Saphala Ekadashi vrat katha

The story of Prince Lumpaka

As told in the Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, chapter 40 (the Gita Press edition numbers its chapters two higher), checked against the Sanskrit, Deshpande’s English translation and the Gita Press Hindi.

Yudhishthira asked Lord Krishna, “Master, which Ekadashi comes in the dark half of the month of Pausha? What is its name, what is its rite, and which deity is worshipped on that day? Tell me in full.”

Krishna said, “Lord of kings, out of my affection for you I will tell you. Even sacrifices rich in gifts do not please me as much as the Ekadashi fast; so one should keep this day of Hari with every effort. The Ekadashi of the dark half of Pausha is named Saphala. On that day worship Lord Narayana as prescribed. As Shesha is the best of serpents, Garuda of birds and Vishnu of the gods, so Ekadashi is the best of all vows.”

“On Saphala Ekadashi worship the Lord with fruits, honour him with incense and lamps, and above all give lamps on this day. At night keep vigil with other devotees. Now hear the auspicious story of Saphala.”

Champavati, a famous city, was the capital of the royal sage Mahishmata. He had five sons. The eldest was always busy with wrongdoing: he went after other men’s wives, kept company with courtesans and drank. He squandered his father’s wealth on his vices, and he was forever reviling brahmins, the Lord’s devotees and the gods.

Seeing his son so, the king came to call him Lumpaka (“the plunderer”) among the princes, and his father and brothers together drove him out of the kingdom. Abandoned by all, Lumpaka thought, “My father and my kin have cast me off. Now I will live in the deep forest, and from there I will plunder my father’s whole city.”

He went into the forest. There he killed animals and gave himself to theft and gambling, and he robbed the city again and again. One night the city watchmen caught him stealing, but when he said he was King Mahishmata’s son they let him go. He came back to the forest and lived on meat and the fruit of the trees.

His shelter was beside a very old peepal tree. In that forest the tree was held to be deeply sacred, and a shrine of Lord Vasudeva stood close by. There the sinful Lumpaka lived.

Much time passed. Then, through some merit stored up from long before, the Dashami of the dark half of Pausha came. That day Lumpaka ate the fruit of the trees. At night he had no clothes to cover himself, and he shivered in the bitter cold beside that sacred tree. Sleep did not come, nor any ease; with his teeth clenched he lay as if dead. Even when the sun rose he did not come to his senses.

All through Saphala Ekadashi he lay senseless, and at midday he came to. He looked about, got up and stumbled into the forest like a lame man. He was weak with hunger; that day he had no strength even to kill an animal. He only gathered some fruit, and by the time he was back at his shelter the sun had set.

“Alas, father, what will become of me!” he cried, and wept. Then he laid all the fruit at the root of the peepal and said, “May Lord Hari, husband of Lakshmi, be pleased with these fruits.” That night too he could not sleep.

Lord Vishnu took his sleepless night as the vigil of Saphala, and the fruit laid at the tree’s root as the Saphala worship with fruits. So, without knowing it, Lumpaka had kept the whole vow.

At daybreak a voice spoke from the sky: “By the grace of Saphala Ekadashi you will gain a kingdom and a son.” Lumpaka said, “So be it,” and in that moment his form became divine. His mind turned wholly to devotion to Lord Vishnu.

Adorned with divine ornaments, Lumpaka gained the kingdom without hindrance and ruled for fifteen years. By Krishna’s grace he was given a fair wife and a son. Then, letting go of the kingdom, he handed it to his son and went himself to Krishna’s abode, where no one grieves.

At the end Krishna says, “O king, whoever keeps the excellent vow of Saphala in this way finds happiness in this world and liberation after death. Those devoted to the Saphala vow are blessed, and their birth bears fruit.” According to the katha, reading it, hearing it and keeping the fast bring the fruit of a Rajasuya sacrifice.