so it comes about once in three years and there is no fixed month for it. Those who keep the twenty-four keep this as a twenty-fifth when it comes.