Aja Ekadashi Vrat Katha · अजा एकादशी व्रत कथा

Krishna said that this Ekadashi is called Aja, that its fast destroys all sins, and that there is no other like it, helping in this world and the next. He told its story.

Long ago there was an emperor, King Harishchandra, famed for his truthfulness. Through hard circumstances he had to sell his wife and son, and he himself became the servant of a chandala, taking the shrouds of the dead at the cremation ground. Even then he did not abandon truth.

After many years in this state, grieving, he searched for a way out. One day the sage Gautama came to him. The king bowed and told him his sorrowful story. Moved, the sage told him to keep the fast of Aja Ekadashi with due rites and to stay awake through its night, and all his sins would be destroyed.

When Aja Ekadashi came, Harishchandra kept the fast and the night vigil as the sage had said. By its power his sins were destroyed. He saw the gods, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Indra, standing before him; he saw his dead son alive again and his wife adorned in fine clothes and jewels. He regained his kingdom, and at the end of his life went to heaven with his family.

The katha says that whoever keeps this fast with the night vigil is freed from sins, and that its merit equals that of the Ashvamedha sacrifice.

Aja Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight (Krishna paksha) of Bhadrapada in the purnimanta calendar (the dark fortnight of Shravana in the amanta calendar used in western and southern India). Its story belongs to the series in which each Ekadashi's glory is told, often as Krishna's answer to the Pandavas.

The published versions are in Hindi prose and differ in wording and in some names and details. The retelling above keeps only what at least two of the versions linked below agree on. For this year's date, see Ekadashi.

The katha is read or heard on Aja Ekadashi as part of the worship of Vishnu. Customs vary by family and region.