Jaya Ekadashi Vrat Katha · जया एकादशी व्रत कथा

The story of the gandharvas Malyavan and Pushpavati, cursed by Indra to become pishachas and freed by keeping the Jaya Ekadashi fast without knowing it, retold from the published versions.

The story, retold

Krishna said that the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of Magha is called Jaya; it destroys even the gravest sins and frees one from the state of ghosts and pishachas. He told its story.

Indra, king of the gods, was enjoying himself in the Nandana garden of heaven with the apsaras while the gandharvas sang and danced for him. Among them were the gandharva Malyavan and the gandharva maiden Pushpavati. The two fell in love, and with their minds on each other they could not sing properly: the rhythm broke and the song faltered. Indra took it as an insult and cursed them: "You have disobeyed me; go to the world of mortals and become pishachas, husband and wife."

Grief-stricken, they went to the Himalayas and wandered in misery as pishachas, tormented by the cold and unable to sleep. One day the pishacha said to his wife that they must have sinned greatly to come to such a state, and that they should now avoid all sin.

By chance the Jaya Ekadashi of Magha came. That day, in their misery, they took no meal and harmed no living thing. At sunset they sat under a pipal tree, and through the bitterly cold night they could not sleep.

So, without knowing it, they had kept the Jaya Ekadashi fast and its night vigil. At dawn, by its power and Vishnu's grace, they were freed from their pishacha forms and returned to heaven as a radiant gandharva and apsara. When they bowed before Indra, he was astonished and asked how they had been freed, and Malyavan told him it was by Vishnu's grace and the power of the Jaya Ekadashi fast.

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

Jaya Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight (Shukla paksha) of Magha. 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 Jaya Ekadashi.