ವರೂಥಿನಿ ಏಕಾದಶಿ | Varuthini Ekadashi

Varuthini Ekadashi is the eleventh tithi of the dark fortnight of Chaitra.

A note on the month name

This is the first ekadashi of the year that falls in a dark fortnight, and so the first where two almanacs will label it differently. In the amanta reckoning of Karnataka the dark fortnight belongs to the month that has just passed its full moon, so this is Chaitra krishna. In the purnimanta reckoning of most of North India the same fortnight opens the next month, so the same day is printed as Vaishakha krishna. The tithi is identical and the fast is kept on the same day; only the month label differs. The reason is set out on the masa page, and the same caution applies to every dark fortnight ekadashi below.

The name and the mahatmya

Varutha is armour, and Varuthini is taken as the one that shields. The mahatmya given with it is from the Bhavishya Purana, told by Krishna to Yudhishthira. King Mandhata, seated in tapas in a forest, was seized by a bear and dragged away; he called on Vishnu, who released him but could not restore the leg already lost. The king was directed to this vrata, and his body is said to have been made whole by it.

The phala said to follow is protection of the kind the name promises, and the text goes on to rank the danas: the gift of a horse, of an elephant, of land, of sesame, of food, and above all of learning. That ranking is the substance of the chapter, and it is why Varuthini is spoken of as a day for giving rather than only for fasting.

In practice

Beyond a household making some dana on the day, there is nothing here that distinguishes Varuthini from the other twenty three. The fast, the tithi reckoning and the parana are the ordinary ones, set out on the Ekadashi page. Almanacs that add a rule about eating from a bronze vessel or avoiding certain foods on the preceding day are quoting the same chapter, which attaches a list of prohibitions to the dashami; Karnataka practice does not generally observe them separately.