King Mandhata's tapas by the Narmada
King Mandhata of the Ikshvaku lineage, having ruled his kingdom in dharma for many decades and left the throne to his son, retired to the Narmada forest to seek Bhagwan Vishnu through pure tapas. In a clearing beneath an ancient peepal tree he sat cross-legged for months, subsisting on air and Narmada jal, his eyes fixed within on Vishnu's charan-kamal.
The bear from the Vindhyas
One morning a fierce forest-bear, driven by hunger, wandered near the king's asana. Seeing the still human form as easy prey, it seized Mandhata's left leg between its jaws and began to drag him deeper into the trees. The king, disciplined by tapas, did not scream in fear but cried out from the depth of his heart: 'Rakshak! Vamana Deva! Bachao! I am your sharanagat!'
The descent of the Vamana avatar
At the very call of his devotee, Bhagwan Vishnu descended in his dwarf-Vamana rupa, blazing with the fire of a thousand suns. He hurled the Sudarshana chakra; the bear fell dead in a single blow, its shadow dissolving into the forest floor. But when Vamana lifted the king, he saw that the bear's teeth had already torn away the whole of Mandhata's left leg. Blood soaked the roots of the peepal.
The remedy prescribed
Mandhata, weeping more from shame that his tapasvi body was now disfigured than from any pain, asked: 'Prabhu, what can restore me?' Vamana smiled and said: 'Rajan, karma is strong — even my chakra cannot immediately reverse what karma has ordained. But there is one vrat: the Varuthini Ekadashi of Vaishakha Krishna Paksha. Fast on that day, keep jagran contemplating my Vamana rupa, and on Dwadashi parana take only tulsi and Ganga jal. Its punya will restore what karma has taken — nothing less, and no other vrat, will suffice.'
The restoration
Mandhata dragged himself back to his ashram and observed the vrat exactly as Vamana had said. Through the day of the fast, then the night of Vishnu Sahasranama, then the Dwadashi parana with tulsi and Ganga jal — he did not falter for a single moment. As the first light of Dwadashi struck the peepal, the leg grew back whole and stronger than before, and a rain of unseasonal flowers fell upon the ashram. From that day the rishis of that forest declared Varuthini the vrat that returns to the vrati whatever karma has unjustly taken.
"Grants suraksha (protection) in this life and safe passage in the next. Restores lost health, wealth, position and dignity. Prescribed after any great loss — of limb, of reputation, of prosperity, of a loved one."