Nirjala Ekadashi

Culture of origin: Hindu · Cultural

Holiday sources: Hinduism

Nirjala means "without water". On this most austere of the 24 Ekadashis devotees keep an absolute fast, without even water, from sunrise to the next sunrise in the heat of the Indian summer, and it is said to grant the merit of all the year's Ekadashis. It is also called Pandava Bhima Ekadashi: Bhima, a lover of food who could not keep the other Ekadashi fasts, was advised by the sage Vyasa to keep this one. This is the Smarta date; the Vaishnava fast can fall a day later.