Putrada Ekadashi | Pavitropana Ekadashi | Pavitra Ekadashi story
Putrada Ekadashi | Pavitropana Ekadashi | Pavitra Ekadashi
The meaning of Pavitropana: here Pavitra means one who is cleansed from all sins and hence this means one which can cleanse all the sins.
Putrada: Putra is son and the vrat that has the power to grant you a son or putra and hence Putrada.
In the begining of Dwapara yuga there lived a king called Mahijith. He was the ruler of the Mahishmith kingdom. His kingdom was very big and he was known to be the best ruler. He used to take good care of the people in his kingdom. He used to perform all the rituals that were described in the vedas for a king. He was like a father to the people of the kingdom.
But the only draw back was he had no son to take up the throne after him. He was getting old and along with that his longing for the son also grew. He summoned all the Brahmins and Ministers and asked them to go and find a solution, so that he can have a son.
All of them wandered and finally reached the hermitage of sage Lomesh. He was very old, only one hair used to fall from his body for one kalpa(432000 years). They all prayed to him and explained the problem of their king. Sage Lomesh listened to them carefully and explained them the reason for the problem.
He said that the king was a trader(Vysya) in his previous birth. He was poor by birth. He used to do all kinds of wrongs to earn money. Once he was going through a forest and lost his way. He was wandering in the forest for two days without food and on the second day he found a pond and was eager to quench his thirst. He saw a cow, which was drinking water from the same pond and he forced the cow to move away. He then drank the water. The day that he drank the water was Jyeshta Dwadashi and he was fasting from Dashmi through Jyestha Ekadashi and drank water on Dwadashi. Because of his Jyestha Ekadashi fasting he became a king in this birth. As he had forced the cow from not drinking the water, he was not having any children in this birth.
Then the Brahmins and Ministers asked Sage Lomesh to suggest an alternative as he is capable of the same. They prayed him to help them and their king. Lomesh adviced them that their king to observe the fast on the Shravan Sukla Paksha Ekadashi and to be awake all night of the Ekadashi. He should break the fast on the next day Dwadashi.
All of them returned to king and narrated the whole story. King was very much pleased as he has got an opportunity to have a son. He observed the Pavitra Ekadashi Vrat by fasting on that day and then reciting poems and verses of Lord Vishnu he was awake the whole night.
With the help of this Vrat the king was soon blessed with a son and from that day on it is also known as Putrada Ekadashi.
Thus this Vrat is specially for those who are childless and are wanting to have children. One who listens to this story itself is pardoned from all his sins.
