Rama Ekadashi falls in the dark half of Ashwina, a few days before Diwali, in the middle of the festival season. Rama here is a name of Lakshmi, not of Rama of Ayodhya, and the day is kept to ask for well-being in a house, and to be at peace as the lamps of Diwali are made ready.
Rama Ekadashi falls in the Krishna paksha, the waning fortnight, of Ashwina 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 Kartika.
The katha
For Rama Ekadashi, as for the other named Ekadashis, the tradition points to the Padma Purana and the Bhavishyottara Purana, in which a teacher answers a king or a sage in turn, and printed versions differ in small details. The story is about a marriage and an unexpected vow.
King Muchukunda of Chandrabhaga was a friend of Indra and kept every Ekadashi, and he ordered that everyone in the kingdom, even the animals, should do the same. His daughter, Chandrabhaga, was married to Shobhana, the son of the king of Chola. Shobhana was gentle but physically frail, and could hardly bear to go without food.
He came to visit his in-laws on the day of Rama Ekadashi, when the whole city was fasting, and could not ask for food in a city where no one would give it. He kept the fast as best he could, but he was too weak and died by the next morning. Chandrabhaga performed her duties and stayed in her father’s house, devoted to Vishnu.
Because of the fast he had kept, Shobhana was reborn as the ruler of a splendid but unsteady city on the Mandara mountain. A Brahmin named Somasharma came across it, and Shobhana asked how his city could be made lasting. When he heard of Chandrabhaga, the Brahmin went back and told her, and she gave her husband the merit of every Ekadashi she had kept since childhood. The tradition says that the city became firm, and the couple were reunited. The story is told as one of a marriage that holds together across death.
How the fast is kept
The vrat is as for other Ekadashis, with worship of Vishnu and Lakshmi together. Because it falls before Diwali, many families clean the house on this day and put out lamps, and some give a coin or sweets to someone who is in need.
The fast is kept until the next morning and broken at the parana. In some places, a small lamp is lit and kept burning at the tulsi plant for the evening. See Diwali for the festival that follows.
Two reckonings are in use for Rama Ekadashi. The Smarta one, used for the dates in the tables, takes the day when Ekadashi is running at sunrise; the Vaishnava one may move Rama Ekadashi to the next day if Dashami has crossed into the early morning. For the parana, look at the Timing column: it starts after sunrise, stays within Dwadashi and leaves out Hari Vasara. Keeping Rama Ekadashi well means keeping yourself well. Anyone who is pregnant, breastfeeding, elderly or unwell may eat lightly, take their medicine as prescribed and still observe the day in prayer, with a doctor’s advice on the rest.
Where it sits in the year
In the round of the year, Papankusha Ekadashi comes before Rama Ekadashi and Prabodhini Ekadashi after it. To see the whole round, open the Ekadashi page. The Ekadashi vrat vidhi gives the order of worship for Rama Ekadashi, and the Ekadashi tithi page explains the tithi.