Hari Sayana Ekadashi
When after the Snana jatra, the Lord and his siblings fall ill they are placed in a secret room inside the temple. They are hidden from view by bamboo curtains and it is on this curtains that the painitngs of Vasudeva, Narayana and Bhubaneshwari are hung and they are prayed upon instead.
These images are refered as Anasara Patti.
The Lord with his siblings, when they return after visiting their aunt Maa Gundicha, the Hari Sayana Ekadashi falls on the 11th day in the Shukla Paksha (the bright fortnight) of Asadha.
The deities are still on the chariots, when the Anasara Patti is brought out from the temple and taken up on the chariots. After some rituals, the Anasara Patti are taken into the chamber of slumber for four complete months which finally ends on the Prabodhini Ekadashi, the 11th day in the Shukla Paksha (the bright fortnight) of holy Kartika.
It is believed that this is the Ananta Sayana of Lord Vishnu, who sleeps on the Sheshnag on the cosmic Kheerasagar.
The Significance
In the Bhavishyottara Purana, Lord Krishna narrates the significance of Sayana Ekadashi to Yudhistira, as once Lord Brahma had narrated it to his son Narada.
There was once a pious King Mandata, whose region had faced drought for three long years and yet the King had failed to find a way to pleasethe rain God. Finally, sage Angiras suggested the king to observe fast on this day and finally by the grace of Vishnu there were rains.
Devotees of the Lord, fast on this day, and sometimes on every ekadashi in the four month period.
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