Significance and legend
In the Bhavishyottara Purana, Krishna tells Yudhishthira that in the court of Indra, the Gandharva singer Malyavan and the apsara Pushpavati were performing before the gods. Infatuated with each other, they lost their concentration and sang and danced out of tune. Indra, angered by their lack of attention in a sacred assembly, cursed them to be born as pishachas, restless spirits, on earth.
The two found themselves in the cold Himalayas, suffering from hunger and cold, unable to rest. On the Ekadashi of the bright half of Magha, they were so miserable that they ate nothing all day except a few fruits, and spent the whole night awake in the cold, lamenting their fate. Unknowingly they had kept the Jaya Ekadashi fast and vigil. By its merit, at dawn on Dwadashi they were freed from their spirit forms and returned to Indra's heaven in their divine bodies. Indra, astonished, learned that the power of Vishnu's Ekadashi had freed them. In the Telugu states this day is also called Bhishma Ekadashi, and in Odisha and Bengal Bhaimi Ekadashi.
How Jaya Ekadashi is observed
Devotees fast, worship Vishnu with tulsi, incense, flowers and lamps, and recite the Vishnu Sahasranama. Bhishma's teaching of the Vishnu Sahasranama is especially remembered where the day is called Bhishma Ekadashi. Night vigil with bhajans is recommended. The fast is broken on Dwadashi after sunrise within the parana window, after offering food to Vishnu and to the needy.