Devshayani Ekadashi Vrat Katha · देवशयनी एकादशी व्रत कथा

Yudhishthira asked Krishna about the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of Ashadha, also called Padma Ekadashi. Krishna told him the story that Brahma had once told Narada.

King Mandhata ruled righteously, and his people were happy in every way. But for three years no rain fell, and a terrible famine gripped the kingdom. People cried out for food, and the king, grieving for them, wondered what wrong had brought this upon his land.

The king went to the sage Angiras and asked for a way to end the famine. The sage told him to keep the fast of the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of Ashadha, and to have his people keep it too.

Mandhata kept the Devshayani Ekadashi fast together with his people. By its power heavy rain fell, the land turned green again, and the kingdom was filled with grain and wealth.

The katha says that this fast fulfils the wishes of those who keep it.

Devshayani Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight (Shukla paksha) of Ashadha. Its story belongs to the series in which each Ekadashi's glory is told, often as Krishna's answer to the Pandavas. On this day Vishnu is said to go into his sleep (yoganidra) for four months, and the four-month period of Chaturmas begins; it ends at Prabodhini (Dev Uthani) Ekadashi in Kartika.

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 Devshayani Ekadashi.

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