Papmochani Ekadashi Vrat Katha (Chaitra Krishna)

In the Bhavishyottara Purana, King Yudhishthira asks Lord Sri Krishna:

Bhagwan Sri Krishna replied:

For readers who wish to consult the text: in the Uttara-Khanda (the concluding section) of the Padma Purana, as numbered in N. A. Deshpande's English translation, this Ekadashi is told in Chapter 46, where Lomasha, asked by Emperor Mandhata, narrates the story of the sage Medhavin and the apsara Manjughosha. Chapter numbers differ between editions and translations, so treat this as a guide to that translation.

In the divine hermitage of Chaitraratha Forest, young Sage Medhavi, the son of Maharishi Chyavana, was engaged in intense, unbroken austerities dedicated to Lord Shiva.

Seeing the youth's radiant ascetic power, Indra, the King of Heaven, feared that Medhavi might claim his celestial throne. Indra dispatched the enchanting celestial dancer (Apsara) Manjughosha along with Kamadeva (the god of desire) to distract the young sage from his penance.

Singing melodious songs and dancing with sweet anklet chimes near Medhavi's hermitage, Manjughosha captivated the sage's senses. Enamored by her celestial beauty, Sage Medhavi broke his ascetic vow and spent many years living with her in blissful illusion.

One day, Manjughosha bowed respectfully and requested permission to return to the heavenly world of Indra:

Medhavi replied:

Manjughosha smiled gently and said:

Hearing this, Sage Medhavi was struck with profound shock and grief. He realized that his lifelong penance, virtue, and spiritual power had been dissolved by lust. Overwhelmed by anger, Medhavi cursed the celestial maiden:

Manjughosha wept bitterly, fell at the sage's feet, and begged for mercy and an end to the curse.

Calming his anger, Sage Medhavi remembered the eternal scripture and said:

Medhavi himself returned in shame to his father, Maharishi Chyavana. Seeing his son destitute of spiritual luster, Chyavana instructed him:

Both Sage Medhavi and Manjughosha observed the fast with complete faith and devotion to Lord Vishnu. By the boundless mercy of the Lord, all sins were dissolved like dry grass in a forest fire. Manjughosha was liberated from her ghostly curse and ascended to Svarga, while Sage Medhavi regained his supreme spiritual luster.

1. 1.Destruction of Sins: Sincere repentance and fasting on Papmochani Ekadashi purifies the soul of past karmic errors and negative attachments.
2. 2.Worship of Lord Vishnu (Chaturbhuja): Offer yellow flowers, sandalwood, incense, and fresh fruits to the four-armed form of Lord Vishnu.
3. 3.Chanting Vishnu Sahasranama: Dedicate the night to chanting the holy names and reading sacred scriptures.
4. 4.Dvadashi Parana: Break the fast early next morning after performing morning prayers and feeding Brahmins.

Both Chyavana's instruction to Medhavi and Medhavi's own instruction to Manjughosha began the same way: with the Sankalpa, the dawn vow before Lord Vishnu in which the devotee names Papmochani Ekadashi and resolves to keep the fast and the Parana that follows it without lapse. Krishna tells Yudhishthira that this vow is what separates true expiation from mere regret, since a curse as severe as the one Medhavi spoke in anger required not sorrow alone but a formally undertaken act of devotion to undo.

The fast itself calls for abstaining from grains from sunrise to sunrise, with fruit permitted for those who cannot keep the stricter discipline. Worship of the four-armed Lord Vishnu is offered in the morning with yellow flowers, sandalwood, and incense, and repeated at dusk, when the household remains awake chanting the Vishnu Sahasranama through the night, just as Medhavi and Manjughosha did together to dissolve the curse that bound them both.

The fast ends with the Parana on Dvadashi morning, within the time window the Panchanga sets for that year. After morning prayers, devotees feed Brahmins before taking their own first meal, completing a cycle of restraint and generosity that, in the katha, restored both the sage's lost tapasya and the Apsara's stolen beauty in a single stroke.

Papmochani Ekadashi's teaching cuts in two directions at once: it is given to Manjughosha to undo a curse she did not choose, and to Medhavi to undo a lapse he brought on himself through anger as much as through desire. Krishna tells Yudhishthira that the fast makes no distinction between the sin of succumbing to temptation and the sin of cursing too harshly in response to it; both are, in the end, simply sin, and both dissolve before the same sincere night of devotion.