Aja Ekadashi is the dark-fortnight Ekadashi of Shravana, in the last weeks of the monsoon, and its katha is the story of Harishchandra, the king whose truthfulness became a byword in India. The day is kept in hard times, as a reminder that a bad stretch need not be permanent. It is also called Annada Ekadashi.
Aja Ekadashi falls in the Krishna paksha, the waning fortnight, of Shravana in the amanta calendar (months that end at the new Moon). In the purnimanta calendar of north India, where the month ends at the full Moon, the same fortnight belongs to Bhadrapada.
The katha
For Aja Ekadashi, as for the other named Ekadashis, the tradition points to the Padma Purana and the Bhavishyottara Purana, in which a teacher answers a king or a sage in turn, and printed versions differ in small details. The story is that of the king Harishchandra.
Harishchandra, a king of the Ikshvaku line, kept his word whatever it cost him. To honour a promise, he gave up his kingdom, and then, to settle a debt, sold himself, his wife Taramati and their young son Rohitashva. He was set to work at a cremation ground, collecting the fee for each funeral.
In this low state he met the sage Gautama, who, hearing the story, told him to keep the Aja Ekadashi of the dark half of Bhadrapada in the north Indian reckoning, with worship of Vishnu and a night of vigil. Harishchandra followed the instruction with devotion.
About this time Rohitashva died of a snake bite, and Taramati brought the body to the cremation ground. Harishchandra, true to his post, asked her for the fee, which she could not pay, and the gods, moved by his steadfastness, appeared. The tradition says that the boy was restored to life, the kingdom returned, and that the family rose again. The story is told to say that truthfulness and faith are not abandoned in adversity, and the Ekadashi is remembered in times of trouble.
How the fast is kept
The fast and worship are as for other Ekadashis. Many families read the story of Harishchandra, which is told in the Puranas and in popular retellings in many languages.
The day is also kept as an occasion to look at one’s own promises and to keep one that has been put off. Giving food, as the name Annada suggests, is common, and many people set aside a portion of the day’s meal for the hungry.
The table above applies the Smarta rule to Aja Ekadashi: the fast is kept on the civil day when Ekadashi is in force at sunrise. Many Vaishnava traditions use a stricter test and may keep Aja Ekadashi a day later, so a household that follows one should use its own sampradaya’s calendar. The parana after Aja Ekadashi is on the next morning, after sunrise, while Dwadashi is running and outside its first quarter (Hari Vasara), and the Timing column gives that window. Aja Ekadashi asks for attention more than hunger. Where a full fast does not suit you, because of pregnancy, age, illness or medicine, fruit, milk and prayer are enough, and a doctor is the right person to ask about anything more.
Where it sits in the year
In the round of the year, Shravana Putrada Ekadashi comes before Aja Ekadashi and Parivartini Ekadashi after it. Every Ekadashi of the year is listed on the Ekadashi page; the steps of worship for Aja Ekadashi are in the Ekadashi vrat vidhi, and the tithi itself is explained on the Ekadashi tithi page.