Ajā Ekādaśī is the Ekādaśī of the dark fortnight of Śrāvaṇa, and its story belongs to King Hariścandra. He sold his kingdom, his wife and his son rather than break his word to the sage Viśvāmitra, and ended up guarding a cremation ground at Kāśī. The Padma Purāṇa (Uttara-khaṇḍa 56) says that keeping this vrata brought his long ordeal to an end. Kept with full faith, the fast is believed to wash away the sins of many lifetimes and to lift even adversity as severe as his. How the day is fixed: The day is Śrāvaṇa Kṛṣṇa Ekādaśī in amānta reckoning, and the fast is kept on the Ekādaśī day as fixed by local sunrise. It comes three days after Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī. Keep in mind: Pūrṇimānta calendars of North and East India call the same day Bhādrapada Kṛṣṇa Ekādaśī, so the month name differs while the date is the same. Because sunrise differs from place to place, the fast can move by a day depending on where you are. This year: The 2026 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. The fast: Grains and beans are given up from Daśamī evening, and on Ekādaśī most people take only fruit and milk. A full waterless fast is kept by only a few. Worship of Viṣṇu: Viṣṇu is worshipped with tulasī leaves, and in the evening a lamp is lit and his names are recited. Breaking the fast: The fast is broken with pāraṇa on the next morning, Dvādaśī, within the time the pañcāṅga gives for it. Worth remembering: The Hariścandra legend itself is much older than this vrata and is told at length in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa without any Ekādaśī. The link to Ajā Ekādaśī comes from the later Ekādaśī-māhātmya tradition, so the two are best understood separately. At Kāśī a cremation ghāṭ still bears his name as Hariścandra Ghāṭ. Family and regional custom decide how strictly the day is kept. Most households take fruit and milk, a few keep the fast without water, and many read or listen to the Hariścandra story during the day. Whatever the practice, the surest guide is the way the elders of one's own house have kept it.
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