Significance and legend
The Mahabharata tradition, retold in the Padma and Brahmavaivarta Puranas, tells that Bhima, the second Pandava, was unable to keep the Ekadashi fasts observed by his mother Kunti, his brothers and Draupadi, because the fire of hunger, the vrika, burned strongly within him. Troubled that he would miss the merit of the vratas, he approached the sage Vyasa for a solution.
Vyasa told him that if he could keep just one Ekadashi, that of the bright half of Jyeshtha, without taking any food or even water from sunrise on Ekadashi until sunrise on Dwadashi, he would gain the merit of all the Ekadashis of the year. Bhima undertook this severe vow in the heat of summer and succeeded. For this reason the day is also called Bhimseni or Pandava Ekadashi. The scripture says that one who keeps this fast is received by the messengers of Vishnu at the time of death.
How Nirjala Ekadashi is observed
Nirjala means without water. Observers abstain from all food and water from sunrise on Ekadashi until sunrise on Dwadashi, except the small sip taken during achamana in worship. Those who cannot manage this for health reasons may take water or fruit, as the scriptures allow. Vishnu is worshipped, the Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya mantra is chanted and the night is spent in vigil. Giving earthen pots filled with water, fans, umbrellas, sugar and clothing to the needy is the characteristic charity of the day. The fast is broken on Dwadashi after sunrise within the parana time, first with water and then a simple meal.