Bhīma and the Nirjalā Ekādaśī

Bhīmasena, the second of the Pāṇḍava brothers, could not keep the Ekādaśī fasts. A special fire of digestion called Vṛka burned in his belly and needed food all the time. The ṛshi Vyāsa told him of the Nirjalā Ekādaśī. This is the Ekādaśī of the bright fortnight of Jyeshṭha, kept without food and without even water. Bhīma kept it, and the Dvādaśī that follows it became known as Pāṇḍava-Dvādaśī. Chapter 51 of the Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells this.

Bhīmasena’s difficulty

The Pāṇḍavas were all devoted to the Ekādaśī vrata (vow). Yudhishṭhira, Draupadī, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva fasted on both the bright and the dark Ekādaśī of every month. Only Bhīmasena could not.

He told the ṛshi Vyāsa his trouble plainly. In his stomach burned the deva Vṛka, a special fire of digestion that needed fuel without a break. Bhīma could not even eat only once a day without distress. A full fast was, for him, not possible. He had told his family again and again that he would give gifts and worship Bhagavān Vishṇu instead, but fasting was beyond his strength. (Chapter 51)

Vyāsa’s counsel

Vyāsa answered Bhīma and gave him the way: the Nirjalā Ekādaśī.

He said that the Ekādaśī of the bright fortnight of Jyeshṭha comes when the Sun has moved into the second or third sign of the zodiac. On that day a man may keep a complete fast, from sunrise to the next sunrise, without food and without even a drop of water. He then gets the full fruit of all the Ekādaśīs of the year, of both the bright and the dark fortnights. This one great vow covers every one of them. The merit of going without even water for this one day is greater than the fruit of twelve Dvādaśīs. (Chapter 51)

Vyāsa also told Bhīma how to end the vow. After the waterless fast of the eleventh day, Bhīma should bathe at dawn on the auspicious Dvādaśī. He should give water, gold and other gifts to brāhmaṇas. Then he should eat, sitting with the brāhmaṇas.

Bhagavān Keśava, who holds the conch, the disc and the mace, has himself said that the way to moksha (liberation) is to give up all other cares and take refuge in him alone. A man who fasts on this day is freed from pāpa (sin). In the dark Kali Yuga, when the long Vedic rites are hard to perform, this vow is a way of cleansing that anyone can reach. (Chapter 51)

Bhīma keeps the vow

When Bhīmasena heard Vyāsa’s words, he trembled like an aśvattha leaf. He felt fear of naraka (hell) and joy that there was a way within his reach. He accepted the counsel fully. On the Ekādaśī of the bright fortnight of Jyeshṭha he took up the Nirjalā fast. He kept it correctly. He stayed awake through the night, worshipping Bhagavān Vishṇu, and he broke the fast on the Dvādaśī as he had been told.

The Dvādaśī after this Ekādaśī became known in the world as Pāṇḍava-Dvādaśī. It is a day linked with Bhīma. (Chapter 51)

The fruit of hearing this account

A man who cannot keep twenty-four fasts may keep this one and receive the fruit of all of them. The fruit that comes from bathing at Kurukshetra at the time of a solar eclipse comes to one who simply listens to this account. (Chapter 51)

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 51