Nirjala Ekadashi Vrat Katha · निर्जला एकादशी व्रत कथा

How Bhima, who could not bear hunger, was told by the sage Vyasa to keep one waterless fast a year, the Nirjala Ekadashi, retold from the published versions.

The story, retold

Yudhishthira asked Krishna about the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of Jyeshtha. Krishna said that the sage Vyasa, who knew all the scriptures, would describe it.

Vyasa said that one should not eat on the Ekadashi of either fortnight. Bhima then spoke: Yudhishthira, mother Kunti, Draupadi, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva never eat on Ekadashi, and they always tell him to fast too, but he cannot bear hunger. Vyasa replied that if he wished to reach heaven, he should not eat on the Ekadashis of either fortnight.

Bhima told him the truth: he could not keep a vow even eating once a day, let alone a full fast, because a fire called Vrika burns always in his belly and is calmed only when he eats a great deal. At most he could fast once a year, and he asked Vyasa for a single vow that would bring him heaven and well-being.

Vyasa told him to keep, with great care, a fast without water (nirjala) on the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of Jyeshtha. Water may touch the mouth only for the ritual sip (achamana) or rinsing; any more breaks the fast. The fast runs from sunrise on Ekadashi to sunrise the next day. On Dvadashi morning one bathes, gives water and gold to brahmins, and then eats with them. Vyasa said that keeping this one fast brings the merit of all the Ekadashis of the year, that the messengers of Yama do not come for one who keeps it, and that at death Vishnu's messengers take such a devotee to Vishnu's abode.

Bhima kept the Nirjala Ekadashi fast, and so it is also called Bhim Ekadashi or Pandava Ekadashi.

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

Nirjala Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight (Shukla paksha) of Jyeshtha. 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 Nirjala Ekadashi.