Mohini Ekadashi

Mohini Ekadashi is observed on the eleventh day (Ekadashi) of the bright fortnight (Shukla Paksha) of Vaishakh month. It commemorates the appearance of Mohini — Lord Vishnu's enchantress avatar — during the great churning of the cosmic ocean (Samudra Manthan). When the asuras seized the pot of amrita (the nectar of immortality), Vishnu took the form of Mohini, the most beautiful being in all creation, beguiling the asuras into surrendering the amrita and distributing it instead to the devas. The Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata both record this episode at length; Mohini Ekadashi is the day Vishnu's discriminating grace — beauty as a vehicle of dharma — is honoured.