Kamada Ekadashi

Arjuna said, "O Kamalnayan! I bow to you a million times. O Jagdishwar! I request you to please narrate the story of Ekadashi of Shukla Paksha of Chaitra month. What about this Ekadashi? What is its name? Who observed this fast first and what results are obtained by observing it?"

Shri Krishna said that King Dilip had once asked Guru Vashishtha the same thing, and repeated the sage's answer: "O King! The name of Ekadashi of Shukla Paksha of Chaitra month is Kamada Ekadashi. It is the destroyer of all sins. Just as fire burns wood and reduces it to ashes, in the same way, due to the virtue of Kamada Ekadashi, all sins are destroyed and a bright son is born. By fasting through this, one becomes free from the lower world and finally he attains heaven."

In ancient times there was a city named Bhagipur, ruled by a king named Pundarika, blessed with many opulences, in whose kingdom lived many apsaras, gandharvas and kinnaras. In that city, in a magnificent house, lived two gandharvas named Lalit and Lalita. Both were skilled in singing, and there was so much love between them that the mere thought of separation distressed them.

Once King Pundarika sat in his court with the gandharvas, and Lalit sang before him. His beloved Lalita was not present, and remembering her suddenly in the middle of his song, he faltered. Nagraj Karkotaka complained of the lapse to the king, and Pundarika in anger cursed him: "O wretch! You are remembering your wife even while singing in front of me, because of this you become a cannibalistic demon and suffer the consequences of your deeds."

At once Lalit became a fearsome demon. His face turned monstrous, his eyes began to glow like the Sun and the Moon, fierce flames came from his mouth, his nose became as large as a mountain cave and his neck like a mountain, his arms grew two yojanas long, and his body eight yojanas in length. In that form he suffered greatly, and Lalita, seeing what had become of her husband, was overwhelmed with grief and wondered where she should go and what she could do to save him.

Lalit wandered the dense forests as a demon, committing many sins, and Lalita followed him, mourning. Once, following him, she came to the Vindhyachal mountain and saw there the ashram of Shringi Muni. She went in quickly, bowed, and prayed humbly: "O Maharishi! I am Lalita, daughter of a Gandharva named Veerdhanva, my husband has become a terrible demon due to the curse of King Pundarika. I am feeling immense pain. I am very sad because of my husband's suffering. O great sage! Please tell him some good solution to get rid of the demon form."

Hearing the whole story, Sage Shringi said, "O daughter! The name of Ekadashi of Shukla Paksha of Chaitra month is Kamada Ekadashi. By observing its fast, all the desires of the living being are soon fulfilled. If you give the virtue of his fast to your husband, he will easily be freed from the demonic form and the king's curse will be calmed."

Lalita fasted with devotion as the sage had said, and on Dwadashi she gave the fruit of her fast to her husband before the Brahmins, praying to God for his release. As soon as the merit was transferred, Lalit was freed from the demon's body and stood again in his gandharva form, more beautiful than before, and the two returned together to their own world.

Kamada Ekadashi fulfils desires, releases from curses, and destroys sin; whoever hears its glory is freed from the fear of rebirth in the lower worlds.