Devshayani Ekadashi is one of the two great Ekadashis of the year, the other being Prabodhini. On this day, the tradition says, Vishnu lies down on the serpent Shesha in the cosmic ocean for four months of sleep, and the period called Chaturmas begins. It is also known as Ashadhi Ekadashi, Harishayani Ekadashi and Padma Ekadashi, and in Maharashtra it is the day on which lakhs of pilgrims reach Pandharpur.
Devshayani Ekadashi falls in the Shukla paksha, the waxing fortnight, of Ashadha. The amanta and purnimanta calendars name the bright half of a month alike, so the label for Devshayani Ekadashi does not change between north and south.
The katha
The katha of Devshayani Ekadashi is attributed by the tradition to the Padma Purana and the Bhavishyottara Purana; regional and printed tellings agree on the shape of the story and differ in its details. The katha explains the power of the day through a drought.
In the golden age, a king named Mandhata ruled with justice. Once, no rain came to his kingdom for three years, and the fields dried and the people suffered. The king sought a remedy and, with a small party, went to the hermitage of the sage Angiras.
Angiras advised him to keep the Padma Ekadashi, the Ekadashi of the bright half of Ashadha, with all his people. Mandhata returned and the kingdom kept the fast together. The tradition says that rain came and the land recovered.
The part of the tradition about Vishnu’s sleep belongs to the same day. He rests, the story says, from this Ekadashi to Prabodhini Ekadashi in Kartika, and the months between are called Chaturmas. During this period many Hindus take up added restraints, and ceremonies such as weddings are generally not performed until Vishnu wakes.
How the fast is kept
The fast and worship follow the usual pattern. In temples of Vishnu the image is placed on a bed to symbolise the god’s sleep, and many families make a small bed or a seat for a picture of Vishnu with a lamp beside it. Some people take a vow for Chaturmas, such as giving up a favourite food, which they keep until Prabodhini Ekadashi.
In Maharashtra the day is the end of the Wari, a pilgrimage on foot in which devotees, carrying the palanquins of the saints Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram, walk for weeks to the Vitthal temple in Pandharpur and sing abhangs on the way.
The full moon that follows in a few days is Guru Purnima, around which wandering ascetics have traditionally settled in one place for the same four months.
Most printed calendars place Devshayani Ekadashi by the sunrise test, and so does this page. Households that follow a Vaishnava teacher may be given the next day for Devshayani Ekadashi, because their rule excludes a tithi touched by Dashami at dawn. On the morning after, the parana is taken within the window shown for your city, after sunrise, before Dwadashi ends and outside Hari Vasara. Choose a fast for Devshayani Ekadashi that you can keep comfortably. A person with a health condition, or anyone taking regular medicine, should speak to a doctor first, and a gentler fast of fruit and milk is accepted by every tradition.
Where it sits in the year
In the round of the year, Yogini Ekadashi comes before Devshayani Ekadashi and Kamika Ekadashi after it. Every Ekadashi of the year is listed on the Ekadashi page; the steps of worship for Devshayani Ekadashi are in the Ekadashi vrat vidhi, and the tithi itself is explained on the Ekadashi tithi page.