Yogini Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark half of Ashadha (Jyeshtha where months end at the new moon), the last one before Devshayani and the start of Chaturmas. Its katha is about Hemamali, the gardener of Kubera's city, who neglected his one duty, fell ill under a curse, and was healed by keeping this fast on the advice of the sage Markandeya.
Find the next Yogini Ekadashi and the parana window for your city on the Ekadashi dates page. Below, the story in our own words.
The katha of Yogini Ekadashi
Yudhishthira asked about the Ekadashi in the dark fortnight of Ashadha. Krishna said, "It is called Yogini. It washes away faults and carries a person across the sea of the world. Listen to the story of someone who learned its worth the hard way."
The flowers for Shiva
In Alakapuri, the shining city of the Himalaya, lived Kubera, the lord of wealth. For all his treasure, Kubera was above all a devotee of Shiva, and every day he worshipped him with fresh flowers. The flowers were brought by his gardener, a yaksha named Hemamali, who went each morning to the Manasarovar lake and picked lotuses and other blossoms for the puja.
Hemamali had a wife, Vishalakshi, whose name meant "the wide-eyed", and he loved her dearly. One morning he went to the lake and picked the flowers as usual. But instead of going straight to the palace, he went home, set down the basket, and stayed with his wife. The hours passed. He forgot the palace altogether.
Kubera waits
In the palace Kubera sat ready for the puja. The time came and went, and there were no flowers. By midday he was troubled and sent his servants to find out what had happened. They came back and told him: the gardener was at home with his wife, and had simply not come.
Kubera's patience broke. He had Hemamali brought before him. The gardener came trembling, the flowers still in his hands, and stood with his head bowed.
"You kept Shiva waiting," said Kubera, "for the sake of your own pleasure. Then go and know what it is to be without the one you love. Let your body be covered with white sores; leave this city and fall to the world of mortals."
At once Hemamali's skin broke out in sores. He fell from Alakapuri to the earth, alone, far from Vishalakshi and from everything he knew.
The long road to Markandeya
On earth he wandered through forests with no food and no shelter, sick and in pain. But one thing had not left him: because he had served in Shiva's worship for so long, he still remembered who he was and what he had done. That memory kept him from despair, and it kept him walking.
At last he climbed into the Himalaya and came to the ashram of the sage Markandeya, the one blessed by Shiva himself with long life, so ancient that the stories say his years were like Brahma's. Hemamali saw him from a distance and fell at his feet.
Markandeya asked, "Who are you, and how did you come to this state?" Hemamali told him everything, and did not hide his own fault. "I neglected the one duty I had," he said, "and my master cursed me. I deserve it. But is there a way back?"
The sage was moved by his honesty. "Because you have told the truth," he said, "I will tell you of a fast that will free you. In the dark half of Ashadha there is an Ekadashi called Yogini. Keep it with devotion, and the curse will leave you."
Hemamali kept the fast exactly as Markandeya taught him. When it was complete, his sores were gone, his body was whole and radiant, and he returned to Alakapuri, to Kubera's service, and to Vishalakshi.
Reading the story calmly
At the centre of this story is an illness given as a curse, and that can hurt to hear if someone close to you is ill. The tradition does not say that sickness is a punishment, and no one should read it that way. What the katha holds up is Hemamali's honesty when he finally faced his mistake, and the sage who answered that honesty with help instead of judgement. The healing is told as grace, and the illness is not a verdict on anyone.
What the day is kept for
The mahatmya says that keeping Yogini Ekadashi brings the merit of feeding eighty-eight thousand brahmins, and that it removes faults and eases disease. These are the text's words. Families hear in them a day for repair: for making amends for a duty neglected, for praying for someone who is unwell, and for taking up again something important that was put aside.
Because it is the last Ekadashi before Vishnu's four-month rest, it also feels like a threshold, a time to set the house in order before Chaturmas begins.
How it is kept
Yogini Ekadashi follows the shared Ekadashi puja vidhi, from the light Dashami meal to parana on Dwadashi. Remembering Hemamali, some families offer fresh flowers to both Vishnu and Shiva on this day, and some light a lamp at a Shiva temple as well as before the tulsi. Many keep the fast with a particular person who is ill in mind. Anyone who is unwell themselves should eat and drink as their doctor advises; the prayer does not need the fast.
Neighbouring Ekadashis
Before Yogini comes Nirjala Ekadashi, Bhima's waterless fast. After it comes Devshayani Ekadashi, when Vishnu lies down to rest and Chaturmas begins. For the tithi and good hours on the day, see the daily panchang.