Papankusha Ekadashi is the bright-fortnight Ekadashi of Ashwina, and it follows Dussehra, so it comes at the very end of the autumn festival season. The word ankusha means the goad that an elephant driver uses to guide his animal, and the name suggests a prod that turns the mind away from wrong. It is a day for taking stock, before the lamps of Diwali.
Papankusha Ekadashi falls in the Shukla paksha, the waxing fortnight, of Ashwina. The amanta and purnimanta calendars name the bright half of a month alike, so the label for Papankusha Ekadashi does not change between north and south.
The katha
Stories of the kind told for Papankusha Ekadashi are attributed by the tradition to the Padma Purana and the Bhavishyottara Purana, usually as a talk between Krishna and Yudhishthira, though the speakers vary by telling. The katha is the story of a hunter who changed course.
A hunter named Krodhana lived in the Vindhya hills. He had spent his life in hunting, cheating and violence, and at an advanced age, he began to fear death. On the last day of his life, he was seized by fear, and he ran to the forest hermitage of the sage Angira, begging for a way out of his anxiety.
Angira, moved by his distress, told him to keep the Papankusha Ekadashi of the bright half of Ashwina with a sincere heart. Krodhana did so, and the tradition says his mind was lightened and that he was spared the terrors he had expected. The messengers of Yama who had come for him, finding him in prayer, went away.
The tale is told to say that it is never too late for someone to turn towards something better, and that a check on the mind is itself a gift. It is read as a lesson in compassion for those who have done wrong and want to change, and without a promise that harm already done is undone.
How the fast is kept
The vrat follows the standard form, with worship of Padmanabha, a form of Vishnu lying on the serpent, and a lamp, tulsi and sweets. Some families give gifts that the tradition names for the day, among them umbrellas, shoes and grain.
Because the day is close to Dussehra and Diwali, many families use it as a quiet pause between two bright festivals: Dussehra comes a day or two before, and Diwali follows within a few weeks.
In the tables, Papankusha Ekadashi is placed by the Smarta rule (Ekadashi at sunrise). If you keep Vaishnava practice you may be told to fast for Papankusha 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 Papankusha 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, Indira Ekadashi comes before Papankusha Ekadashi and Rama Ekadashi after it. Every Ekadashi of the year is listed on the Ekadashi page; the steps of worship for Papankusha Ekadashi are in the Ekadashi vrat vidhi, and the tithi itself is explained on the Ekadashi tithi page.