Saphala Ekadashi Vrat Katha · सफला एकादशी व्रत कथा

The story of Lumpaka, a banished prince who kept the Saphala Ekadashi fast without knowing it and won back his kingdom, retold from the published versions.

The story, retold

Krishna told Yudhishthira the story of the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight of Pausha, called Saphala, "the one that brings success".

King Mahishmata ruled the city of Champavati. His eldest son, Lumpaka (in some tellings Lumbhaka), was wicked: he wasted his father's wealth on vice and reviled the gods, brahmins and devotees of Vishnu. At last the king drove him out of the kingdom.

Lumpaka went to live in the forest, slipping into the city to steal. Once he was caught, but was let go because he was the king's son. In the forest he lived under an ancient pipal tree that the people held sacred.

One winter, on the day before Ekadashi (Dashami), having no clothes, he lay shivering all night without sleep and by morning had fainted from the cold. He lay senseless through Ekadashi and came to only in the afternoon, weak and hungry. Unable to hunt, he gathered fallen fruit and returned to the pipal tree at sunset. Placing the fruit beneath the tree, he offered it to the Lord, praying that the Lord accept it. That night too, in his misery, he could not sleep.

So, without knowing it, Lumpaka had fasted and kept vigil on Saphala Ekadashi. The Lord was pleased, and his sins were destroyed. A voice from the sky told him that by the merit of Saphala Ekadashi he would regain his kingdom. He went back to his father, who gladly gave him the kingdom. Lumpaka ruled righteously, devoted to Vishnu, was blessed with a son, and in old age handed the kingdom to his son and went to live in the forest.

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

Saphala Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight (Krishna paksha) of Pausha in the purnimanta calendar (the dark fortnight of Margashirsha 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.