Indira Ekadashi Vrat Katha · इंदिरा एकादशी व्रत कथा

Krishna told Yudhishthira that this Ekadashi destroys sins and frees one's ancestors from a lower state, and that merely hearing its story brings the merit of the Vajapeya sacrifice.

In the Satya age, King Indrasen ruled the city of Mahishmati righteously, devoted to Vishnu, and his people lived happily. One day the sage Narada came to his court. The king welcomed him with honour and asked the reason for his visit.

Narada said he brought a message from the king's father. He had seen him in the court of Yama, the god of death, where he was suffering because an Ekadashi fast of his had been broken in his former life. His father asked that Indrasen keep the Indira Ekadashi fast on his behalf, so that he might reach heaven.

Grieved, Indrasen asked how to keep the fast. Narada explained: worship Vishnu with due rites, honour the ancestors with shraddha, keep the fast through the day, and feed and give gifts to brahmins. Then he vanished.

Indrasen kept the Indira Ekadashi fast as Narada had taught. By its merit his father was freed and reached the highest abode, and the king himself, after a long and happy life, attained liberation.

Indira Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight (Krishna paksha) of Ashvin in the purnimanta calendar (the dark fortnight of Bhadrapada 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. It falls during Pitru Paksha, the fortnight of the ancestors, and is kept especially for the liberation of one's forefathers.

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 Indira Ekadashi.

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