The eleventh lunar day is named after a maiden who killed a demon while a god slept
Ekadashi, the eleventh lunar day, comes twice in every lunar month: once as the Moon waxes, once as it wanes. The Padma Purana asks that its vow be kept in both halves of the month. In the same text, Krishna tells King Yudhishthira where the day came from. It is a story about a maiden.
The demon Mura had driven the gods out of heaven and put his own in their places: another Indra, another Sun, another Moon. Vishnu broke his armies, then fought Mura himself for a thousand divine years and lost. He withdrew to Badarikashrama and fell asleep in the cave of Simhavati, which had only one door. Mura followed. He found the god sleeping and decided to kill him.
Out of the sleeping Vishnu's body, from a portion of his radiance, came a maiden carrying divine weapons. She fought, and her fierce cry, the humkara, burned Mura to ash. Vishnu woke beside his dead enemy and asked how she had beaten the one who had beaten even him. In the text, her reply carries the heading "Ekadashi said."
As her boon she asked to be first among the sacred places and to clear away every difficulty. She also asked that anyone who honours her day by fasting or eating a single meal receive wealth, righteousness and liberation. Vishnu promised three times. The god slept through the decisive battle. Twice a month, the Moon returns to the one who stayed awake.
Sources
- Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa, ch. 38, "The Origin of Ekādaśī and the Killing of Demon Mura". Trans. N. A. Deshpande. The Padma Purāṇa, Part VII (Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology, vol. 45). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0768-6 (vol. 45); 978-81-208-3829-1 (set). Chapter text: wisdomlib.org.