Hariścandra and Ajā Ekādaśī

The Ajā Ekādaśī is the Ekādaśī (the eleventh day) of the dark fortnight of the month of Bhādrapada. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa, in Chapter 56 of the Uttara Khaṇḍa, explains it through the account of the emperor Hariścandra, the best known of all truthful kings.

Hariścandra’s fall

Hariścandra was the emperor of the whole earth, and he was known as the man most bound to truth in all creation. In this account, an act from an earlier life came to fruit, and he lost his kingdom. His misery grew step by step. He sold his wife. He sold his son. Last of all he was himself sold, and he became the slave of a caṇḍāla. His work was to take the clothes from the dead, the lowest and most unclean of duties.

Even so, Hariścandra never turned away from truth. He spent many years in this wretched state. His mind turned again and again on the same questions: “What should I do? Where should I go? How shall I escape?” He was in helpless distress, sunk, as Kṛshṇa describes it, “in the ocean of pāpa“. Then a ṛshi arrived who understood his state.

Gautama’s teaching

The ṛshi was Gautama. He came because Brahmā had made brāhmaṇas to help others. He saw a righteous king brought so low, and he came of his own accord.

Hariścandra bowed to him with joined palms and told him everything, with all its grief. Gautama heard the king’s words with wonder. He taught Hariścandra the Ajā Ekādaśī and told him that it would come within seven days.

Gautama described the vow. The Ajā Ekādaśī, the very auspicious Ekādaśī of the dark fortnight of Bhādrapada, gives great puṇya (merit) and destroys all pāpa. If the king kept it with a fast and a night of keeping awake, his pāpa would come to an end. The ṛshi said, “Due to your good fortune I have come here.” After this teaching, Gautama vanished.

Hariścandra is freed

Hariścandra heard the ṛshi’s words and kept the Ajā Ekādaśī exactly as taught. When he had kept the vow, his pāpa was destroyed at once. Drums sounded in the sky and flowers fell from the sky. His misery was over.

He was joined again with his wife. He was joined again with his son. His kingdom was given back to him, free from every trouble. At the end, together with the people of his city and all his royal belongings, Hariścandra reached svarga (heaven).

What the Purāṇa says of the account

The Purāṇa says that the fruit of reciting or hearing this account equals the fruit of an aśvamedha (a horse yajña, or fire ritual).

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 56