Kamika Ekadashi Vrat Katha · कामिका एकादशी व्रत कथा

The glory of Kamika Ekadashi, as Bhishma told it to Narada: worship of Vishnu, offerings of tulsi, and lamps lit through the night, retold from the published versions.

The story, retold

Krishna told the Pandavas what Bhishma had once told the sage Narada, who asked about the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight of Shravana.

Bhishma said that this Ekadashi is called Kamika, and that merely hearing its story brings the merit of the Vajapeya sacrifice. On this day Vishnu, who holds the conch, discus and mace, is worshipped. Whoever worships him with incense, lamps and food offerings gains merit greater than bathing in the Ganga, and equal to bathing at Kedar and Kurukshetra during an eclipse or in the Gandaki river at an auspicious conjunction. One who cannot worship in this way should at least keep the Kamika Ekadashi fast. By worshipping Vishnu on this day, one honours all the gods, nagas, kinnaras and ancestors too, so those who fear sin should keep it.

Vishnu himself, Bhishma said, declared that this fast brings more merit than spiritual learning. Whoever worships him with tulsi leaves on this day lives in the world untouched by it, as a lotus stays dry in water; Vishnu is more pleased by tulsi leaves than by jewels and pearls. The mere sight of tulsi destroys sins, its touch purifies, and offering it at the Lord's feet brings liberation.

Whoever keeps vigil through the night of Kamika Ekadashi and offers lamps gains merit that even Chitragupta, the keeper of deeds, cannot record. Whoever lights a lamp of ghee or oil before the Lord on this day receives the light of thousands of lamps in the world of the sun.

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

Kamika Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight (Krishna paksha) of Shravana in the purnimanta calendar (the dark fortnight of Ashadha 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.