Papamochini Ekadasi 2188

King Yudhishthira asked Sri Krishna the name of the Ekadashi of the dark half of Chaitra (Purnimanta; Phalguna in Amanta). Sri Krishna told him what the sage Lomasha once told the emperor Mandhata when he asked the same question.

Lomasha said that this Ekadashi is called Papamochani, the releaser from sin, and that it destroys the state of a goblin.

Long ago there was a forest called Chaitraratha, humming with bees and loved by the apsaras. When spring came, the gandharva maidens and the kinnaras played music there, and the gods led by Indra came to enjoy it. Many sages practised penance there.

Among them lived a young celibate sage named Medhavi, the best of sages. He wore a white sacred thread and lived in the holy hermitage of his father, the sage Chyavana. An apsara named Manjughosha set out to win his heart. Afraid of his power, she stayed a little way off from the hermitage, singing sweetly and playing her lute. Kama, the god of love, who wished to conquer the sages devoted to Shiva, entered into her, and she became his army. When she saw Medhavi she too fell in love.

The sage heard her singing, her bracelets and anklets ringing, and he was carried away by love. Manjughosha came to him, set down her lute and embraced him, as a creeper wraps a tree in the wind. Medhavi forgot his discipline and lived with her, not knowing day from night, and many years went by.

At last Manjughosha asked leave to return to heaven. "You came only this evening," said the sage. "Stay until my morning prayers." Afraid of his curse, she stayed for many more years. Each time she asked to go, he said it was not yet time.

At last she smiled and said, "Brahmana, how long your prayers have grown! Please count the time that has passed." Astonished, he counted, and found that fifty seven years had gone by with her. Seeing his hard won penance wasted, he blazed with anger and cursed her: "Become a goblin."

Bowed with shame, she begged him, "Have mercy. Even seven steps together make a friendship, and I have spent many years with you." The sage said, "In the dark half of Chaitra comes the Ekadashi called Papamochani, which destroys all sins. Keep its pure vow, and you will be freed from being a goblin."

Medhavi went back to his father's hermitage. Chyavana said, "Son, what have you done? You have destroyed your merit." Medhavi confessed and asked how his sin could be removed. Chyavana told him of the same Papamochani Ekadashi.

Medhavi kept the vow. His sin perished and the merit of his penance returned. Manjughosha too kept the vow. She was freed from being a goblin, took on a divine form and went to heaven.

Lomasha said that this vow destroys every sin, even the greatest. Whoever tells or hears its story gains the merit of a gift of a thousand cows.