Ekadashi 2027 dates

How it is kept

A fast from grains on Ekadashi, worship of Vishnu, and the fast broken the next morning in the parana window, after Hari Vasara.

Why it is kept

Ekadashi is the most widely kept fast of the Vaishnava tradition. The Padma Purana gives each of the year's Ekadashis its own name and story, told by Krishna to Yudhishthira, and holds the day dear to Vishnu. In practice it is a day of restraint twice a month: lighter food, more prayer, and care for what one eats and says.

How it is kept, step by step

1. On Dashami, the day before, a single light meal before sunset, without rice.
2. On Ekadashi, an early bath, a lamp and flowers before Vishnu or Krishna, and tulsi leaves picked the day before (tradition does not pick tulsi on Ekadashi).
3. Chanting Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya or the Vishnu Sahasranama, and reading or hearing that Ekadashi's katha.
4. The fast through the day and night, as one is able; many keep the night with kirtan or bhajan.
5. On Dvadashi the fast is broken in the parana window: after sunrise, once Hari Vasara (the first quarter of Dvadashi) has passed. The table above gives the window for your city.

The fast

Tradition sets aside grains on Ekadashi, rice above all, with beans and lentils. A full fast is kept without water (nirjala) or with water only; most people keep a phalahar fast of fruit, milk, nuts and fasting foods such as sabudana, potato, and kuttu (buckwheat), rajgira (amaranth) or singhara (water chestnut) flour, cooked with rock salt. Fast as your health allows: children, elders, pregnant women and anyone unwell traditionally keep a lighter fast, and anyone with a medical condition should ask their doctor first.

The 24 Ekadashis of the year

Months are named as in the purnimanta calendar of North India, where a month begins after the full moon. In the amanta calendar of Maharashtra, Gujarat and the South, a Krishna paksha Ekadashi falls in the month before: Papmochani, for example, is Phalguna Krishna there. A year with an adhik month adds Padmini and Parama, 26 in all.

Across India

Ekadashi is kept across India under the same name. In Maharashtra, Ashadhi Ekadashi (Devshayani) and Kartiki Ekadashi (Prabodhini) are the great days of the Pandharpur Wari, when lakhs of Varkari pilgrims walk to Vitthal. In the South, Vaikuntha Ekadashi, the bright Ekadashi of the solar month of Dhanu (December to January), opens the Vaikuntha Dvaram at Vishnu temples such as Srirangam and Tirumala. Devshayani begins Chaturmas, the four months that end with Devutthana (Prabodhini) Ekadashi.