Indira Ekadashi is the one Ekadashi that falls inside Pitru Paksha, the dark half in which Hindu families remember their ancestors with water, food and prayer. Because of this it carries a special meaning: it is a day to remember those who are no longer with us, and to offer a vrat on their behalf. The name is a name of Lakshmi and is also linked with Indra, as the story below shows.
Indira Ekadashi falls in the Krishna paksha, the waning fortnight, of Bhadrapada 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 Ashwina.
The katha
The tradition attributes the stories of the Ekadashis, Indira Ekadashi among them, to the Padma Purana and the Bhavishyottara Purana, where they are told as conversations, often with Krishna answering Yudhishthira. The story is about a son and a debt of love to his father.
Indrasena was the king of Mahishmati, a good ruler devoted to Vishnu. One night he dreamed that his father, who had died, was suffering in the realm of Yama because of a lapse in his past life, and was asking for help. The king woke troubled, and asked his priests what he could do.
While he was wondering, the sage Narada arrived, having come down from the heavens. Indrasena described the dream, and Narada said that the dark-fortnight Ekadashi of Ashwina in the north Indian reckoning, falling in the Pitru Paksha, would help. He told the king to bathe, offer shraddha to his ancestors, keep the Ekadashi fast, stay awake with worship of Vishnu and give the merit of the vrat to his father.
Indrasena did exactly as he was told. The tradition says that his father was freed and went to Vaikuntha, and that the king, too, lived a long and peaceful life and found his place with Vishnu at the end. The story is told as a gentle example of how a person can remember a parent through an act of devotion.
How the fast is kept
The Ekadashi is kept with the usual worship of Vishnu, and in many homes the day is joined to the shraddha rites of Pitru Paksha. Families may offer water with sesame, rice balls (pinda) and food to Brahmins on the day, according to their own custom. For the rites, please follow your family priest or elders.
Many people use the day to offer a prayer for the ancestors by name, and some keep the tradition of giving the merit of the fast to a departed parent or grandparent, as in the story.
Which day counts as Indira Ekadashi depends on the school. Smarta practice, which the table follows, keeps the day when the tithi is running at sunrise; Vaishnava practice often rejects an Ekadashi that is mixed with Dashami before dawn and moves Indira Ekadashi on by a day. The parana comes after sunrise on the next day, within Dwadashi and clear of Hari Vasara, and the Timing column shows the window for each city. On Indira Ekadashi, how much you eat matters less than how you spend the day. If you need food or water for your health, take it without guilt, and check with your doctor before changing medicine or diet for any vrat.
Where it sits in the year
In the round of the year, Parivartini Ekadashi comes before Indira Ekadashi and Papankusha Ekadashi after it. The Ekadashi page lists all the named Ekadashis. For Indira Ekadashi the practical steps are in the Ekadashi vrat vidhi, and the meaning of the tithi is on the Ekadashi tithi page.