—json {
"name":"Cc. Ādi 15.10", "h1":"Cc. Ādi 15.10", "label":"Text 10", "title":"Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 15.10", "description":"Mother Śacī said, \"You have spoken very nicely. I shall not eat grains on Ekādaśī.\" From that day, she began to observe fasting on Ekādaśī."
} —
śacī kahe,—nā khāiba, bhāla-i kahilā
sei haite ekādaśī karite lāgilā
śacī kahe—mother Śacī said; nā khāiba—I shall not take; bhāla-i kahilā—You have said very nicely; seihaite—from that day; ekādaśī—Ekādaśī day; karitelāgilā—began to observe.
Mother Śacī said, “You have spoken very nicely. I shall not eat grains on Ekādaśī.” From that day, she began to observe fasting on Ekādaśī.
It is a prejudice amongst smārta-brāhmaṇas that a widow must observe fasting on Ekādaśī but a woman who has her husband should not. It appears that before the request of Lord Caitanya Śacīmātā was not observing Ekādaśī because of her being sa-dhava, which means that her husband was living. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, however, introduced the system that a woman, even if not a widow, must observe the Ekādaśī day and must not touch any kind of grains, even those offered to the Deity of Viṣṇu.