Shattila Ekadashi Vrat Katha · षटतिला एकादशी व्रत कथा

The teaching of the six uses of sesame, and the story of a devout woman who fasted but never gave, and learned the worth of giving from Vishnu himself, retold from the published versions.

The story, retold

The sage Dalbhya once asked the sage Pulastya how people who commit grave sins, such as killing a brahmin, theft or adultery, could still be saved. Pulastya said that the fast of Shattila Ekadashi in the month of Magha frees one from all sins.

On this fast, he said, one should give up lust, anger, greed and delusion. Cakes of cow dung mixed with sesame and cotton are made beforehand and offered in the sacred fire 108 times. On the Ekadashi one worships Vishnu and keeps vigil through the night. One should give, as one can afford, a vessel filled with sesame and a dark cow: for every sesame seed given, one dwells a thousand years in heaven. Sesame is used in six ways on this day, and so the Ekadashi is called Shattila.

Then the story was told, as Vishnu once told it to Narada. On earth there lived a brahmin woman who kept fasts and worshipped faithfully, but never gave food or wealth to anyone. To teach her, Vishnu came to her door disguised as a beggar and asked for alms. She had nothing she would give but a lump of clay, and she dropped it into his bowl.

In time she came to understand that fasting without giving is like an empty hand. She kept the Shattila Ekadashi fast in the proper way, with gifts of sesame, and in place of her want she received plenty.

The katha teaches that one should keep this fast and give sesame and other gifts without greed, and so be freed from misfortune and poverty.

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

Shattila Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight (Krishna paksha) of Magha in the purnimanta calendar (the dark fortnight of Pausha 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. Its name means "six (uses of) sesame": on this day sesame is used in six ways, in bathing, as a rub on the body, in the fire offering, in water that is drunk, in food, and as a gift.

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.