The Shattila Ekadashi katha is in the Padma Purana (Uttara Khanda). There the sage Pulastya teaches the sage Dalbhya this rite of the month of Magha, in which sesame is used in six ways, and then Krishna tells Narada the story of a brahmin woman. She kept many fasts but never gave food or alms; when the Lord came to her as a mendicant she gave him a lump of clay. In heaven she found a house empty of grain, and only when she learned the Shattila Ekadashi fast from the wives of the gods and kept it did her house fill with wealth and grain.
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Shattila Ekadashi falls on Magha Krishna Ekadashi (Purnimanta calendar; Pausha Krishna in the Amanta calendar). “Shat” means six and “tila” sesame: six uses of sesame are given for the day, and the katha lays its stress on giving, above all of sesame and food. The katha is read or heard after the puja.
In the Uttara Khanda of the Padma Purana this chapter has two parts: first the rite taught by the sage Pulastya, then the story of the brahmin woman told by Krishna. We have written both in our own words from the Sanskrit and Deshpande’s English translation, compared with Drik Panchang and the ISKCON book. The Gita Press Ekadashi book has this chapter’s rite but not the brahmin woman’s story.
How the vrat and katha are kept
- By the Padma Purana, when the month of Magha comes one bathes, keeps the senses in check, gives up lust, anger, pride, envy, greed and backbiting, and keeps the Lord in mind.
- The text asks for 108 small balls of cow dung mixed with sesame and cotton; by the ISKCON book and Drik Panchang they are offered in the homa.
- On the Ekadashi: a bath, worship of the Lord, singing Krishna’s names, the fast, and a vigil and homa at night. The next day, worship with sandal, agaru and camphor, and an offering of khichdi.
- Arghya is offered with a pumpkin, a coconut or a citron, or with areca nuts if none of these is at hand. The arghya verse means: O Krishna, you are merciful and the refuge of the helpless; be gracious to us who are sinking in the sea of the world, and accept this offering together with Lakshmi.
- Then a brahmin is given a pot of water, an umbrella, sandals and clothes, a black cow if one can, and a vessel full of sesame.
- The six uses of sesame that give the day its name are listed in one verse: “तिलस्नायी तिलोद्वर्ती तिलहोमी तिलोदकी। तिलदाता च भोक्ता च षट्तिलाः पापनाशनाः॥”, that is, bathing with sesame, a sesame paste rubbed on the body, sesame offered in the fire, water with sesame, giving sesame and eating sesame; the text says these six destroy sin. (Gita Press ends the verse “षट्तिला पापनाशिनी”.)
The sage Pulastya and the sage Dalbhya
The first part of the Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, chapter 42 (chapter 44 in the Gita Press edition), checked against the Sanskrit, Deshpande’s English translation and the Gita Press Hindi.
Yudhishthira asked Krishna, “Lord of the world, which Ekadashi comes in the dark half of the month of Magha? Tell me its name and its rite in full.” Krishna said, “Best of kings, it is known as Shattila, and it destroys all sins. Hear the story that takes sin away, which Pulastya, best of sages, told the sage Dalbhya.”
Dalbhya asked, “O brahmin, beings who come into this mortal world commit great sins such as killing a brahmin, steal others’ wealth and take pleasure in others’ misfortune. How can they escape hell? Please tell me how sins may be calmed without hard toil, by some small gift.”
Pulastya said, “Fortunate one, you have asked well. This secret not even gods such as Vishnu, Brahma and Indra have told anyone, but since you ask, I will tell it.” Then he taught the rite of Magha given above under “How the vrat and katha are kept”: restraint, the balls of cow dung, sesame and cotton, the Ekadashi fast, singing the Lord’s names, the vigil and homa, the next day’s worship and arghya, and the gifts to a brahmin.
Pulastya went on: the giver is honoured in heaven for as many thousand years as the plants that would spring from the sesame he gave, if it were sown; and the six uses of sesame, from which this Ekadashi is called Shattila, destroy sins.
The brahmin woman who never gave food
The second part of the Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, chapter 42, from the Sanskrit and Deshpande’s English translation, checked against the tellings of Drik Panchang and the ISKCON book. The Gita Press book leaves this part out.
The sage Narada asked Lord Krishna, “Mighty-armed Krishna, what fruit does the Shattila Ekadashi fast bring? If you are pleased with me, tell me, with its story.” Krishna said, “Narada, I will tell you what I saw with my own eyes. Listen.”
“Long ago a brahmin woman lived in the mortal world. She was always given to vows and the worship of the gods; she fasted for a month at a time and was devoted to me. Her body had grown very thin with fasting. With devotion she gave the gods, brahmins and young girls even such things as a house, and she practised hard austerities. But she never gave alms to anyone who begged, nor fed brahmins to their content.”
“After a long time I thought: her vows have made her body pure, and she has worshipped me by putting her body through hardship, but she has never given food, which is what truly satisfies living beings. Thinking this, I came down to the mortal world in the form of a skull-bearing mendicant and begged alms from her with a begging bowl.”
“She asked, ‘O brahmin, where have you come from and where will you go?’ I said again, ‘Fair lady, give alms.’ At that, in great anger, she threw a lump of clay into my copper bowl. I took it and went back to heaven.”
“Long after, by the power of her vows, that woman of austerities came to heaven in her own body. For her gift of a lump of clay she was given a fine house there, but there was not a grain in it. Seeing nothing in the house, she came out and came to me in great anger, saying, ‘With countless vows, hard penances and fasts I worshipped the protector of the world, and yet, Janardana, nothing is to be seen in my house.’”
“I told her, ‘Go to your house. The wives of the gods will come out of curiosity to see you. Do not open the door until they tell you the merit of Shattila Ekadashi.’”
“She went back. In time the wives of the gods came and said, ‘Lovely one, we have come to see you; open the door.’ She said, ‘If you wish to see me, first tell me truly the merit of the Shattila Ekadashi fast; only then will I open the door.’ None of them spoke; but then one of them, wishing to see this mortal woman, told her the Shattila vow.”
“Then she opened the door. The wives of the gods saw that she was no goddess, no Gandharva or asura woman, no Naga maiden, but a mortal woman such as they had never seen before. As they had taught her, she kept the Shattila Ekadashi fast, which gives both enjoyment and liberation. In that moment she was given beauty and radiance, and her house filled with wealth, grain, clothes, gold and silver and every good thing.”
The katha closes with its lesson: one should not give way to greed or be a miser with one’s wealth, but give sesame and clothes as far as one can. By the text, one who fasts on Shattila has good health birth after birth and is spared poverty, hardship and ill fortune; a gift rightly given to a worthy person destroys all sins.
Other tellings
- In the Gita Press Ekadashi book the Shattila chapter ends with the six uses of sesame; it does not have the brahmin woman’s story. The story is in the Sanskrit Padma Purana, Deshpande’s translation, Drik Panchang and the ISKCON book.
- The nakshatra for making the dung balls and taking the vow differs: Ashadha (Purvashadha) or Mula in the Sanskrit, Ardra or Mula in Gita Press, Pushya for the cakes and Mula for the fast in Drik Panchang, and Purvashadha in the ISKCON book.
- Of the cow dung, the Sanskrit says “not fallen to the ground”, and the ISKCON book too says to gather it before it touches the ground; Gita Press and Deshpande read “fallen on the ground”.
- In Drik Panchang the brahmin woman’s house comes with a mango tree, and the Lord begs without any particular guise being named; in the ISKCON book he comes as a skull-garlanded mendicant like a follower of Shiva, and the woman is old. In Drik Panchang the whole story of the brahmin woman sits inside Pulastya’s telling, and the ISKCON book leaves out the Yudhishthira frame and opens directly with Dalbhya and Pulastya.
- In the ISKCON book the gods’ wives say nothing the first time and come back later to tell her. The ISKCON book places the katha in the Bhavishyottara Purana; we have not checked it there.
After the katha
After the katha the aarti of Lord Vishnu and the Ekadashi Mata aarti are sung, and sesame, food and clothes are given as far as one can. The fast is broken the next day, Dwadashi, at the parana time; the parana time for your city is on the Shattila Ekadashi page.
Ekadashi Aarti: Om Jai Ekadashi MataFrequently asked questions
Which Purana has the Shattila Ekadashi katha?
The Uttara Khanda of the Padma Purana. It is chapter 42 on Sanskrit Wikisource and in Deshpande’s English translation, and chapter 44 in the Gita Press edition (which cites the sesame verse as 44.24).
What are the six uses of sesame on Shattila Ekadashi?
By the Padma Purana: bathing with sesame, rubbing on a sesame paste, offering sesame in the fire, water with sesame, giving sesame and eating sesame.
What does the Shattila Ekadashi katha teach?
That giving matters as much as fasting and austerity. The brahmin woman of the katha fasted much but gave no food, so her house in heaven was empty; the text asks that sesame, food and clothes be given as far as one can.
When is the Shattila Ekadashi katha read?
By tradition, on the Ekadashi after the worship of Lord Vishnu and before the aarti.
Sources
- Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, chapter 42, Sanskrit Wikisource (chapter numbers vary by edition)
- Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, chapter 42, N. A. Deshpande’s English translation (Motilal Banarsidass; wisdomlib.org)
- Gita Press, Gorakhpur: Ekadashi-vrat ka Mahatmya, compiled by Radheshyam Khemka, pp. 19–21 (the rite only; no brahmin woman’s story)
- ISKCON’s Ekadasi book text: Sat-tila Ekadasi (iskcondesiretree.com)
- Drik Panchang: Shattila Ekadashi Vrat Katha (Hindi and English), drikpanchang.com
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