Apara Ekadashi Vrat Katha · अपरा एकादशी व्रत कथा

Why Apara (also called Achala) Ekadashi is said to bring boundless merit, and the story of King Mahidhvaja, freed from a ghost's existence by its merit, retold from the published versions.

The story, retold

Asked by Yudhishthira about the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight of Jyeshtha, Krishna said that it is called Apara, and also Achala, because it gives boundless (apar) merit and makes those who keep it renowned.

He said its fast removes even grave sins: the killing of a brahmin, slander, false witness and lying, false learning and practising as a false astrologer or physician. A warrior who flees from battle, and a disciple who learns from a teacher and then reviles him, would fall to hell, but by keeping this fast they too are freed. Its merit, he said, equals that of bathing in sacred waters at the holiest times and of the greatest gifts, and it destroys sin as the sun destroys darkness.

The story told for this Ekadashi is of King Mahidhvaja, a righteous king whose younger brother Vajradhvaja hated him. One night Vajradhvaja killed him and secretly buried his body under a pipal tree. Having died untimely and without rites, the king could not pass on, and lived on in that pipal tree as a restless ghost (preta), troubling everyone around it.

The sage Dhaumya, passing that way, saw with his inner sight what had happened. Out of compassion he arranged for the merit of an Apara Ekadashi fast to be given to the ghost, so that he might be released. By that merit the king was freed from his ghostly existence and rose to heaven in a divine form.

The katha ends by saying that whoever reads or hears this story is freed from sins.

This katha is given as a retelling only: published versions tell it in different words and with different details, and we have not compared an original text for it. Every point in it appears in at least two of the published versions linked below.

About this text

Apara Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight (Krishna paksha) of Jyeshtha in the purnimanta calendar (the dark fortnight of Vaishakha 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.