Rama Ekadashi vrat katha

Shobhana and Chandrabhaga

As told in the Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, chapter 60 (numbered two higher in the Gita Press edition), checked against the Sanskrit, Deshpande’s English translation and the Gita Press Hindi.

Yudhishthira asked with affection, “Janardana, out of your love for me, tell me this too: what is the name of the Ekadashi in the dark half of Kartik?” Krishna said, “Listen, best of kings. The Ekadashi of the dark half of Kartik is called Rama. It is most auspicious and takes away great sins. I will tell you its glory through a story.”

Long ago there was a famous king named Muchukunda. He was a friend of Indra, king of the gods, and Yama, Varuna, Kubera and Vibhishana were his friends too. He was devoted to Lord Vishnu and true to his word, and he ruled a kingdom cleared of all troublemakers.

A daughter was born in the king’s house who bore the name of Chandrabhaga, best of rivers. The king gave her in marriage to Shobhana, son of Chandrasena.

Once Shobhana had come to stay at his father-in-law’s house when the holy day of Ekadashi arrived. Chandrabhaga grew anxious. “O Lord, what will happen now?” she thought. “My husband is very weak and cannot bear hunger, and my father’s rule is stern.”

In King Muchukunda’s realm a drum was beaten on Dashami itself, proclaiming: “No one shall eat on Hari’s day, no one shall eat, no one shall eat!” Hearing the drum, Shobhana asked his wife, “My dear, what am I to do? You must show me the way.”

Chandrabhaga said, “My lord, in my father’s house no one eats today. On Hari’s day even the elephants, horses, their young and the other animals here get no grass, grain or even water; how then could people eat? If you eat anything today, people will blame you. So think it over and make your mind firm.”

Shobhana said, “You are right, my dear. I too will fast today; what fate has ordained will come to pass.” With his mind made up, he took the vow.

As the day wore on, his body ached with hunger and he was in great distress. While he brooded, the sun set. The night that fills Vishnu’s devotees with joy, as they worship Hari and keep vigil, was one of deep suffering for Shobhana.

At sunrise Shobhana passed away. King Muchukunda had him cremated with wood fit for a king. Chandrabhaga did not give up her own life after her husband; she performed all his last rites and went on living in her father’s house.

By the power of the Rama Ekadashi fast, Shobhana gained a beautiful city, a city fit for the gods, on the heights of Mount Mandara. It was matchless and unconquerable, with virtues beyond counting. Its mansions had pillars of gold set with gems and lapis, and crystal of many shapes adorned them.

There Shobhana sat on a lion-throne, with a white umbrella above him and chowries waving. He wore a crown, earrings, a necklace and armlets; gandharvas sang his praise and apsaras waited on him. He shone there like a second Kubera.

In Muchukunda’s city lived a brahmin named Somasharma. Wandering on pilgrimage, he came to that place and saw Shobhana. Recognising the king’s son-in-law, he went up to him. Shobhana knew him too; he rose quickly from his seat, bowed to the brahmin, and asked after his father-in-law, his wife Chandrabhaga and the whole city.

Somasharma said, “O prince, all is well in your father-in-law’s house; Chandrabhaga is well, and all is well in the city. But now tell me your own story. Never have I seen a city so lovely and so strange; it is a wonder. How did you come by it?”

Shobhana said, “Best of brahmins, I gained this city by fasting on Rama Ekadashi in the dark half of Kartik. But it is not lasting. Please do something to make it last.” The brahmin asked, “Why does it not last, and how can it be made to? Tell me plainly, and I will do exactly as you say.”

Shobhana said, “O brahmin, I kept that excellent vow without faith, and so I think its fruit will not last. Now hear how it can be made to: tell all this to Chandrabhaga, King Muchukunda’s daughter. Then this city will become lasting.”

Krishna says that on hearing this, Somasharma returned to Muchukunda’s city and told Chandrabhaga everything: “Good lady, I have seen your husband with my own eyes, and his city too, like Indra’s city and beyond anyone’s conquest. But he says it is not lasting. You must make it last.”

Chandrabhaga said, “Brahmin sage, take me there; I long to see my husband. By the merit of my own vows I will make that city last. Help us two to meet again; great merit comes from uniting those who have been parted.”

Hearing this, Somasharma took Chandrabhaga with him to the ashram of the sage Vamadeva near Mount Mandara. The sage heard the whole account from them both and consecrated Chandrabhaga with Vedic mantras. By the power of the sage’s mantras and the merit of her Ekadashi fasts, her body became divine and she attained a divine state.

Her eyes bright with joy, she went to her husband. Seeing his wife arrive, Shobhana was overjoyed; he called her to him and seated her at his left side.

Then Chandrabhaga said lovingly, “My lord, hear something for your good. In my father’s house, ever since I passed the age of eight, I have kept every Ekadashi by its rules and with all my heart’s faith. By the power of that merit this city will become lasting, and stay rich in all one could wish for until the dissolution of the world.”

So, by the power of the Rama vow, Chandrabhaga, divine in form, in pleasures and in ornaments, lived happily with her husband on the heights of Mount Mandara, and Shobhana, now in a divine body, lived joyfully with her.

At the end Krishna says that Rama Ekadashi is like the wish-granting chintamani gem or the wish-granting cow Kamadhenu. No difference should be made between the Ekadashis of the two fortnights: as a white cow and a black cow give the same milk, so the Ekadashis of the dark and the bright half give the same fruit. According to the katha, the Ekadashi fast gives both the joys of this world and liberation, and whoever hears the glory of the Ekadashi vows is freed of all sins and honoured in the world of Vishnu.