The gandharva Lalit of Nagpur
In the ancient city of Nagpur, ruled by the mighty and virtuous King Pundarika, lived the gandharva singer Lalit and his wife Lalita. Lalit's voice was the sweetest in that court; when he sang the morning ragas the very lamps of the sabha bent towards him as though to listen. Lalita, his equal in beauty and virtue, listened to every song of his as though it were shruti itself, and their love was famed among the gandharvas of the three lokas.
The broken swara
One morning, as Lalit sang the malava-raga in Pundarika's court, his mind wandered to his beloved wife who had risen unwell that day. His throat trembled; a single swara fell out of its appointed place. The Nag-king Karkotaka, seated among the audience, took this as an insult flung at the king's court. He rose in fury and cursed Lalit: 'For breaking the sacred rhythm before a dharmic king, become a mighty rakshasa in the Vindhya forest!' Lalit's beautiful body swelled into a monstrous form, tusks broke through his lips, and he fled howling into the wilderness.
Lalita's search through the Vindhyas
Lalita, hearing the news, put on the plain white cloth of a viraha-patni, took only a lota of Ganga jal, and walked into the forest after her husband. Through Vindhya crags and thorn-brakes she followed his roars for many days, leaving water for him at night and weeping her mantra by day. On the seventh day, faint and torn, she climbed the steep path to the ashram of Rishi Shringi upon a Vindhya peak, and fell at the rishi's feet.
The counsel of Rishi Shringi
Rishi Shringi, seeing in tapa-drishti the whole story, lifted her chin and said: 'Kanya, this shraap is severe, but there is a remedy. The Chaitra Shukla Ekadashi that approaches is called Kamada — the fulfiller of righteous desires. Observe its vrat with total nishtha: fast the whole day, keep jagran chanting Vishnu Sahasranama, and at Dwadashi parana dedicate every particle of the punya to your husband. What no other tapa can accomplish, that vrat will.'
The restoration
Lalita observed the vrat exactly as told, her tears falling into the tulsi jal she offered at midnight. At Dwadashi dawn she took a single sip of Ganga jal, and folding her hands towards Vishnu she gave the whole punya to Lalit. As she opened her eyes, the rakshasa form fell away like a snake's slough; Lalit stood before her radiant, more tejasvi than he had ever been in Nagpur. Karkotaka himself, unable to bear the punya of a pati-vrata, appeared and begged forgiveness. Hand in hand, husband and wife returned to their heavenly home.
"Grants every righteous desire — santan, marital reunion, healing from curse, and the restoration of loved ones from misfortune. Especially prescribed for wives observing on behalf of husbands, and for husbands observing on behalf of wives."