Amalaki Ekadashi
What it is
Amalaki Ekadashi comes on Fagan sud Agiyaras — the eleventh of the bright fortnight of Phalguna, just days before the full moon of Holi. It is the Ekadashi of the amla tree, the amalaki, which the Puranas honour as arisen at the very dawn of creation and beloved of Shri Vishnu, who is worshipped as dwelling within it; the vrat is traditionally kept with puja, pradakshina and a night's jagran beside the tree.
The Brahmanda Purana tells its katha: King Chitraratha of Vaidisha kept this Ekadashi with his whole people, gathered by an amla tree in the forest, lamps burning through the night. A hunter — weary, sin-laden, living by the kill — stopped at the edge of the light and watched, fascinated, until dawn. Having eaten nothing and slept not at all, he had unknowingly kept the vrat; by that merit he was reborn as the noble King Vasurath, whom the Lord Himself protected in danger. In Pushtimarg this day is cherished as Kunj Ekadashi: falling amid the long weeks of Vraj's Holi, its bhav turns to Prabhu's play in the kunjs — the flowering bowers of Vraj — a scene Nathdwara's picchvai painters have long loved to depict.
Why we observe it
Amalaki Ekadashi carries the fragrance of spring, and its teachings are spring-like too. First, reverence: the Lord is not far away but present in His creation, and to circle an amla tree with love is to honour Him dwelling quietly in the green world that feeds and heals us. Second, hope: the hunter of the katha brought no purity, no learning, not even intention — only a night spent watching the Lord's vigil — and even that was accepted and rewarded. Grace does not audit its guests.
For the Pushtimarg Vaishnav there is a third sweetness. As Kunj Ekadashi, the day invites us to make the heart itself a kunj — cleared, green, fragrant, ready for Prabhu to enter and play — just as Vraj readies its bowers in the Holi season. The vrat is kept with upvas and smaran of Shrinathji amid the gathering joy of Fagan. The shastras promise merit equal to great daan and the path to Vaikuntha; the nearer phal is a springtime heart.