Kamada Ekadashi is the first Ekadashi of the new lunar year, the bright-fortnight Ekadashi of Chaitra, and it comes close to Ram Navami. The name means the fulfiller of wishes, and the day is kept with a sense of beginning, as people set an intention for the year ahead. It is a spring vrat, and the weather by now is warm.
Kamada Ekadashi falls in the Shukla paksha, the waxing fortnight, of Chaitra. Both the amanta and the purnimanta reckoning give the bright half the same month name, so Kamada Ekadashi has one label wherever you live.
The katha
The katha of Kamada 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 is a story of a husband, a wife and a mistake in a song.
In the city of Bhogipur, a king named Pundarika held a court of gandharvas and apsaras. One of his singers, Lalit, was married to Lalita, whom he loved deeply, and he could hardly bear to be apart from her. One day, as he sang before the king, his thoughts wandered to her, his voice faltered, and he sang out of tune.
A courtier pointed this out, and the king, stung by the error, cursed Lalit to become a rakshasa, a monstrous being. Lalit wandered the forest in his new form, and Lalita followed him in sorrow, unable to help.
At last she came to the hermitage of the sage Shringi in the Vindhya hills and asked how the curse could be broken. The sage told her to keep the Kamada Ekadashi of Chaitra and give the merit of the fast to her husband. She did, and Lalit was restored to his original form. The couple returned to their home, and the tradition holds up Lalita as the model of a devotion that acts, not just waits.
How the fast is kept
Many families wake early, bathe and worship Vishnu with flowers, tulsi and sandal paste, and offer fruit and a sweet. In some homes the idea of sharing the merit of a fast with another person, as Lalita did, is remembered with a prayer for someone dear who is ill or far away.
The food is the usual fast food of fruit, milk and root vegetables. Because it is the first Ekadashi of the year, some people also take a quiet moment to write down an intention for the months ahead.
Kamada Ekadashi is dated here by the Smarta sunrise test. A Vaishnava household may be given another day, since that rule sets aside an Ekadashi that Dashami touches at dawn, so use the calendar your family trusts. After Kamada Ekadashi the fast is opened the next morning, inside the parana window listed for your city, which starts after sunrise, ends with Dwadashi and avoids Hari Vasara. Please keep the Kamada Ekadashi fast at a level that suits your body. Anyone pregnant, nursing, unwell or elderly can take fruit and milk or only pray on Kamada Ekadashi, and should consult a doctor about any change in eating or medicine.
Where it sits in the year
In the round of the year, Papmochani Ekadashi comes before Kamada Ekadashi and Varuthini Ekadashi after it. To see the whole round, open the Ekadashi page. The Ekadashi vrat vidhi gives the order of worship for Kamada Ekadashi, and the Ekadashi tithi page explains the tithi.