Devotthan Ekadashi occurs on the eleventh day of the brightening moon in the latter half of Kartik, just two days after the Akshaya Navami. The epithet Devotthan signifies that on this day the god Vishnu is believed to wake up from sleep, the literal meaning of the word being the rising up of the god. According to the Puranas, Vishnu sleeps for four months in the year, from the eleventh of the light half of Asarh (hence popularly called the Sayana Ekadashi ) to the corresponding day of the month of Kartik, on which he wakes up from his sleep the whole period of the gods rest being called the Sayana. The first of these Ekadashis is not marked by any particular celebrations, except that in some villages the women mark their houses with lines of cow dung, and observe a partial fast, eating on