Devshayani Ekadashi · Devshayani Ekadashi, Ashadhi Ekadashi

Culture of origin: Hindu · Cultural

Holiday sources: Hinduism

On Devshayani Ekadashi Vishnu is believed to fall asleep on the cosmic serpent Shesha in the ocean of milk, to wake four months later on Prabodhini Ekadashi. These four months of the rainy season, Chaturmas, begin with vows kept to please Vishnu. In Maharashtra the great pilgrimage on foot, the Wari, ends on this day at Pandharpur, where hundreds of thousands come to the temple of Vitthala. This is the Smarta date; the Vaishnava fast can fall a day later.