Jaya Ekadashi, the bright-fortnight Ekadashi of Magha, is called the Ekadashi of victory. It comes as the winter eases, and the day is kept to ask for freedom from burdens that seem to hold a person back. In some regions it is also known as Bhaimi Ekadashi, and in parts of the country the Ekadashi of this fortnight is linked to Bhishma.
Jaya Ekadashi falls in the Shukla paksha, the waxing fortnight, of Magha. The amanta and purnimanta calendars name the bright half of a month alike, so the label for Jaya Ekadashi does not change between north and south.
The katha
The katha of Jaya 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 concerns two musicians of the heavenly court.
At a festival in the garden of Nandana, Indra had called the gandharvas, the celestial musicians, to sing and dance. Among them were Malyavan, a singer, and Pushpavati, a dancer. As they performed, they caught sight of each other, lost their attention to the music and began to sing and dance out of step. Indra, who had been listening closely, took it as disrespect and cursed them to leave heaven and live as pishachas, restless spirits, on earth.
The two wandered in the cold of the Himalaya, hungry and unhappy, until one night of Ekadashi they could neither eat nor sleep. In their wretched state they spent the whole night awake in the cold and the whole of the next day without food. They did not know it was Jaya Ekadashi.
Vishnu was pleased by this unintended observance. In the morning they found that the curse had lifted and that they had their celestial forms again. They went back to Indra, who was surprised, and learned what had happened. The tradition draws two lessons from the tale: that the vrat has power even when kept unknowingly, and that a stumble can be turned into a new start.
How the fast is kept
Devotees fast, worship Vishnu with tulsi and sandal, and light a lamp. The day is also a time to chant the names of Vishnu, and many people read the story of Malyavan and Pushpavati in the evening.
In some places the day is observed with a night of devotional singing, which fits the story of the gandharvas.
In the tables, Jaya Ekadashi is placed by the Smarta rule (Ekadashi at sunrise). If you keep Vaishnava practice you may be told to fast for Jaya Ekadashi on the day after, because that tradition does not accept an Ekadashi that is touched by Dashami near dawn. The next morning the fast is broken in the parana window, between sunrise and the end of Dwadashi and not in Hari Vasara, the first quarter of Dwadashi. Whatever form Jaya Ekadashi takes in your home, let it be a fast you can sustain. If you are expecting, nursing, ageing or managing an illness, a light meal of fruit and milk with prayer is enough, and your doctor should decide about medicines.
Where it sits in the year
In the round of the year, Shattila Ekadashi comes before Jaya Ekadashi and Vijaya Ekadashi after it. Every Ekadashi of the year is listed on the Ekadashi page; the steps of worship for Jaya Ekadashi are in the Ekadashi vrat vidhi, and the tithi itself is explained on the Ekadashi tithi page.